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Loading... The Death of Vishnu (2001)by Manil Suri
The landing of an apartment building in Mumbai is occupied by Vishnu who lives there upon the sufferance of the apartment residents. He has "earned" his landing by running errands for the residents, but now as he is dying they all react with varying degrees of guilt, hostility, avoidance, repulsion. What a portrait of these dreadful, all too human, all too familiar, people! And Vishnu's dying is its own separate story ending with a kind of grace. I will not forget this book. (  ) Chelyse | Jun 28, 2011 |  wonderful writing, and an easy trip to India; part of the apartment house genre; creates empathy for others we might never know. grheault | Nov 3, 2010 | There is so much going on in this novel on so many different levels that I immediately want to read it again. The juxtaposition of interior and exterior life and the human desire for connection and transcendance are common threads manifested in numerous characters who are often humorous and sometimes tragic in their obessions. Vishnu's death becomes a celebration of the senses as he remembers his life through scenes with his mother and his lover. This is not a horrible death-- although the graphic details of his very public dying create turmoil and discomfort for his neighbors who try to discover the appropriate level of compassion. Vishnu seems to have lived more deeply than those who judge him. The mundane and mythic are interwoven-- is this a biological demise, spiritual ascension or both? The setting in Mumbai is wonderfully descriptive; the characters' obessions with the trivial and obsurd are recognizable and poignant. Sometimes the writing took me to an uncomfortable edge, but I appreciate the challenge. (  )1  KimHolland | Oct 11, 2010 | I didn't really like it. I like deep, philosophical novels and explorations of foreign lifestyles and conditions. This novel just has no redeeming characters. I feel like I would have liked the book had I finished it, but I just gave up because it was not fun to read. dangelelli | Apr 4, 2010 | On the steps of a Bombay apartmentVishnu, a servant, a handyman, lays dying. The story shifts fromVishnu's remembrances of the past to each of the apartment dwellersand then to Vishnu's dying thoughts. Vishnu is ignored by the othersas much as possible, but becomes an embarrassment as his dying growsmore and more prolonged and more and more messy.The book's strength, to me, was in its typically Indian focus on thesensuality of life and the Indian casual acceptance of the horrors oflife. ( ) debnance | Jan 29, 2010 | no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 006000438X, Paperback)The title of Manil Suri's first novel gets right to the point. His protagonist, having purchased the right to sleep on the ground-floor landing of a Bombay apartment house, slips slowly from a coma into death. As this aging alcoholic takes leave of the earth, his neighbors surround him, arguing over who gave Vishnu a few dried chapatis, who called the doctor for him, and who will pay for the ambulance to cart him away. Meanwhile, the hero of The Death of Vishnu is lost in memories. Drifting through increasingly vivid scenes from his past, he recalls his relatively rare snatches of love and joy--and especially his romance with Padmini, a self-involved prostitute. On one particular day, it seems, he stole one of his employer's cars and drove his love interest to the honeymoon town of Lonavala, where he showered her with gifts and finally lifted her veil to kiss her like a bride:Then the absurdity of the situation strikes him. The preposterousness of his images, the foolishness of his feelings, the comicality of chasing currents that skim across Padmini's face. He thinks how absurd this whole trip has been, how absurd is the presence of the two of them in Lonavala, how absurd is the scenery itself that stretches before them. He thinks of poor, ridiculous Mr. Jalal, waiting back in Bombay for his Fiat, and of how Padmini will react when he asks her to buy them petrol so they can get back.Vishnu also recalls his secret passion for Kavita Asrani, the beautiful teenage daughter of one of the families for whom he works. Given the protagonist's focus on his hapless love life, the scope of Suri's dazzling debut may appear narrow. However, the apartment house upon whose floor Vishnu spends his final hours functions as a microcosm of Indian society. It helps to know even a smattering about Hindu mythology or India's religious conflicts. But even if you don't, there is plenty to relish in The Death of Vishnu, with its comical, richly drawn characters, loving attention to the details of everyday life, and provocative exploration of destiny and free will. --Regina Marler (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:03:56 -0400) A spiritual quest viewed through the color and tumult of life in a Bombay apartment block. |
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