Journey To Ithaca
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Review
"A daring, colorful novel almost impossible to absorb in one reading... Anita Desai is a fluent artist, working from one vivid salience to the next. She knows the different lights of India, and she sees everything under the sun."
-- Paul West, The New York Times Book Review
"A triumph... What distinguishes the voice of Anita Desai is the physical intensity of her prose, the range of her capacious intelligence, her unsentimental compassion... Her work is an illumination and a blessing."
-- Pearl K. Bell, The New Republic
"A rich tapestry of the contemporary human condition in an alien environment ... Desai creates images rooted in the external environment that leave indelible imprints on our internal landscapes."
-- Mandira Sen, San Francisco Chronicle
"Powerful...a wonder of exquisitely crafted prose. As she piles detail upon detail, the intensity of India is seamlessly conjured up."
-- Judith Weinraub, Washington Post Book World
"A marvelous writer ... The book is exhilaratingly alive."
-- Esther Harriott, New York Newsday
-- Paul West, The New York Times Book Review
"A triumph... What distinguishes the voice of Anita Desai is the physical intensity of her prose, the range of her capacious intelligence, her unsentimental compassion... Her work is an illumination and a blessing."
-- Pearl K. Bell, The New Republic
"A rich tapestry of the contemporary human condition in an alien environment ... Desai creates images rooted in the external environment that leave indelible imprints on our internal landscapes."
-- Mandira Sen, San Francisco Chronicle
"Powerful...a wonder of exquisitely crafted prose. As she piles detail upon detail, the intensity of India is seamlessly conjured up."
-- Judith Weinraub, Washington Post Book World
"A marvelous writer ... The book is exhilaratingly alive."
-- Esther Harriott, New York Newsday
"From the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
'India's finest writer in English' Independent
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
Matteo and Caroline were both brought up in Italy. Caroline was sent to a convent school in Milan and Matteo to a school in Turin which had been recommended by his uncle. However Matteo performed very poorly: he was bad at maths, could not sing and played football in a disastrous way so that he was constantly bullied by his classmates. Finally his parents decided to take him back home and they found a tutor, Fabian, for his education. But he remained a rebellious student, learning nothing, eating nothing. Whenever his father talked to him about a career in banking or in the family silk business, Matteo would simply smile faintly. Finally in the summer of 1975, he married Sophie, the daughter of a German banker and together they left for India taking with them Matteo's much beloved copy of Hermann Hesse's "The Journey to the East".
In Bombay they met Pierre Eduard who took them to an elderly woman who performed a few tricks as a form of worship to the glory of Shiva. Whilst Sophie remained unimpressed with what she called "party tricks", Matteo on the other hand was quite transfixed by what he had seen. Later they met Mr Pandey, a "deus ex machina" as Sophie called him in her exasperation, who suggested that they go and live in an ashram. After that Matteo came up with the idea that they replicate the journey which a famous saint had undertaken on foot to a shrine where he obtained enlightenment. But Sophie could not share Matteo's enthusiasm about searching for "the mystery that is the heart of India" during the exhausting expedition and even after such a short time spent in the country, she had no doubt that it was a culture to which she would never belong. Matteo on the other hand was literally seized by madness with his quest for the "devine light" despite the warnings that "the gods are destructive in this country". Will Matteo's studying with a swami at a distant ashram help him recover his senses? Will Matteo and Sophie go through this adventure together and recover their love?
Mrs Desai shows hard and driven people in her novel, the mutual contempt of a wife and a husband, the rejection foreigners may experience in India and also a man deluding himself in an impossible quest. Perhaps the author's other novels like "Baumgartner's Bombay" or "In Custody" are more accessible, less obscure.
In Bombay they met Pierre Eduard who took them to an elderly woman who performed a few tricks as a form of worship to the glory of Shiva. Whilst Sophie remained unimpressed with what she called "party tricks", Matteo on the other hand was quite transfixed by what he had seen. Later they met Mr Pandey, a "deus ex machina" as Sophie called him in her exasperation, who suggested that they go and live in an ashram. After that Matteo came up with the idea that they replicate the journey which a famous saint had undertaken on foot to a shrine where he obtained enlightenment. But Sophie could not share Matteo's enthusiasm about searching for "the mystery that is the heart of India" during the exhausting expedition and even after such a short time spent in the country, she had no doubt that it was a culture to which she would never belong. Matteo on the other hand was literally seized by madness with his quest for the "devine light" despite the warnings that "the gods are destructive in this country". Will Matteo's studying with a swami at a distant ashram help him recover his senses? Will Matteo and Sophie go through this adventure together and recover their love?
Mrs Desai shows hard and driven people in her novel, the mutual contempt of a wife and a husband, the rejection foreigners may experience in India and also a man deluding himself in an impossible quest. Perhaps the author's other novels like "Baumgartner's Bombay" or "In Custody" are more accessible, less obscure.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Gorgeous.
9 Oct 2002
Format:Paperback
Desai is a writer who repays re-reading. This book is subtle and textured. The author plays marvelously with time and consciousness in ways reminiscent of Virginia Woolf, brought up to date.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Disappointing
8 Jan 1999
Format:Paperback
I did not find this book interesting. I had to struggle to finish it. What distinguishes Anita Desai's work is her vivid and beautiful description of nature. The second half where Sophie goes on a journey to discover the roots of 'Mataji' does not connect well with the readers. A lot of time the book was very boring and going nowhere in the name of spirituality. I read this novel with great anticipation as I liked Desai's 'Clear Light of The Day' very much. If you are expecting something like that then this novel will come as an disppointment.
Subtle, ambiguous book
18 Sep 2010
Format:Paperback
This was the first book of Desai's that I'd read; at first, it seemed a little dull, but as I got into the rhythm of its storytelling (gradual, gentle) I found it more and more compelling, and by the end, I loved it. The style is simple and naturalistic (places, societies and individuals all beautifully observed), and yet nothing is presented with a clear black-and-white moral meaning -- or if it is, something else will soon contradict it. But at the end, a picture has been painted, something meaningful has been set out -- something about love, the conflicts between different kinds of love, and perhaps about what it can mean to go on a pilgrimage.
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