Disclaimer
Salma Warraich (aka Sam to blogger friends) has reviewed Tarun Tejpal's Alchemy of Desire in this week's Friday Times. Though she may lay claim to reading it after being nudged by me, I had no part in the views she holds, except being pleasantly surprised by them. This disclaimer is mainly to ward off lovers of Vikram Seth (author of An Unsuitable Book and other tree-destroying tomes) who may make the wrong link. Sam & I have never discussed Seth and my nudging her to read TT was only because she said she had it on her list of books to read and I said I'd love to hear her views.
Oh, and, "Congrats, Sam!"
posted by Zakintosh at 12/01/2006 11:15:00 AM
11 Comments:
heheh ... I think I need to go into hiding ... I know too many Vikram Seth admirers. Thanks Zak. I would not have gotten into this if it weren't for you. :)
01 December, 2006 14:06
'While the first half of the book washes the reader in a litany of sexuality and exploration of passion, the second half reads like an arcane twisted thriller which dares you to put the book down.'
Sure sounds like a classic......hmmmm.....lemme put my Norah Roberts down and toss aside the Agatha Christie to rush to get this one.
01 December, 2006 17:35
@sam: nor would i have gotten into this if it weren't for you.
@sabizak: what's a norah roberts?
01 December, 2006 21:16
@zakintosh: Re: Norah Roberts - Don't let your dislike for Seth extend to dissing all of sabizak's favourite authors.
02 December, 2006 09:43
Isn't she a natural link in the progression from Archie, through Mills&Boon, to Vikram Seth? Anyone taking this route should be warned early, because the next stop is The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
02 December, 2006 18:07
Ah...now I am not so erudite as to be reading all these exalted titles...However, the last name 'Warraich' does ring a bell, for it is a 'Jatt' surname...I can't help being on the lookout for such last names, because I am a Jatt Sikh and surnames that are common to the Jatt Sikhs in India and Jatt Muslims in Pakistan always interest me.
For more info on the Jatts, please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jat (Most of this appears fairly accurate, except that under the last head i.e. 'Clans').
Please accept my apologies for digressing from the subject of the blog post!
02 December, 2006 22:20
@rayhan: all humour aside, we are still awaiting contact (check out sabeen's post)
03 December, 2006 06:49
@rayhan: norah, from what i now gather, may be the next part of a progression from archie and m&b for millions (although the first two names strike a chord, i, for one, had never heard of nr). but it would be interesting to hear your idea of a route from her to vs (which requires quite a few links). as for TBTD, I'd have thought you'd mention that as the next step for those of us who would want to jump to something like that after the first few pages of vs.
03 December, 2006 07:23
Dont know the book you have mentioned rayhan but from what i gather about you, you may just be the star protagonist of the Tibetan (or not) book of the Brain Dead.
03 December, 2006 10:33
Is there a reason why Tarun Tejpal and Vikram Seth are being compared? I can't fathom why grandiose judgments and pronouncements are being made on the basis of individual literary tastes. I loved Tarun's book - it struck a multitude of chords - and it is entirely possible that the resonance was caused partly because he's a friend, I know his entire family, he's HOT, and I genuinely believe he wants to change the world. I love the way he writes and yep, I like erotica too. Vikram Seth leaves me cold and isn't even on my radar. Big fucking deal. We don't have to get clubby about this and take sides or grade TT and VS on a scale of 1-10. An academic or Lit major will, in all probability, give Milton an all-star rating and throw Jim Morrison into the dustbin. Paradise Lost may be a classic but Celebration of a Lizard got me through insufferable days at Kinnaird. So, who's a better poet? Does it matter? Do we have to judge everything according to standardized benchmarks? Is this a competition? Am I a loser because I don't like Dickens? Is Dickens crap because his work doesn't move me?
An argument caused by different or opposing points of view is always fun if it is intelligent and challenging. This is turning into a silly classroom brawl, one trying to outdo the other with clever comments. We can all still get along and continue to be turned on by different things. Or maybe not. Depends entirely on individual maturity levels. Ugh, I think I am beginning to sound like a pretentious prat now. Maybe we should all go get stoned - immaculate.
03 December, 2006 13:20
Sabeen. Right on.
For the record. I detest Milton.
03 December, 2006 14:15
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