In the Land of No Right Angles

by Daphne Beal

Book Overview

Alex , a twenty-year-old American student, is spending the year in Nepal, backpacking and photographing. As a favor to Will her American friend she uses one of her Himalayan treks to seek out Maya, a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307388069
• ISBN13: 9780307388063
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

From S. Krishna's Books

My favorite aspect of In the Land of No Right Angles is the vivid imagery of both Nepal and India. I've never traveled to Nepal, but because of Daphne Beal's amazingly detailed descriptions, I can picture what it must be like. This must have taken an inordinate amount of research, especially considering the fact that Beal is neither Indian nor Nepali. The book has an incredibly haunting quality that stems from the ghosts that the main character, Alex, must deal with. Her preoccupation with saving Maya from herself is an undercurrent that runs through the entire story. There is also a sense of suspense; there is much more going on behind the scenes than is apparent in the book, and Alex is aware of this. It leaves the reader with the desire to know and to understand what really is happening, what we can see glimpses of just beyond the shadows. While I can't say I enjoyed the subject matter of the book (I'm not going to ruin it for the rest of you by telling you what it is!), it was incredibly insightful and I feel like I learned a lot about the Nepali/Indian underworld. However, as the story is told solely from Alex's point of view, the reader is only given the information she can glean from those around her. At the end of the book, the reader is left wanting. Some of the questions posed through the book are answered, but many are not. Though this can be frustrating, the novel plays out like real life. I wish there had been a bit more of a resolution, and that some more of the earlier questions in the book had been answered, but I understand why Beal chose to end the book the way she did. It was an intriguing and mysterious book, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who has an interest in literature about the Indian subcontinent or Asia in general.

Very accurate portrayal

This is a very accurate accounting of life in Nepal. Having traveled personally to remote areas of Nepal and throughout Kathmandu, I felt a kindred spirit with the author while reading her tale.

"Here I could feel the deep, silent tick of geologic time beating through me."

Beal's novel is filled with contrasts as twenty-year-old Alex Larson treks from Kathmandu to distant villages,, the stark beauty of the Nepalese countryside, the majestic Himalayas, tiny huts that dot the barren roads, bustling cities crowded with bicycles and weary travelers, Buddhist temples, a distant landscape barely touched by progress. With limited time left on her visa, Alex agrees to do a favor for her bachelor friend, Will, 32, delivering Maya, a lovely young woman seeking work in the city and a future far from the small expectations of her village home, to the bachelor waiting in Kathmandu. Will has offered to use his many connections to find appropriate employment for Maya. Delighted with her change in fortune, Maya bonds in friendship with Alex as they journey together, temperamentally sympathetic and congenial in one another's company. The relationship alters slightly when Will enters the picture. Sensing his romantic interest in Maya, Alex feels awkward, out of place. But Will implores her to stay with them, even as he applies himself to his seduction of the girl, Maya emotionally ambivalent about leaving home and the violent death of her brother in a demonstration, given to sudden bouts of tears ("I think I might die!"). Strangely enough, the threesome settles into routine, Will early establishing his male dominance and resistance to commitment, Maya apparently unruffled by his frequent absences. The author delicately balances these pivotal characters: Alex's good intentions and generous nature, often bordering on the codependent; Will's inability to deny himself the many pleasures of the city, including an abundance of exotic women; and Maya's enigmatic response to her changed circumstances, part innocence, part wisdom, a young woman on the cusp of her life but with very limited opportunities. Forced to leave because of the expiration of her visa, Alex must deal with her own issues back in the states, returning to Nepal in 1994 and 1998, her frayed connections to Maya ever more tentative. While Alex matures with time, she reviews her first meeting with Maya with nostalgia, her own enthusiasm and naiveté striking in retrospect. Although both women are still quite young, Maya's survival is mired in an indifferent, often dangerous world. Finally locating her young friend in Bombay, Alex is stunned by the grim realities of the city, so different from her first experience of this part of the world, Bombay "a whole self-contained subculture based on degradation". Beautifully capturing the ancient culture that first attracted Alex, cities gradually poisoned with urban sprawl, Maya epitomizes beauty and promise, the truth more difficult for Alex to digest, the worldly Will seeming to always escape unscathed. Beauty, innocence and corruption coexist in a place where Alex and Maya first came together, when the future, and Maya, shimmered with hope. Luan Gaines/2008.