tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15916138.post36628150571557240..comments2023-09-25T05:45:41.437-07:00Comments on The Art of Fiction: A Life Apart by Neel MukherjeeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15916138.post-49451678529720185322014-11-22T09:22:22.582-08:002014-11-22T09:22:22.582-08:00Neel Mukherjee's novel, The Lives of Others, i...Neel Mukherjee's novel, The Lives of Others, is overwhelming and powerful, it is a force, but however hard I tried to fall in love with it, I couldn't.<br /><br />It seemed very pleasant in the beginning. I saw the map at the beginning. Most of the places mentioned in the novel - Jhargram, Gidhni, Belpahari, Binpur - are within 40-50 km of my ancestral village. Somewhere in the novel, my hometown, Ghatshila, has been mentioned. Then there are Bali, Nalhati and Memari--places I travel through on my way to Pakur, the place where I work. Latehar, Chhipodohar, McCluskieganj--these are the other places I know. Nearly everything in this novel is familiar. Be it the term "munish" used for farm labourers, or the original Bengali terms for "fourteen forefathers" and the saying "sieve accusing the colander of having holes". The details the author has given regarding everything from the manufacturing of paper to the politics of West Bengal to a seemingly simple act of a mynah catching a centipede made my jaw drop. I was ready to embrace this novel as my new favourite.<br /><br />But then, I read the stereotypical, almost Aranyer Din Ratri-ish description of Santhals, and all my love for this novel vanished. On one hand, a drunk character is made to say, almost patronizingly, that tribals are pure and honest. On the other hand, a major character thinks that Santhal women are promiscuous because they drink homebrew. On top of that, there are scenes of Santhal men brutally killing non-Santhal moneylenders. And - I nearly choked at this - there is a line about "Santhal burial grounds". I am a Santhal. I know we don't bury our dead. We cremate them.<br /><br />Such a huge canvas, I had expected a lot from this novel. But now I am just relieved that it is over. Neha Shayarhttp://hindisms.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15916138.post-12877242560235114362011-03-23T03:29:39.006-07:002011-03-23T03:29:39.006-07:00A good writer has to have a good mind to see thing...A good writer has to have a good mind to see things that aren't there, things that are different from his or her reality, but also able to convince the readers that those things are true or relatively true.Essay Helphttp://www.essayservice.co.uk/noreply@blogger.com