A novel that spans India's twentieth century from the 1930s through Independence to the 1990s - by the Man Booker longlisted author of Sleeping on Jupiter.
"In my childhood, I was known as the boy whose mother had run off with an Englishman." So begins the story of Myshkin and his mother Gayatri, its rebellious, alluring artist-heroine who is driven to abandon home and marriage and follow her primal instinct for freedom.
Freedom of another kind is in the air across all of India, and in Germany the Nazis have come to power. At this point of crisis, a German artist from Gayatri's past seeks her out. His arrival ignites passions she has long been forced to suppress.
What follows is Gayatri's life as pieced together by her son, a journey that takes him through India and Dutch-held Bali. Excavating the roots of the world in which he was abandoned, he comes to understand the connections between volcanic strife at home and a war-torn universe overtaken by patriotism.
The scale of Anuradha Roy's novel is matched by its power as a parable for our times. Its depiction of the contrasting ideas of Gandhi and Tagore, of the limits of nationalism when confronted by cosmopolitanism, makes it a spell-binding saga centred on people trying to make sense of their lives.
0 有用 Le Flaneur 2024-05-06 17:10:49 上海
感觉情节比较乱,有点难读;一个女人是否有资格抛弃母职去追求自己的梦想这个话题很有意思,但感觉作者还是保守了,因为书中出走的母亲原本是想带着孩子一起走的,而且出走的时候孩子年纪也不算很小了,如果把故事设定成母亲抛下新生儿去追求梦想和自由的话,感觉冲击力更强,故事主要矛盾更加激化
0 有用 Lichtung 2019-01-17 16:46:23
An insightful & intelligent reflection on the era & the area with beautiful & breath-taking prose-writing
0 有用 阿西亚 2022-11-09 00:08:47 新加坡
The moon waiting, the ocean washing the earth with a sigh and grief, insignificant endeavors for power and the forever quest to be free and alive. And of course, dreamy dreamy Bali
1 有用 米来福 2020-02-21 16:05:36
以孩童视角呈现1930年代印度女性的困境,被民族主义、女性社会角色和传统价值压抑的艺术追求。虽然故事嵌入了真实的历史境遇和人物中,“印度味”却并不浓,有更开阔的品质,笔触敏感、清晰、优美。
0 有用 Le Flaneur 2024-05-06 17:10:49 上海
感觉情节比较乱,有点难读;一个女人是否有资格抛弃母职去追求自己的梦想这个话题很有意思,但感觉作者还是保守了,因为书中出走的母亲原本是想带着孩子一起走的,而且出走的时候孩子年纪也不算很小了,如果把故事设定成母亲抛下新生儿去追求梦想和自由的话,感觉冲击力更强,故事主要矛盾更加激化
0 有用 阿西亚 2022-11-09 00:08:47 新加坡
The moon waiting, the ocean washing the earth with a sigh and grief, insignificant endeavors for power and the forever quest to be free and alive. And of course, dreamy dreamy Bali
1 有用 米来福 2020-02-21 16:05:36
以孩童视角呈现1930年代印度女性的困境,被民族主义、女性社会角色和传统价值压抑的艺术追求。虽然故事嵌入了真实的历史境遇和人物中,“印度味”却并不浓,有更开阔的品质,笔触敏感、清晰、优美。
0 有用 Lichtung 2019-01-17 16:46:23
An insightful & intelligent reflection on the era & the area with beautiful & breath-taking prose-writing