A review by thekohanacritique
Kanthapura by Raja Rao

2.0

Well, I get all the academic mind-blowing change this book & its writing has brought to the country's English Language and reading at large, but in my opinion, this two-hundred or so pages book could have been done and dusted in a hundred pages or less. I liked the traditional folk-tale-like narrative in the book until it felt overdone to the point of constant annoying repetition; I was mildly entertained by our pseudo-Gandhi protagonist Moorthappa (Moorthi) until he did a complete 360 and became a Nehruvian fanboy - just go with the flow I guess. Considering how he never, not even once, questioned the Gandhian notions and principles really irked me to the point of annoyance. The main story is just very problematic in my perspective and that is why I have nothing good to say about it. I'm sure there are people who've loved it apart from the universal goodness and importance it has, but for me specifically, it just kept turning my annoyance bolt. The entirety of Kanthapura felt like a stage-play of freedom and Satyagraha that was scripted to fail (Rao might as well have been critiquing the Gandhian teachings) and it was just pathetic to read about people dying and crying for nothing (considering how Kanthapura is a depiction of the many small villages that got involved into the pre-independence movement in real life) and made me just angry that our "enlightening" main character, performing all his city props and tricks, couldn't understand the basic problem that prevents him from untying the knot of 'equality'.

Anyway, I've spent a little over 2 weeks to finish this book (part of my uni reading, had to go through the pain) I am disappointed and totally in opposites with what this book has to offer in context.