Amazon.com: Breathless in Bombay: Murzban F. Shroff: Books

From Publishers Weekly
Bombay-born Shroff opens a window on that city's commercial bustle, as lived in the heads of its people (as his introduction puts it) one profession at a time. The opening Dhobi Ghat, follows Mataprasad Mahadev, 53, delivering laundry, and establishes a pattern followed by later stories: a man (it's most often a man) is shown at work; his backstory then explains how he got there and leads to an ambiguous, open-ended conclusion. Whether wealthy tycoon, taxi driver or writer, modernization and globalization are eroding livelihoods, making previously unimpeachable choices untenable, and causing massive nostalgia. There are flashes of excellence here, as in the portrait of an elderly, neurotic army widow in The Great Divide, but heavy symbolism weighs down some of the otherwise carefully nuanced portraits. Shroff proves adept at unraveling Bombay's rituals, rumors and rhythms from the inside out. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“. Breathless in Bombay pulses with desire and dreams and wrong and sorrow, with chaos singular and general, and ultimately, with hope. A marvelous first collection by a writer to be watched."--Janet Peery, author of What the Thunder Said, The River Beyond the World, and Alligator Dance

“Murzban Shroff's literary exploration of Bombay takes one to parts of the city one seldom sees. His compassion for his characters and their everyday trials comes through vividly in each story.” ---Thrity Umrigar, author of The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet and Bombay Time

"It's a rare thing to see human troubles described with such energetic good humor--Murzban Shroff leads you through the chaos of Mumbai with an avuncular arm around your shoulder and a spring in his step. Not since V. S. Naipaul's A House For Mister Biswas has the discomfort of people in their society been so engagingly chronicled--Shroff has written a stellar debut. We could use four or five of him." --J. Robert Lennon, author of Mailman and Pieces for the Left Hand

"In this excellent debut short-story collection, Murzban Shroff distills the delirious reality of Bombay into a vivid, multi-layered collage that's nothing short of stunning. It's all here -- the beauty, the suffering, the grinding wheel of modernization, the desperate machinations for love and money, plus a cast of characters that in its richness and scope rivals anything we find in Dickens, Balzac, or Tom Wolfe. Shroff writes with an energy and intensity equal to his subject, and has given us an extraordinary book that satisfies on every level."—Ben Fountain, author of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara

"Like James Joyce's Dubliners, Breathless in Bombay is a story collection that has the range and fullness of a novel. Shroff's empathy for his characters is filled with wisdom and great-heartedness, and his people and their city linger in the reader's mind long after the last page is turned."--Ron Rash, author of The World Made Straight, One Foot in Eden, and Chemistry and Other Stories

“With a sharp eye and a social conscience, Shroff illuminates the complexities of life at all levels of Mumbai's stratified society. A rich, insightful collection that is part travel-writing and part fiction, reading these stories is like visiting this great and chaotic city on the Arabian Sea.” -- Rishi Reddi, author of Karma and Other Stories

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (February 5, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312372701
ISBN-13: 978-0312372705
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #214,667 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
dhohi ghat

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bheem Singh, Parmar Sahib, Varun Paoli, Raju Gondva, Condom Man, Amir Jawaab, Jamal Haddi, Professor Kodial, Kishore Sahu, The Queen Guards Her Own, Rathod Singh, The Great Divide, Silla Mullafiroze, Four Aces, Nadir Ravankhot, The Queen Guards Her Ou'n, Busy Sunday, Gul Sinor, Different Bhel, Charu Sinha, Lacchman Dubey, Marine Drive, Queen Mother, Ram Manohar, Bhikoo Bhadva

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	61% buy the item featured on this page: Breathless in Bombay 4.5 out of 5 stars (4) $11.66
	14% buy Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found 3.8 out of 5 stars (82) $11.56
	9% buy Love and Longing in Bombay: Stories 4.1 out of 5 stars (27) $12.59
	9% buy The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) 4.0 out of 5 stars (233) $8.40

Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

indian fiction(3)

india(2)

bombay(1)

breathless(1)

literary(1)

short stories(1)

story(1)

See all 12 tags...

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews

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

Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly breathtaking view of Bombay., March 17, 2008

By	Vistasp Hodiwala (Valsad, Gujarat India) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a book of literary fiction that should be mandatory reading for anyone who has ever loved the city of Bombay (or Mumbai, whatever you prefer). Easily the most arresting fictional biography of a city and its inhabitants in a long, long time, Shroff's short stories crackle with a sort of nervous energy that makes the familiar, endearing and the seemingly unknown, fascinating. All fourteen stories sing, dance and catapult their way into your heart with a richness of cast and detail that literally takes your breath away.

As with any book of short stories, it's difficult to agree upon the universal gems that everyone loves. In my opinion, the title story Breathless in Bombay along with The Queen Guards Her Own and This House of Mine can hold their own in a galaxy of the finest short fiction you would have ever come across from some the most astute practitioners of this art form.

A word of caution though. This is most certainly NOT India Exotica, what the West, ordinarily loves to peddle in the name of Indian Fiction (and which justifiably irritates the living daylights out of serious readers). This is fiction in all its rawness; contemporary in telling, compelling to read, rooted firmly in the Indian milieu and throbbing with affectionate and intelligent humour.

Shroff's bond with his fellow citizens from all walks of the society, his growing unease with the changing social equations, his unsparing eye on the hollowness that drives the city's prima donnas and his tireless concern for the way the world around him is reshaping to accommodate society's fresh set of rules, permeates through every pore of the story and is in fact a recurring theme that haunts its characters (and as a result of that, his readers) over and over.

The city of Bombay has got herself a stellar storyteller. Take a bow, Mr. Shroff.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fresh Voice from India, February 14, 2008

By	Joseph R. Furshong (Helena, Montana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Avid readers of fiction have their favorite Indian authors. The sub-continent has provided English readers with some of the best fiction of the last 30 years: Rushdie, Mistry, Desai, Seth to name a few. These authors have opened our eyes to a fascinating culture and landscape, seemingly another world. We will soon be adding Murzban F. Shroff to the list of exemplary fiction writers and his first collection of short stories, Breathless in Bombay, will prove that his inclusion is deserved.

Murzban provide characters, backgrounds and story lines in14 deftly expressed stories. One story, titled The Queen Guards Her Own, contains as many vivid characters as if it was written by Dickens: Chacha the carriage driver, Simran the young prostitute, Amir Jwaab the beggar. This House of Mine, tells the story of a houseful of tenants who unite to save their homes from demolition, each tenant a completely portrayed individual. In Maalishwaala, the Hindi term for masseuse, we learn the complex story, past and present, of a young man from a rural village trying to earn money to support his wife back home. Each story delivers, none disappoints.

The most fascinating character of course is Bombay itself, the city that is the home to these characters and millions of others. Dense neighborhoods that were rural 30 years ago are now being leveled for high-rises. Many thousands live and work in slums with corporate headquarters as the backdrop of their labors. The new Indian and the India of centuries of tradition rub shoulders continuously every day. The tension and the contrast between the ancient and the modern, rural and urban, Muslim and Hindu, affluence and poverty are all here. Murzban F. Shroff is a skillful and accomplished writer who has won recognition for his short stories. I believe that this collection heralds the wider arrival of his unique voice and ample talent. He is deserving of taking his place among his worthy contemporaries.

Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well Written, Interesting, Promising Author, April 11, 2008

By	Sam A. Mawn-Mahlau (Winchester, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a solid, well written book that offers a series of short stories and vignettes about life in contemporary Bombay. The writing is for the most part strong and straightforward, with the tone mixing the tragic, the melodramatic and the amusing.

For me, the best parts of this book are the places where the author lets himself go and takes a few risks. The best example is a story ("The Queen Guards Her Own") that revolves around a retired champion horse that now pulls a tourist cart and his owner, as well as a couple of small girls lost in the world, one the daughter of a wealthy tourist who the cart driver has in his carriage and one who is the daughter of a prostitute whom the cart-driver has befriended. This story weaves from image to image, a sort of verbal montage, to build toward its conclusion. It deftly mixes humor, sometimes ironical, sometimes slapstick, to keep the situations from declining into the overly melodramatic. This writing has the mark of greatness on it.

On the other hand, in the title story and in other stories Schroff indulges himself in an excess of melodrama; the rich/poor contrasts and comparisons become too easy to anticipate as you read through the stories. He needs to take them a level deeper in a number of places. The result is a series of good stories with occassionally memorable images that, in the end, fall a bit short of what we hope for them.

I enjoyed this book; I hope to enjoy his next even more.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 4 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivated!
BREATHLESS IN BOMBAY by Murzban Shroff is a stunning collection of stories, linked by a love of the city and a truly unusual and diverse portrait of its inhabitants. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Julie Brickman

› See all 4 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; }

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (1 discussion)

	Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
	Breathless in Bombay Review	0	January 2008

› See all discussions...

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

[Cancel]

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
literary fiction Have You Written Literary Fiction - Come Tell Us About It.	591	1 day ago
literary fiction '2009 Bronze Book Award - Best Regional Fiction'	2	6 days ago
literary fiction wallace stegner	4	7 days ago
literary fiction Favorite first line opening in a book....	42	7 days ago
literary fiction What is literary fiction?	143	10 days ago
literary fiction Three or more living authors you view as great	161	11 days ago
short stories Three Avenues of Escape - short story	0	12 days ago
literary fiction Children of alcholics	6	16 days ago

The India community

Latest activity 41 minutes ago

4,574 customers have contributed 5,464 products, 327 lists & guides and more...

› Explore the community

The Short Stories community

Latest activity 42 minutes ago

4,326 customers have contributed 4,397 products, 332 lists & guides and more...

› Explore the community

The Literary community

Latest activity 1 hour ago

2,344 customers have contributed 2,816 products, 135 lists & guides and more...

› Explore the community

Explore more

› See all Customer Communities

› Your communities

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.

› See featured Amapedia.com articles

Listmania!

Parsi (South Asian) Zoroastrian related works - favorites: A list by Mango Eater
Indian Fiction of the 21st Century: A list by C. Patrick "Kavita"
Going to India?: A list by P. Strayer

Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...

Smash your TV! Dive into these Bestsellers & Classics: A guide by Avid Reader
(r^5)-#4: A guide by H. Touhy
great female heroines, great relationships: A guide by Diana Fritz

Create a guide

Look for Similar Items by Category

Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary
Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories > Anthologies

Lithium Ion Stays Powered Longer

Work longer and charge batteries less often with lithium ion tools from Amazon.com. Our large selection of lithium ion power tools offers many choices.

›Start shopping