Leela's Book

Note: Some spoilers are mixed in below, so if you don't like them, or are likely to read this in the near future, I suggest you don't read on.

This was an interesting concept. This novel plays on the history of the Mahabarata, and the theory that the ‘Gahesha as a scribe' content was a later addition to the original writing. Ganesha becomes a character/narrator, who plays a role explaining a second layer of background to the novel.

The primary story revolves around Leela, returning to Delhi after years in New York, to attend the wedding of her husband's niece, but is forced to face up to her past - including the death of her poet sister, her sister's husband Vyasa, and her niece & nephew. This plays out to a complex Indian family drama, with many characters, and some twists and turns. It addresses such themes as inter-religious relationships, same sex relationships, politics and academia, and the juxtaposition of ancient religious rites and internet chatrooms.

For me it was successful concept, but I found it led to far too much foreshadowing of the story - it made it fairly easy to predict some of the larger outcomes by halfway through the book.

Notwithstanding this, the characters were interesting and amusing, there were lots of them, but they played their role and then faded into the background (although were somewhat unresolved due to this).

Without the second layer of depth, I suspect the story would probably have been insufficient to carry interest. As it was, despite the early give-away - it was an enjoyable enough read for 4 stars. But then, I am a bit of a sucker for epic Indian novels!