The Vendor of Sweets

I was very irritated by Jagan’s inability to talk to his own son and how he continually hid from reality. Likewise I was irritated by Mali and his self centered attitude. Grace was likable but it’s sad she ever got involved with Mali to begin with. The cousin was the only character with any sense. The whole story could have been wrapped up in five pages if the father and son had ever sat down and had a real conversation. In short I found the characters frustrating, but the writing was good. I was glad that in the end Jagan just left his son to his own devices and left him in jail.

It was a sheer pleasure to read such an amazing prose by R.K. Narayan! So many things were said in such a simple language that you could feel every inch of what each characters were going through. Specially the journey of ‘the vendor of sweets’ Jagan’s changing thought flows, his Gandhian principles, his Bhagavad Gita preaching (which sometimes he himself could not follow) all seemed very realistic and also the conflict between Jagan and his son Mali was portrayed beautifully. But I truly expected a proper ending from this book unlike ‘The Guide’ but yet again the author has left us to decide on that! Yet this novel was totally gripping.

my book journal

Finely written book about the generation gap in modern India.

Beautifully depicting the life of a village man under influence of foreign-return son.