A review by onesime
The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee
4.0
Whatever else this book is, it's intense. It contains not only the story of the Ghoshes, a middle class family in Calcutta, but also shows the reader in minute detail the operations of a communist movement, the Naxalites. These two narratives are initially kept separate, the chapters of the Ghosh family being printed in a different font than the chapters dealing with rural agitation tactics. Part of the pleasure of reading this book derived from how Mukherjee sets up two distinct styles - colorful, melodramatic prose reminiscent (to this Swiss reader) of a Bollywood dramedy for the chapters set in the Ghosh household, and a mixture of kitchen sink (or rice field?) realism and sentimentality for the Naxalite story - only to tear down the boundaries between the two.
The oscillation between petty family quarrels and grueling violence turns this book into a roller-coaster ride, and it's not necessarily one that ends by coming to a smooth halt. In fact, the last 20 pages had me cringing and groaning on my bed - I finished reading it, but only in massive discomfort. Especially because what he describes here is quite plausibly happening to people the world over, as I sit here typing and as you sit there later, reading it. Although The Lives of Others - this family novel overflowing with emotional and environmental detail - isn't the type of book I would have expected to be a call to action, its description of people ruthlessly trying to secure relative advantages over others makes a really strong case for working towards a different and better world for everyone.
Beyond the fact that the book makes this bleeding heart bleed even more, it's fantastically well written and a pleasure to read (if your teeth are strong enough to remain gritted for large swathes of it). At some point we get this sentence: "Priyo als held that if you did not love what you did, love it so much that it took up permanent residence in a protected corner of your mind so that you were never without its company, if that kind of love was not there, then you would never be any good at it" (289). Reading The Lives of Others, it becomes clear that the English language has taken up permanent residence in a protected corner of Neel Mukherjee's mind, and it's extremely fortunate that he chooses to share what he loves with the world in the form of his novels.
The oscillation between petty family quarrels and grueling violence turns this book into a roller-coaster ride, and it's not necessarily one that ends by coming to a smooth halt. In fact, the last 20 pages had me cringing and groaning on my bed - I finished reading it, but only in massive discomfort. Especially because what he describes here is quite plausibly happening to people the world over, as I sit here typing and as you sit there later, reading it. Although The Lives of Others - this family novel overflowing with emotional and environmental detail - isn't the type of book I would have expected to be a call to action, its description of people ruthlessly trying to secure relative advantages over others makes a really strong case for working towards a different and better world for everyone.
Beyond the fact that the book makes this bleeding heart bleed even more, it's fantastically well written and a pleasure to read (if your teeth are strong enough to remain gritted for large swathes of it). At some point we get this sentence: "Priyo als held that if you did not love what you did, love it so much that it took up permanent residence in a protected corner of your mind so that you were never without its company, if that kind of love was not there, then you would never be any good at it" (289). Reading The Lives of Others, it becomes clear that the English language has taken up permanent residence in a protected corner of Neel Mukherjee's mind, and it's extremely fortunate that he chooses to share what he loves with the world in the form of his novels.