The Great Indian Novel

by Shashi Tharoor

Book Overview

No Marketing Blurb

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140120491
• ISBN13: 9780140120493
• Release Date: April 1989
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.9" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Nothing new under the sun.

For me, the book works in a number of ways:1. Recasting the Mahabharata into modern India.Two bits struck me: the story of Karna, the driver's son, and Drona teaching the Panduva. The first because of the way personal brilliance can be discounted on the basis of family tree; the second for the retelling of aiming at the crow and Drona's promise to Arjuna.2. The names.Apart from the characters from the Mahabharata, there's also whole new cast of characters who reflect the modern world. Two names stand out in my mind. "Gaga Shah" is the story's name for the Aga Kahn. Given the antics of the various Aga Kahns, "Crazy Emperor" is not a bad characterization. Then there's Zinna as Karna - "The Hacker Off" - hacking off Pakistan - "Karnistan" - for himself.3. Showing the relevance of myth.Personally, I have a tendency to discount the mythos in favor of the logos, but mythos comes first, and recurs. Casting the Mahabharata onto modern history is a great way to show there's nothing fundamentally new under the sun.This book made for a great over-Christmas, by-the-fire-with-an-adult-beverage read.

Humor, History and superb english

This book is one of the very best I have read in recent times. The book marries Indian mythology with the freedom struggle and recent polity. Filled with humor and sarcasm, the author tells both stories very successfully and also chips in with his subtle observations (especially about independence and after). And to top it all the English is very good. If you don't know much about Indian history, and appreciate good english, you should read it.

A book that rings true to anyone

While many reviewers have commented that this book is hard to appreciate without a firm grasp of Indian history and mythology, I can disagree from firsthand experience. I am not Indian, and began reading the book after having seen Gandhi (the movie). Other than that, I knew a little bit about Indian culture and conflict with Pakistan and China. As for mythology, I recognized the name of the Bhadhava Gita. That's about it. Maybe I missed half of the subtlety of Tharoor, but nonetheless I finished his book with both some knowledge and much admiration both for the author, and for India. And to boot, this is one of the funniest, most irreverant books I've ever read. I wish someone would do this to for the Bible.

Celebration of India

This book is witty, hilarious and engrossing. Reader with no knowledge of Indian history may not find any interest in this book. The book celebrates India in the true sense combining India's struggle of thirty five hundered years ago to the more recent cause of independence. I had never understood Mahabharata so profoundly as after reading this book. Whether the Mahabharata is an historical account or a mere story makes no difference in this issue. The existence of such a story (Mahabharata) factually or on a literary level proves the same thing-that the idea of the subcontinent of India as a cultural unit clearly existed before any of the modern nation-states had come into being. In this regard no nation, subcontinent or religion has an epic of such proportion or which reflects the integration of such a large region as India through the Mahabharata. In fact it compasses all the domains of knowledge and all the issues of human life and culture. It is not just a religious book but the document for an entire civilization. Shashi Tharoor has done an exceptional work in creating similarities between two different times. One can only enjoy this book!

This book rules !!

I was totally floored by this book. I love the irreverence which pervades this book. I was so sick and tired of reading narrations of the Mahabharat which amounted to no more than the writer's obeisance to the half-mythical demigods who are omnipresent in Indian culture. Having read Rajaji's Mahabharata which is almost didactic in its flow, it was simply refreshing to read this treatment which is so much more than narration; it was also filled with brilliant analyses that were highly insightful and laugh-out-loud funny. The marriage of this epic with the Indian freedom struggle and its pointed comparisons of mythological characters with our erstwhile leaders was on the money. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants not to simply know the story of the Mahabharat, but to understand what it means to us as Indians, what India stands for to non-Indians, and how it is truly a timeless classic which bears relevance anywhere in the world.