Customer Reviews

Haunting Bombay

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After cracking this book, my plans for the day were shot. I stayed up until early morning to finish it.

It could have been all that lovely detail, I'm a sucker it. I couldn't believe Publisher's Weekly said it clogged the book. The details in Haunting Bombay do more than paint a picture, they took me on a tour of a completely different world from my own. I felt the rustle of silk across my skin, was drenched by the monsoon rain, and smelled the spiciness of afternoon tea. Not only that, but I got to feel the repression of a girl where women have few opportunities and no voice. It surprised me that the men in the story were also repressed by their culture, weighed down by their own cultural expectations and obligations.

What else kept me reading? Ms. Agarwal did a first-rate job on creating a thrilling mystery filled with spirits who are not just embellishments, but full-drawn characters in their own right. The author had real compassion for all her characters, ghosts or otherwise, and it made them so much more appealing and believable. Be careful, you may find yourself haunted by them long after you close the pages of this beautiful book. I look forward to reading more from this promising first-time author.

Shilpa Agarwal's debut novel is written with the deft hand of one who truly knows how to tell a good story. Her characters come to life on the very first page, and as she weaves the story, creating such mystery and intense yearning to know the secrets hidden in the souls of these characters who by the end feel like old friends, she leaves the reader breatheless, spent, slightly disoriented, not wanting the story to end. Haunting Bombay is so good you'll have to read it many times because you'll be reading so fast, caught up in the drama, that every time will be like reading it anew.

If you long for travel to far-away places and really love to lose yourself in a book, then read Haunting Bombay. With beautiful visual descriptions and captivating story-telling Agarwal has written a novel that successfully achieves something that I find rare: a really good work of literature that defies categorization: historical, magical-realistic fiction--maybe? Haunting Bombay reminded me of Toni Morrison's, Beloved, with its sensitive, masterful combining of the fantastic with the real. This is a brilliant first novel.

From my perspective, this is a gorgeous piece of work! The tapestry of India that is woven and the lyrical command over words astonished me and at times, took my breath away. I also appreciated the ending and thought that it revealed due empathy towards marginalized segments of society. I think this is great talent, and I hope it goes places. I am going to recommend it to people in India as well.

Once in a long while you come across a story that is incredibly well-written and beautifully told. Haunting Bombay is one of those stories. With descriptive, lyrical prose and wonderful imagery of post-modern India, this story is about love, heartache, difficult life-decisions and being a woman in a society where only the privileged seem to matter. I couldn't put this book down and now that I finished it, I am reading it again. There is so much suspense and don't worry, it isn't a scary ghost story! Have a great journey!

I know we are used to having ghost as part of the family when we read Marquez or Allende but having them visit us in Bombay is refreshing.
Even with the reading of the book behind me and daily live continuing at a maddening pace I find myself pausing, being visited if not by the characters themselves then by the questions of redemption, loss and self preservation they bring up.
How do my actions impact me and my family not just today but in future generations? what price do we pay for secrets?
Haunting Bombay is a remarkable first novel, I look forward to rereading it so I may extract yet another layer and grow more intimate with it's characters.

I am most impressed by this debut and am looking forward to more to come from Ms. Agarwal. She truly is a master storyteller, who keeps in balance all the necessary elements of a good and powerful story. Nothing is overlooked here, with rich detail in scene, a well thought out and implemented plot, and characters who shine through the pages. The writing reminded me of fairy tales of old combined with the spirituality and mysticism of great authors such as Allende and Garcia Marquez (I see I am not the only one to think this). I took this book on a business trip with me and just absorbed it, on the plane, in the hotel. A lovely book to take on vacation, but be prepared to be absorbed. Highly recommended by this avid and highly selective (I might add) reader.

I love this book! It reminds me of the magical realism of Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez... The book is intoxicating in the way that it pulls you in, the further you get, the deeper you go, and it's a very rewarding finish. Completely unpredictable. It rivets the reader with exquisite details that make you feel as if you are really living inside this upper-class Indian family and experiencing the haunting... It's about the clash of the old India and the new; about women who seek independence but are still tightly guarded; about a place where the importance of food, sex and literature is woven into the culture. In this world you don't turn to Freud for the answers, but you inquire to the Hindu gods and to the tantric who lives in the underworld of Bombay. The journey of this novel utterly gripping, to the point where I could not put it down.

This is a beautifully written tale, full of delicious details. A thought provoking book, that causes one to wonder can children see what adults refuse to see and feel what adults fear feeling. A story of family, the secrets that haunt them and the ghosts that tear them apart. Haunting Bombay delivers surprises until the very end. Read and enjoy.

"Haunting Bombay" is one of those novels that pulls a reader in and doesn't let go - at least for me. I found myself reading through this highly atmospheric and lyrical story through the night and basically finished it in two days. I'm a fan of Jhumpa Lahiri's and Chitra Baneerjee Divakaruni's works which have a poetic quality to them whilst focusing on mainly family-based stories, and Shilpa Agarwal has managed to impress with her remarkable first novel.

The story revolves around the Mittal family - there's 13-year-old Pinky who has been raised by her grandmother Maji since she was an infant when she lost her mother Yamuna in the dark days of the Partition in India [which eventually led to the formation of the separate Muslim state of Pakistan]. Pinky shares a close bond with her Maji, but is treated like an outcast, a "destitute cousin" by her aunt Savita who resents Pinky's presence in the household, given that Savita herself had lost an infant daughter just before Pinky's arrival. Pinky is also going through some emotional upheavals having to do with her infatuation with 17-year-old cousin Nimish. When she finds out Nimish is in fact secretly in love with next-door neighbor, Lovely, Pinky acts out. The children's bathroom has always been locked after sunset, and when Pinky unbolts this door, the ghosts lying dormant within are awakened with the family bearing the brunt of their wrath.

There is much to savor in this story - family dynamics, superstitions, dark family secrets, addictions, adolescent pangs, suppressed emotions, etc and all these are credibly portrayed by the use of evocative and descriptive language. The novel is well-written, but that is only part of why it appealed to me - the other reason is because I could identify with the cultural themes presented and the elements of spirituality and superstition. I'm originally from the Southeast Asian region where everyday life is steeped in superstition, and as a child, I recall being told to come in right before sunset and to close the door because dusk was when the spirits would roam around seeking entry into homes. The part about the bolted bathroom door really took me back in time as I remember my elementary school had a bathroom purported to be haunted which was also bolted. Reading this book was in a sense comforting as it brought back memories of my own superstition-infused childhood!

I'd recommend "Haunting Bombay" to those who love highly atmospheric and descriptive novels that explore the nature of humans and human relationships. Plus, this novel provides interesting insights into the Indian culture and should appeal to those interested in exploring other cultures.