Customer Reviews

The Romantics: A Novel

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

well i purchased this book with great expectations. That Pankaj Mishra was our Indian whizkid who will write the big Indian novel. He was already famous for discovering Arundhati Roy. And selective leaks in the media of a million dollar advance built up expectations of an Indian Tolstoy. But. As soon as I started reading it I realised that to make the book acceptable to the western readers, Mishra has almost made it a formula book. Tried to incorporate tourist spots and elements of India which would interest the americans and europeans. Maybe the pressure of the fat advance made him do it. Thus we in fact have so many foreign tourists -- like Ms West-- who form the core of the plot. And the story is about Indian tourist spots - varanasi, Manali, pondicherry...wherever the tourists go. Nothing wrong in it. But somehow it all seemed so fake. Even the American edition book cover is absolutely tourist brochure stuff, in contrast to the Indian cover. Inspite of the title, there is little romance in the story either. I wish he would have explored human realtionships with more depth. However the writing style is fairly okay. Maybe Mishra will discover a true indian idiom next time.

'The Romantics' is of interest primarily because it attempts to delineate a 'provincial' India, as opposed to the more 'metropolitan' outlook of Rushdie, Seth, Desai, et al. The narrator, for example, grows up in Allahabad, spends time in Benares and then retires in Dharamshala. As such, it is is often fascinating in its description of the manners and mores of the smaller cities (the attitudes of the tourists who visit Benares, for example, or the outlook of students caught up in politics-infested universities). The author obviously is drawing upon his experiences while researching his earlier 'Butter Chicken In Ludhiana'. The painstaking, detailed descriptions are Flaubertian, and the cool, clinical dissection of events and incidents owes something to Naipaul. However, on too many occasions, Mishra substitutes summaries of scenes and events, rather than describe the actual scenes and events themselves. After a while, this smacks of being a literary short-cut and has the rather unfortunate effect of distancing the characters from the reader. We need to hear what they actually sound like, for example -- but in place of dialogue, all too often there is merely recapitulation. All things considered, however, 'The Romantics' does chart new territory for the Indian novel in English and as such, it is definitely worth reading.

The Romantics is a story which has a mellow and gentle feel to it and in my opinion should be read, not in one sitting, but on a few lazy Sundays. Pankaj Mishra too is writing here in a very different style than his earlier bestseller, "Butter chicken in Ludhiana". For me as an Indian there were two highpoints in the book. The rather sympathetic insight into the life on ghats and in the madhouse of Varanasi; and a more delicately handled interaction between the east and the west in the lives of the characters in the stories. Unlike the earlier books on such interactions, the characters are not memsahibs and rajas. It is in the shape of more proletarian and identifiable people. Dont look for a complex plot here. But yes if you are looking for a believable story narrated gently, well the romantics is your book. Mishra is probably a romantic at heart, but possibly quiet shy. So the romance here is in the mood created and not in the words. Defintely worht a read ...

The Romantics seems promising at the start and then fizzles off. There is very little story and though I'm not into plot/action driven books, the complete lack of then requires exceptionally good writing, which this book does not have. Yes it has evocative details, which usually go on for much too long e.g "...pilgrims surging into the main road from all directions, though narrow lanes and maze like alleys, from between houses leaning into each other, pilgrims holding marigolds and red hibiscuses, brass and steel platters lit with diyas and sweets and vermilion powders, pilgrims wearing pink and purple saris..." and on and on and on. The American reviewer from California enjoyed these description, but for Asian me for whom it is home, it got very tedious after a while. I might have enjoyed them had there been a story as well as more depth in the characters (all of whom I found very steroetypical), and had the relationship in the book had some emotion in them -after all the book is 'about' a series of relationships the protagonist has to people as well as with the world. This reader learned nothing new about life from this novel except that life and time is precious and next time I should stop reading such material ten pages into it. Needless to say I am very disappointed. Why Mr. Mishra is hailed as the next literay sensation only God knows. And perhaps his Western publishers.

i honestly feel this is the best novel, indian or not, i have read in long time. all these reviewers who go on and on about this being an example of packaged "exoticism" and then go on to suggest reading rushdie (the king of "exoticism") really blow my mind. this is such a beautiful book precisely because it is not really about the concept "India" at all. The strange, unneccesary plot turns are simply the stuff of real life. you cant reduce this book to any trite commentary about east vs west. it has a life of its own.

I am a massive fan of writers from the subcontinent, because I find their writing vibrant and emotive. However, this novel, while much hailed, has left me cold and slightly drowsy. Although there are some interesting ideas floating around the book - sporadic bursts of genius - most of the time it is a drag. The idea of exploring the confused, distressed and disillusioned mindset of a generation of Indian youth is great, but it needs a decent story or plot to peg itself on. The Romantics is the story of a young man whose inherent confusion about life is vastly compounded when he meets a group of western tourists and falls in love with the most complex character among them. The writing is dominated by the thoughts of the protagonist Samar, with the prose suspended in a stagnant storyline. While the book has been praised for its sparse, no-nonsense style, it is for this reason that it has a sedative affect on the reader. The story is populated by some wonderful, quirky characters but they do very little after appearing in the plot. In a netshell, very little happens that isn't inside the heroes head. You reach the end of the book wondering how it took so long for so little to happen. Perhaps the protagonist lacks the wit and charisma needed to make his story gripping. Not a complete waste of time though, there are some soothing sceneries to be read about and some interesting thoughts on the state of modern Indian youth.

I found this book to be really boring. The author despite all the hype lack originality and the writing is as boring as it can ever get. I had a hard time finishing the book. The rumored million dollar advance has got all the hype for the author but the book comes very very short of expectations. My recommendation is do not read this book.

This is an extremely promising first novel. While some of the prose is a bit purple and wanted a discriminating editor, this book rates five stars because it is so much better and richer than the other over-hyped books hurled at us these days. Mr. Mishra has taken the old (think E.M. Forster) East Meets West scenario and overlaid it beautifully and successfully with a New East Meets Old East Scenario. As one who loves literature and works on the problems between and within cultures around the world, I found Mr. Mishra insightful, honest and, finally, poetic--which is rather a rare combination. This book is for the thoughtful, and the thought-filled. I have given copies to several friends. Lastly, I very much hope that this is but a beginning for Mr. Mishra, and that his future work, while shedding the excesses of prose that fail in their beauty because they have reached too hard toward it, will develop upon the handsome foundation established here. An exceptional book in these poorly-written times.

This is a novel of remembered youth, lost love and self-discovery. Told in Mishra's crystalline, courtly prose, it is vividly imagined and emotionally resonant. Mishrah has a knack for evoking people who have misplaced their lives in a chaotic landscape and a view of emotion and motivation that is almost clinical in its clarity. Mishrah's style is superficially similar to Naipaul's but his perspective strikes me as much more compassionate and lacking Naipaul's perpetual undertone of disillusionment. This is a much better book than Mishra's An End to Suffering, which seemed to me rather an awkward blend of didacticism and literary autobiography. Mishrah should stick to fiction: The Romantics is a wonderful read.

Few writers are gifted enough to portray a picture with words that not only contains picturesque scenes, but also projects sounds, smells, the emotional-romantic-philosophical journey of a young man's life in a country in limbo - with his life tracing a somewhat similar pattern his country has seen from the time of the Upanishads to the upheavals of a post-colonial 20th century. For example, Pankaj's description of the bus transporting the young romantics on the hilly roads of Mussorie - the verbiage being both corpulent and succulent - and for a reader, reading it with a hungry appetite, is metaphysically taken there:

"As the bus groaned out of the ungainly clutter of downtown Mussorie, wide unobstructed vistas opened up all around us: lushly forested foothills wreathed in early morning blue mists; sharp-edged stripes of sunlight angled against the soft mulchy ground of pine grooves; thin columns of smoke rising from the tiny houses with thatch or tin roofs scattered all across the hillsides and deep valley-sallow gems of last night, ..."

Furthermore, when the picture is made to move, frame by frame as in a movie, it starts to weave a rich kaleidoscope that is entertaining, realistic, and filled with the expectation: what next? ; although it contains no mafias, no plots, teary eyed heroines, and chivalrous heroes.

The Romantics is a novel, that almost echoes the Romantique period of Europe, that resonates in a romantic way on the cultural-emotional sides of every day humans - Indian and Western - residing in an ancient vedic city of Benares, India. However, for the reader who expects orthodox romanticism between two young lovers - or, say a tangled triad of lovers - definitely it is a let down. On occasions the title "The Romantics" almost sounds a misnomer. This novel is definitely not Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet or even an Eric Segal kind of a novel "The Lovers". This novel is a philosophical journey of a young Brahman boy from a now, somewhat poor family, who has a tryst with romance along the way. This romance hits a crescendo with the "carnal" consumption of desires than a romantic voyage. In a way it is realistic in that it is mostly true for an Indian male from a conservative, orthodox family, who has little experience of dates or intimacy of any kind with the opposite sex.

For anyone who is familiar with struggles of ordinary, under-privileged Indians have to go through to insure a secure future - in decaying universities crumbled and crippled by post-colonial, rulers of modern India, that were once the hoary temples of learning - this novel will have many nostalgic memories: for instance, mini nipped-in-the-bud French revolutions where the emperor, now replaced by the vice-chancellor of the university, faces the wrath of the zealot student body containing communists, Hindu nationalists, and the rest belonging to a variety of hues and shades. One of the characters, Rajesh from a very poor family - an intellectual who enjoys reading poetry by Faiz Ahmad Faiz - and a part-time goonda is brilliantly painted, via Pankaj's rich language, as the reader is made to get a feel for the horrors and the dark side of life in India. The trial and tribulations, and heat and dust, do not stop there in this novel which is definitely not pedestrian in pace. For instance, again, one gets transported visually to one's own days at a typical Indian city or town when reading this passage:

"The train swayed and clattered ahead through tangles of gleaming tracks. Benares appeared at last after a series of small deserted stations, and the view contracted: It was now naked brick houses and messy electric wires and algae-covered ponds around which sat early-morning defecators, gazing meekly at the passing train."

The European characters - Catherine, Miss. West, Mark, et al. -- add more than just color to the story. It very well conveys that the human condition is one and the same whether it be the material-rich West or poverty-stricken India. For example, Mark, an American with an interest in "alternative" (Ayurvedic) medicine with a deeper quest of hitting a "spiritual jackpot" in an ancient civilization is brought to earth after several years when he realizes that such a jackpot, after all, doesn't exist - and decides to help himself from the Inside rather than through the ambience created by the sadhus. On the other hand, it is painful to see how Anand, a poor Indian musician - both in talent and money - struggles to use his French girlfriend both as his passport and visa for a better life in the West (Paris). Although this novel does not exactly fall in the genre of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" it made me think deeply about life as Pankaj Mishra nicely interjects with some philosophical Sanskrit words: Sunyata (void) and Maya (the world what we experience in the now is an ILLUSION).

As a reader who has spent a little over two decades in South Indian cities (Madras and others) it brought back many sweet memories. For a non-Indian reader with some experience of India - or even some bookish knowledge of India - he or she is likely to enjoy this novel since the author has cared to explain all the Indian terms used in the novel, perhaps with rare exceptions (for example, "chulla" is not explained). For hard core Western readers with no interest in India, this novel is not likely to feel and sound "romantic". But for all those with an interest in India this is definitely something to read and enjoy - and the pages just fly-by. I surprised myself with how little time I took to finish this novel from start to finish.