- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (7 Nov 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330353896
- ISBN-13: 978-0330353892
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 522,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A dark fairy tale by one of Britain's wittiest and most popular personalities that plays to the fascination with India. Imagine Voltaire writing Candide in Calcutta in 1997.
In this magical novel, which has been acclaimed as his finest fiction to date, James tells the heartbreaking yet hysterically funny story of a young Indian boy named Sanjay who escapes from the world of abject poverty and cons his way into India's lavish and decadent film scene. James appeals to all emotions in an affectionate, sexy, and ultimately tragic comedy written with his trademark dry wit. The Silver Castle is both entertaining and perceptive. He touches on the heartfelt issues in modern-day India, such as class and the clash between the traditional and the secular.
"The most gripping, entertaining, funny and moving novel I've read for a long time...a novel which held me in tears and laughter and back again to tears, throughtout its pages". -- Sunday Telegraph (London)
"There is much to enjoy here, flair, colour, a real feel for the country...We all know about Clive James the great wit. This book confirms the wit has a sensitive heart". -- Daily Express (London)
From the Publisher
Tragi-comic story of growing up in Bombay
A brilliant celebration of the Indian film world, this is the tragi-comic story of Sanjay, a Bombay pavement child, who grows up fascinated by Bollywood and its stars and whose lifelong dream is to join them in their silver castle. Sanjay learns to charm and outwit tourists and uses his sex appeal and hard-won ability to speak English to get jobs guiding film crews on the 'poverty trail'. He even manages to become a stunt man and begins a career in films himself, until his world collapses and he loses everything, ending up more or less in the gutter where he started. "Often hilarious and always ironic, this is James's best novel" Independent; "The most gripping, entertaining, funny and moving novel I've read for a long time...a novel which held me, in tears and laughter and back again to tears, throughout its pages" Sunday Telegraph; "There is much to enjoy here, flair, colour, a real feel for the country...We all know about Clive James the great wit. This book confirms the wit has a sensitive heart" Meera Syal, Daily Express; "Extremely affecting...skilful and eloquent. What we care about is Sanjay, his hopeless position and his misery" Mail on Sunday
A brilliant celebration of the Indian film world, this is the tragi-comic story of Sanjay, a Bombay pavement child, who grows up fascinated by Bollywood and its stars and whose lifelong dream is to join them in their silver castle. Sanjay learns to charm and outwit tourists and uses his sex appeal and hard-won ability to speak English to get jobs guiding film crews on the 'poverty trail'. He even manages to become a stunt man and begins a career in films himself, until his world collapses and he loses everything, ending up more or less in the gutter where he started. "Often hilarious and always ironic, this is James's best novel" Independent; "The most gripping, entertaining, funny and moving novel I've read for a long time...a novel which held me, in tears and laughter and back again to tears, throughout its pages" Sunday Telegraph; "There is much to enjoy here, flair, colour, a real feel for the country...We all know about Clive James the great wit. This book confirms the wit has a sensitive heart" Meera Syal, Daily Express; "Extremely affecting...skilful and eloquent. What we care about is Sanjay, his hopeless position and his misery" Mail on Sunday
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I came across this book by accident, and read it expecting Clive James to write another westerners view of Bombay. However, I was knocked for six by this powerful and intelligent book. Clive's understanding of the details of Indian life was outstanding, I had to keep reminding myself this was writen by an Australian and not an Indian. A moving novel, sure to leave a lump in your throat.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Clive James excels himself with this engrossing tale of Sanjay, a pavement child in Bombay with the will and determination to inprove his life. From winning a sleeping spot on top of the public toilet to entering the bastion of movie-making where he catches the eye of a Bollywood princess, the reader is with Sanjay all the way. This is never just the tale of one man, but the modern day tragedy that comprises this city of contrasts. Ultimately tragic, often funny, not easily or comfortably forgotten
Format:Hardcover
I was not expecting the book to end the way it did. A moving story about the realities of poverty, the occasional Clive James-esque humourous twist lightens the mood, including the brief appearance of a character from "Brilliant Creatures".
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