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Product Description
Book Description
The four novels collected here, all written during British rule, bring colonial India into intimate focus through the narrative gifts of this master of literary realism.
Product Description
R. K. Narayan (1906-2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. Swami and Friends introduces us to Narayan's beloved fictional town of Malgudi, where ten-year-old Swaminathan's excitement about his country's initial stirrings for independence competes with his ardour for cricket and all other things British. The Bachelor of Arts is a poignant coming-of-age novel about a young man flush with first love, but whose freedom to pursue it is hindered by the fixed ideas of his traditional Hindu family. In The Dark Room, Narayan's portrait of aggrieved domesticity, the docile and obedient Savitri, like many Malgudi women, is torn between submitting to her husband's humiliations and trying to escape them. The title character in The English Teacher, Narayan's most autobiographical novel, searches for meaning when the death of his young wife deprives him of his greatest source of happiness.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
R K Naryan was a rare Gem in the literary world. All his books are excellent and must read for anybody who can read English.
Its specially nice for people who would like to know what Rural India was.. The relationships, the environment, the society - each and every aspect is explained in such an amazing and interesting way that you feel you are there when things are happening - you are transformed to places and situations.
Even if you are not interested in India, still its a great read. The way Narayan handles the language is must read to believe. You would have never imagined that simple stories and sitatuation's can be explained so beautifully.
Once you start reading the book you cannot stop infact you will end up reading the books again and again as i do ( which i do not do with any other books )
Its highly recommended to buy all the Novels / Books of R K Narayan
Its specially nice for people who would like to know what Rural India was.. The relationships, the environment, the society - each and every aspect is explained in such an amazing and interesting way that you feel you are there when things are happening - you are transformed to places and situations.
Even if you are not interested in India, still its a great read. The way Narayan handles the language is must read to believe. You would have never imagined that simple stories and sitatuation's can be explained so beautifully.
Once you start reading the book you cannot stop infact you will end up reading the books again and again as i do ( which i do not do with any other books )
Its highly recommended to buy all the Novels / Books of R K Narayan
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
R K Naryan was a rare Gem in the literary world. All his books are excellent and must read for anybody who can read English.
Its specially nice for people who would like to know what Rural India was.. The relationships, the environment, the society - each and every aspect is explained in such an amazing and interesting way that you feel you are there when things are happening - you are transformed to places and situations.
Even if you are not interested in India, still its a great read. The way Narayan handles the language is must read to believe. You would have never imagined that simple stories and sitatuation's can be explained so beautifully.
Once you start reading the book you cannot stop infact you will end up reading the books again and again as i do ( which i do not do with any other books )
Its highly recommended to buy all the Novels / Books of R K Narayan
Srini Guru
Its specially nice for people who would like to know what Rural India was.. The relationships, the environment, the society - each and every aspect is explained in such an amazing and interesting way that you feel you are there when things are happening - you are transformed to places and situations.
Even if you are not interested in India, still its a great read. The way Narayan handles the language is must read to believe. You would have never imagined that simple stories and sitatuation's can be explained so beautifully.
Once you start reading the book you cannot stop infact you will end up reading the books again and again as i do ( which i do not do with any other books )
Its highly recommended to buy all the Novels / Books of R K Narayan
Srini Guru
Format:Hardcover
The first three novels in this collection are bright and breezy but still manage to tackle difficult themes (in "Swami & Friends" it's colonial rule, in "The Bachelor of Arts" it's the social codes of Hinduism, in "The Dark Room" it's the oppression of women). They're very well written and I enjoyed each one immensely, although they do tend to end rather abruptly with no real sense of closure.
The fourth novel, "The English Teacher", is generally seen as Narayan's turning point when his literary talents really started taking off... but strangely, I enjoyed this book the least. Although it's a thoughtful story and deals with death/mourning in a very heartfelt way, I found the supernatural element to be silly and naïve (caution, a spoiler's coming up).
I thought the old man who could communicate with spirits would be revealed as a fraudster who preyed upon grieving families, but when it becomes clear that he's not faking it... and that Narayan expects us to believe that Susila is genuinely giving lessons in telepathy from beyond the grave... the novel went downhill, in my eyes. Maybe this unquestioning belief in the spirit realm was perfectly normal for an Indian audience in 1945 - but I, as an Englishman in 2011, found it faintly ridiculous.
The fourth novel, "The English Teacher", is generally seen as Narayan's turning point when his literary talents really started taking off... but strangely, I enjoyed this book the least. Although it's a thoughtful story and deals with death/mourning in a very heartfelt way, I found the supernatural element to be silly and naïve (caution, a spoiler's coming up).
I thought the old man who could communicate with spirits would be revealed as a fraudster who preyed upon grieving families, but when it becomes clear that he's not faking it... and that Narayan expects us to believe that Susila is genuinely giving lessons in telepathy from beyond the grave... the novel went downhill, in my eyes. Maybe this unquestioning belief in the spirit realm was perfectly normal for an Indian audience in 1945 - but I, as an Englishman in 2011, found it faintly ridiculous.
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