Customer Reviews

Six Suspects: A Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is really a great study of a writer's style - or in this instance, how adaptable Vikas Swarup's style really is. The story is a murder mystery with, you guessed it, six primary suspects. When Indian playboy Vicky Rai is acquitted of a murder he's blatantly guilty for, the nation of India is in an uproar. To celebrate, Vicky throws a party at which he is subsequently murdered. All 500+ guests are frisked and six suspects carrying guns are fingered. A dedicated investigative journalist aims to uncover the truth, at which point we learn all about the backgrounds, motives, evidence, and outcomes for the sacred six.

The 6 stories are extremely diverse in terms of both characters and style. Ranging from an American hick from the backwoods of Texas to a popular Bollywood actress / sex symbol to a corrupt bureaucrat or two, each section of the book is wholly devoted to that character and written in a different form, including third-person omniscient, diary entries, and perhaps most challenging - entirely in dialogue. Of course, there are wavers of connections between all 6 characters that pop up throughout the book giving the reader a bit of extra delight as you try to unscramble who the murderer actually is - in fact, you can envision the book as a bit like the movie Babel.

That being said, the success of the book really lies in the fact that it's not a murder mystery that focuses on its worthy victim or the crime - it's a murder mystery that looks at how six people from all sorts of backgrounds could possibly end up in the position of being accused of a murder, and the effects Vicky Rai's initial acquittal and subsequent death have on the Indian public.

I suppose the only criticisms I can offer are the fact the book can get a bit confusing and unlikely - for every realistic scene or incidence of kismet, you have to suspend your disbelief for something else that may seem wholly unfamiliar or bizarre to the typical North American reader. Also if you've never read a book set in India or with Indian main characters, I suggest doing so - there are a lot of cultural references and sprinklings of language that might be completely mind-boggling otherwise. Still, I enjoyed myself throughout the book and came to appreciate each of the 6 stories at one point or another - especially as the ending continues to unwrap the mystery once and for all.

Following the success of "Slumdog Millionaire", Vikas Swarup continues to turn his writer's eye to expose more of a slice of Indian life. Vivek "Vicky" Rai, a thoroughly unpleasant politician's son and playboy who's literally gotten away with murder of a young woman along with various other crimes and escapades, is found shot dead at a party. And after rounding up those carrying firearms, the local police are left with six suspects for the killer, all with different motivations for wanting Vicky dead.

"Six Suspects" is a tale in the great tradition of the locked-room whodunit, and Swarup retraces the steps that brought each suspect to the party with enough cause to commit murder, and the crossing of paths of the suspects and those surrounding them. The cast is varied and the telling of the story thus far is lively and sharp.

If anything, "Suspects" could be faulted for having the characters be more than a little stereotypical: the glamorous Bollywood actress, the dopey American hick, the streetwise "slumdog", the corrupt bureaucrat...but at the end of the day, to be honest, "Suspects" somehow manages the trick of commentary of bureaucratic corruption in India while being a humorous romp. For that, the sometimes-thin characterization can be forgiven: Swarup's strength clearly lies in writing situation and narrative and making it compelling and accessible. Somehow, for a murder mystery, I found myself laughing more than once at the unexpected demonstration of the human comedy in the oddest places, and the twists and turns of the plot. Sometimes it's good to be reminded that mystery doesn't always have to be a heavy, dark genre.

The life and death of the thoroughly unpleasant Vicky Rai, and how he touched the lives of the six suspects, is another great effort from Swarup and definitely makes for a nice witty, amusing beach read.

The Good: Learning about Indian corruption, slum life, tribal peoples, Bollywood lifestyles. Some of the book is fun and page-turning.

The Bad: The American character is such a stereotype and exaggeration that he proves to be completely unbelievable and ruins parts of the book. (His dialogue is overly peppered with cliche Texasisms that no one really says. He is also unbelieveably and conviently ignorant.) The plot drives the action instead of the other way around: unrealistic mistaken identity, characters provided with loaded weapons for no reason other than to further the plot, while others are given millions of dollars they do not deserve. One character becomes posessed when convenient.

Instances of ridiculousness and unbelieveability make this book feel like an amaturish effort...which it is, since the author is not really an author.

I learned a little about Indian life and culture, and for that, it was worth it.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for an escapist jaunt, ideally while killing time on a trans-oceanic flight. However, if substance and thoroughly high quality are desired, avoid this novel at your peril.

In echoing previous customer reviews, this murder mystery set in India is indeed original and fast-paced, providing captivating portrayals of the victim and suspects. The methods of depicting the characters are diverse: in the first person, in the third--in fact, one suspect's story is narrated via the pages of her diary and another is portrayed solely through the transcripts of his tapped telephone. And although the victim's character is odious to the point of incredulousness, his many despicable traits are necessary to move the plot of this multi-faceted whodunit (very much in the tradition of Agatha Christie and others of this genre).

Few boring pages are to be found in this novel and for that, I commend Mr. Swarup. I also thank him for delivering such a rich rendering of his homeland, despite some of the characters seeming somewhat two-dimensional and stereotypical. The most egregious example of such poor character development is in the portrayal of the American tourist, a cartoonish hick from Texas named Larry Page. Although his occasionally being confused with the co-founder of Google is amusing and actually somewhat plausible, his blatant stupidity is that of a person with clinical mental retardation and his witticisms and rationalizations are laden with campy, pat expressions few people in America actually say. Furthermore, and most disappointing, the language the Texan character uses is abysmally unrealistic. Page's tale is told in the first person; therefore, every bit of his story is reflected by his own thoughts and words. I wish Mr. Swarup would have shown more care and conducted further research in creating this character, because a Texan (let alone an American) does not speak British English, using terms such as "queue" for a line to wait in or "fortnight" to indicate a two-week period. Sadly, the suspension of disbelief for many readers would be stretched to the breaking point while reading this suspect's tale.

The other character representations are of much higher quality, with some more powerfully depicted than others. However, given the poor quality of the Texan suspect's development, I have frequently wondered how most Indian readers of this book would feel about the portrayals of the other five suspects regarding stereotypes and authentic speech. Nevertheless, I recommend this book (albeit conditionally), and I have faith that Mr. Swarup will improve his craft and generate works of higher literary quality in the not too distant future; that is, if he listens to the critics of this novel, of which there are sure to be many.

Very interesting book! I loved how Vikas Swarup changed the point of view between each character. You got to know six individuals, all possible murder suspects through narration, journal entries, phone conversations, first person and third person views. This was a very clever way of presenting the moral fiber of the main characters. However, having said that, most of the stories were too fantastic and somewhat unbelievable. I though the book was only average as a murder mystery, even with a cool twist at the end.

The strength of the book lied in the author's ability to portray contemporary India through these six fictional characters. They represented the different classes and groups of people affecting the Indian society. Particularly disturbing was the description of the middle class. While perversions, murders and violence were everywhere, the middle class remained indifferent and apathetic.

"Six Suspects" did a good job addressing the escalating problem of corruption. It was seen at every level of the Indian society. By reading the book you got a sense of Mr.Swarup shouting through the pages, calling for a moral awakening! I liked his quote: "Let us resolve to cleanse the political system of criminal elements and ensure that the law-breakers do not become law-makers. This is the only way to safeguard and strengthen our democracy". Applicable in India, applicable in the U.S.A.

In the prologue to "the razor's edge", Somerset Maugham excuses himself during several pages for having in his book american characters, while he knows he cannot write credibly anything else than British English.

Mr. Vikas Swarup does not have this kind of humility. Instead, he has a wide range of characters, from the American to the tribal indian, portrayed in this novel, all in an equally not believable fashion. It is the work of an amateur novelist, who has been pushed to fame by the very successful movie adaptation of his first novel, Q&A. This is also an interesting point, since Q&A, although it has a great pitch, is not a very good novel ; only the film actually was.

In short, Mr. Swarup has an esteem of his work much higher than his understanding of the profession of writer. This led him to think he could write "Six Suspects".

After Reading "Q&A" I was excited to see a new book from Vikas Swarup. When I read the premise, I hade to read it right away.

What you have in the book is six different stories using different styles; Two stories being told from first-person perspective, two told third-person, one told through a journal, and one told through telephone conversation transcripts. And while each story can stand on their own, they all end up being parts of a greater story.

I loved each story, even though I could tell that this was more of an experiment for Swarup. Out of all the stories, the one about the American was by far the my least favorite, and thats the only reason this book didn't receive 5 stars. His story was told first-person, and was very hard to believe. I think this story showed more of Swarup's lack of knowledge about Americans, and would have been better if told from a third-person perspective.

The accent the character had was a bad stereotype of a southern hillbilly, so bad it was not believable at all. My favorite part of the story had to be when a family that decided to day trip from San Francisco to Philadelphia, and got lost in Texas while traveling from New York to Philadelphia (Yeah. You read that right). For this story, I had to suspend my disbelief to the brink, and I had to force myself to read through these parts, and almost gave up. I didn't realize how much I didn't like it until I finished this section. Still, with that being hard to read, I found the story to have a heart and soul that lacks in most stories today. With that finally off my chest, the positives outweigh the negatives.

Munna Moble's story was by far my favorite. It started out at a fast pace, and would jump from hilarious to heartbreaking, and pulled me every which way to both extremes. If just this story was a book, it would make an amazing book all it's own.

I would recommend this book to everyone, especially if you've read Q&A (I liked the how a couple characters from Q&A made a brief appearance). The book starts off a mystery, leaving you guessing every possibility, until the surprise ending you won't see coming.

When does the next book come out?

I'm a frequest business traveler to India, and in fact I picked up my copy last fall from a Mumbai street vendor. Reading it, I wished I'd read something similar before my first trip a number of years ago. Not because it portrays the Indian social strata with complete accuracy (from an outsider's perspective, it seems to do a good job, but what do I know), but because it does seem to show how multifaceted the place is. The author gets deep inside each of the character's heads, and makes you feel close to each of them.

The end is pretty tidy. I liked that about the book. I say, read it. You won't find anything offensive (except perhaps the core issue of the story, the event that started everything, which I've since been told by one of my coworkers really happened).

Why do publishers insist on keeping drop caps in the Kindle version of books when they never, ever position correctly?

This author has a message. Books with a message are almost always interesting, because you get two stories packed into one: How does the author manage to internalize - in the reader - the importance of the message, and how does the story go in itself? I believe the message is expressed in the first sentence of the novel. " Not all deaths are equal." (p. 3). It is elaborated in the last sentence. This history is a quilt where all the patches fit together. There are treads that suddenly turns up where you did not expect them, but which reinforces the pattern that are to emerge as the quilt is sewn. The pattern is about corruption, killings, and ambitions in the Indian society, still there are shades of grey and blue: "Sataya Prakash Pandey, Bihar Police, to Eketi - the tribal: "You can meet the best people in the world here and the worst. You can experience unparalleled kindness and witness extraordinary cruelty" (p. 310). The story is a mix of everything, something original, something borrowed and reshaped, here is "My fair lady", the story about Abraham (p. 221) and "Crocodile Dundee" (two versions of the tribal in town. one from a small island in the Indian ocean and one from USA). About finding a man in India.." by finding a green roofed home",," "Do you have any idea how big India is?" (p. 49); I am your friendly fork-lift operator.. (P. 79). There are sentences that are fun, but maybe reinvented too many times: "When life gives you a lemon - make lemonade." Still, story is believable, although some bizarre sections are unconsciously subtracted from the books reality by this reader. However, "believable" is a strange word especially when used about communication between two worlds. This novel is about several worlds stuffed together within one country. This book was a pleasure to read, it made me as angry as the author. And that was probably the intention.