Guyana had the feel of an accidental place. Partly it was the epic indolence. Partly it was the ethnic composition. In the slang of the street there were chinee, putagee, buck, coolie, blackman, and the combinations emanating from these, a separate and large lexicon. On the ramble in such a land you could encounter a story every day.

The twenty-something Indian narrator returns to Guyana, where he once spent a week, seeking relief from his restlessness. He plans to spend a year there and then return to India. He doesn't have a goal other than to observe the culture and see as much of the country as possible. Over the course of the year he forms loose partnerships with a string of individuals who become short-term traveling companions.

Parts of the book are very good, and the rest is either over my head or ineffective. Most of the conversations are written in Guyanese street slang and it makes very difficult reading. There are frequent references to alternative music genres that are completely unfamiliar to me. The book has won some literary prizes and been shortlisted for others, so maybe it's just me. I know I'm not the right audience for the book. However, I'm having trouble deciding who would be in the target audience. I'm not certain that even readers who read mostly from among the short- or long-lists for literary prizes will have the patience for this one. I stuck it out because of its descriptions of Guyana, which is why I wanted to read it in the first place. I couldn't help wondering why the author chose to write this as a novel when it would have made a very good literary travel book. Guyana is a very small nation, with a population of less than 1 million. Perhaps the author thought it would be safer to distance himself from his Guyanese acquaintances through fiction. ( )

See my review at http://talesfromfoxglovecottage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/asimov-to-wallace.html ( )