Narcopolis

Where to start... I had no real idea what this book was going to be about. I don't think that I have ever read a book based in India before, but read this as it was the book chosen for my book club.

The main emotions stirred in me by this book were disgust and confusion. The book confronted many different themes including gender, sex, drug use, religion, marriage, prostitution, crime, plus many others. This was all set against the backdrop of 1970's Bombay. Unfamiliar with the history, and quite possibly the culture of Bombay and India in general, I found it quite difficult to follow the story (the language used, the types of places mentioned). I believe this could also have been due to the writing style, which I found to have both positive and negative aspects. It seemed that there wasn't any real, solid story to the book, more a series of situations and events that occurred, involving various combinations of characters in various locations. This was something I found difficult to follow, becoming unsure who was talking at different points in the book. However, the authors descriptions were evocative, and I certainly formed images in my mind of how I thought places and people looked.

There were some very graphic, and disturbing scenes in the book involving drug use, sex (both consensual and non-consensual, in heterosexual and homosexual situations), occurring separately, and together. It mingles religion/sex/drugs together very closely which could certainly prove problematic for some readers. I equate some of the scenes in this book with the kind of scenes that occur in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, graphic and difficult to read. Alot of these did not seem to have any real build up, or come-down, and were in some cases, just another thing that happened, told in quite a neutral tone.

I would say that it would be difficult to say I enjoyed this book, I found it difficult to become attached to the characters, or to feel empathy to many of them. It is quite possible that I missed the point of the book, as I realise that the book dealt with many difficult themes - however when the book ended, I was left unsatisfied, but not particularly wishing that the story would continue. Time shifts and character shifts made it difficult follow.

I did however enjoy reading it from the perspective that it was out of my comfort zone in terms of usual genres of books, and that despite the confusion I encountered (which could of course just be me being a bit thick!), the writer delivered many interesting thoughts, along side deep questions, interesting character conversations and vivid imagery, whilst also dealing with problematic themes.

I am unsure as of yet, whether it is a book I would recommend to others due to the nature of the content. Not for the faint hearted.

Some of the below could be interpreted as spoilers, although I would suggest they are elements of the story brought out within the first 20 or so pages, so are not put within spoiler tags. I always find it harder to review fiction, so have kept this relatively short.

2012 Booker long listed, this novel is contemporary in style, but I wouldn't take on board comparisons to Trainspotting. The author is a poet, so if you are not a fan of often overwritten prose, this might not suit. There is switching between first and third person narration, the narration itself is somewhat confusing (purposefully, no doubt) and the story non-linear, or at least jumbled. Chapters follow different characters, and it is not always apparent which character you are with until part way through.

Shuklaji Street, and the Bombay drug scene provides the backdrop for most of the novel, the seedy side of the city is where the characters play out their lives and where a serial murderer, Pathar Maar, the stone killer, is operating, whose victims are the nameless, invisible poor. There are of course, no shortage of victims to choose from. The eclectic characters stories all find common ground at a Bombay opium den run by Rashid and his live-in assistant Dimple.

Dimple is the character the reader interacts with the most, and is certainly the most deeply detailed character with the most interaction with the other characters. Dimple was made a eunuch at at early age, and has developed as a woman, and has survived by prostitution alone, until she becomes involved in the opium den, where she prepares pipes and assists the customers. One of the sections of the book explains her history with a previous opium den, and the backstory of its Chinese owner Mr Lee.

The biggest issue with this novel is that the author fails to make the reader care about any of the characters - perhaps that was the point, that none of them were nice enough, or had enough promise for the reader to invest. For this reason, and for the overwitten prose, this book didn't really work for me in the way I had hoped.

3 stars.