Book: The Romantics
Author: Pankaj Mishra
Pages: 286
Read On: Paperback
How Long It Took Me To Read: 2 days
Plot Summary: The young Brahman Samar has come to the holy city of Benares to complete his education and take a civil service exam. But in this city redolent of timeworn customs, where pilgrims bathe in the sacred Ganges and breathe in smoke from burning ghats along the shore, Samar is offered entirely different perspectives on his country from the people he encounters. More than illustrating the clash of cultures, Mishra presents the universal truth that our desire for the other is our most painful joy.
General Thoughts: I've wanted to read this book for very long, I had heard and read many great things about this book and it is set in Benares and I wanted to read it for ages. I am glad I got to it finally.
Things I Liked:
1. The writing was really lovely. It get a good job taking the reader with Samar to his travels in India and a great job inside his head.
2. The setting of his book, in Benares was a huge draw for me personally. A part of my family, my mother's father and his family come from Benares and I have heard so much about the city from my mum, that I really want to visit it. I loved the descriptions of the city, it's lanes, it's people and it's general atmosphere.
3. The people Samar meets, both Indian and the western are all very interesting. And even the ones we meet briefly, we get to know well enough. The author does a great job at giving us an idea of who each person is and what drives them.
4. I liked Samar a lot, he is in many ways a typical young boy who is trying to find his way in the world. The people he meets, the places he visits and the many, many books he reads are all helping him become the person he wants to be. He is shy, quiet, unsure of how he thinks and feels about things. All of this endears him to the reader and makes him seem real.
5. The travels in this book, the places Samar visits are all places on my list of places to go- Benares, Pondicherry and Dharmashala, I loved reading about it.
6. The relationship of Catherine, an affluent French woman and her impoverished Indian musician boyfriend made for an interesting read. The difference of language, class and education between the two and the weird dynamics of their relationship was all very interesting.
7. I also loved Miss. West, Samar's English neighbour. Her life and her love-life were sad and heart-breaking but made for interesting read.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. I really liked this book, it made me want to travel and go see all the places mentioned in the book. I loved the subtle sense of melancholy in the book. However, this is not a book for everyone. Plot wise a lot doesn't happen in the book. It's not an action or plot driven book. So if you like books where lots happen and all story-lines are neatly wrapped up in the end, this might not be the book for you.
2. I also didn't quite get Samar's angst for a large part.
3. I also didn't like Rajesh and didn't really see the point of him being in the book. I get that he was meant to be the opposite of all of Samar's Western friends, but on the whole I don't really get his point.
Rating: 4/5
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