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'Beautifully captures with great tenderness and depth the eternal war between duty and desire. This is a love letter to Bombay and its people' Sunday Express 'A magnificent debut, rich with humour, compassion and insight into what it is like to inhabit the melting pot that is contemporary Bombay, rich in celebration of humanity' Scotsman 'A wonder of a book. Astonishing' Amy Tan 'All the elements of great storytelling are here, the mystic transports of Ben Okri with the intimate charm of Arundhati Roy ... enchanting' Sunday Tribune
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Vishnu, the odd-job man in a Bombay apartment block, lies dying on the staircase landing. Around him the lives of the apartment dwellers unfold - the warring housewives on the first floor, the lovesick teenagers on the second, and the widower, alone and quietly grieving at the top of the building. In a fevered state Vishnu looks back on his love affair with the seductive Padmini and comedy becomes tragedy as his life draws to a close.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
With a mixture of Indian mythology, Bollywood storylines and an odd-job man with a difference; this novel was bound to be something different. The Bombay apartment block that is the setting for this novel has excellent characters living on every floor. There is a mix of religions and mix of cultural beliefs, with Vishnu lay dying on the landing. Through Vishnu we find out all about the lives of the families around him. On the first floor are two couples, warring over the shared kitchen and looking after Vishnu. The next floor has two families with teenagers from each in love with each other and finally on the third floor is a widower, still very much in love with his wife.
It is unusual to read and one I struggled to get into but once hooked you are soon that involved in their lives that you wouldn't dream of closing the covers unfinished. The ending proves that all cultures and religions will unite when danger, or perceived danger, occurs and it is amazing to see how close nit they will become in a dreadful deceitful way. There are laughs and sorrows throughout the novel and I loved the mixture of Shakespearean references and the blurring of boundaries between his plays and Indian equivalents.
If you don't like the mythological aspect (which was my least favourite) some of Vishnu's chapters reflecting back on his life will prove testing, yet the rest of the novel is great. Whilst I don't think it is wonderfully written, it will suck you in. This is a debut novel inspired by a real Vishnu that lived on the landing of the author's apartment block as he was growing up. The opening line is one I particularly loved, "not wanting to arouse Vishnu in case he hadn't died yet" and lets you know you are going to be reading something very different from the norm. Worth a read and perhaps other novels by the author may be more assured in style. Although not entirely my cup of tea, it is a novel I would happily recommend.
It is unusual to read and one I struggled to get into but once hooked you are soon that involved in their lives that you wouldn't dream of closing the covers unfinished. The ending proves that all cultures and religions will unite when danger, or perceived danger, occurs and it is amazing to see how close nit they will become in a dreadful deceitful way. There are laughs and sorrows throughout the novel and I loved the mixture of Shakespearean references and the blurring of boundaries between his plays and Indian equivalents.
If you don't like the mythological aspect (which was my least favourite) some of Vishnu's chapters reflecting back on his life will prove testing, yet the rest of the novel is great. Whilst I don't think it is wonderfully written, it will suck you in. This is a debut novel inspired by a real Vishnu that lived on the landing of the author's apartment block as he was growing up. The opening line is one I particularly loved, "not wanting to arouse Vishnu in case he hadn't died yet" and lets you know you are going to be reading something very different from the norm. Worth a read and perhaps other novels by the author may be more assured in style. Although not entirely my cup of tea, it is a novel I would happily recommend.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Death of Vishnu uses the day the dogsbody on the first-floor landing of a Bombay block of flats is agonising to tell the story of its inhabitants. Recounting their small-time vicissitudes and rivalries, it reads like an interlacing of short stories, though as the novel progresses the actions of one rebound increasingly on the other. Vishnu's last moments are interspersed with older memories and with light Hindu theology and imagery. A Hindu girl elopes with the building's Muslim Don Juan. Manil Suri is masterful at extracting all the pulp from his microcosm's everyday. And since this is India, it involves quirkiness and folklore alike, as well as the inevitable religious strife. The tone remains one of light and insightful comedy, however, and though it may be at times formulaic, this is an engaging novel. Suri writes beautifully, with an exceptional eye for detail; I was surprised to read on the jacket that he has left his native India and is a diaspora writer.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
From the memorable first sentence this book grips the reader.
We enter into a world of shrewish women and emasculated men. Even the urban ascetic on the highest level of this Indian world is unable to save the result of the teeming anger, self-interest and prejudice on the lower levels. The novel is permeated with food and film. Vishnu, both the God and a dying man, holds the construction of the novel and the world created together.
To feel any empathy with these characters is difficult. We watch as their tragedy unfurls before us with detached sympathy. With Seneca we can only feel that nothing human is alien to us, if we are to understand their behaviour.
The final sentence of the novel is the most chilling of all.
We enter into a world of shrewish women and emasculated men. Even the urban ascetic on the highest level of this Indian world is unable to save the result of the teeming anger, self-interest and prejudice on the lower levels. The novel is permeated with food and film. Vishnu, both the God and a dying man, holds the construction of the novel and the world created together.
To feel any empathy with these characters is difficult. We watch as their tragedy unfurls before us with detached sympathy. With Seneca we can only feel that nothing human is alien to us, if we are to understand their behaviour.
The final sentence of the novel is the most chilling of all.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
love this book
Slightly biased as I am a big fan of sub continent writers but thought this was a very moving book that I could relate to
Published on 24 Nov 2009 by Salman Jaffer
Touching and funny.....
The Death of Vishnu is set in an apartment block in Bombay where Vishnu (a general dogsbody who has lived on the landing for years) lies dying. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2009 by Wynne Kelly
A warm, funny, and manageable novel of India.
Despite the off-putting title and its suggestion that this is another heavy, depressing story, this is a very funny novel. Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2005 by Mary Whipple
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