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April 27, 2005
The Red Carpet:Bangalore Stories
From the Inside Flap
Wry humor and a delicious grasp of the friction between generations in Bangalore are the hallmarks of Lavanya Sankaran’s fresh, deeply nuanced debut collection. “A potpourri of beggars and billionaires and determinedly laid-back ways,” Bangalore, India’s own Silicon Valley, is a crucible for prosperity, and at the chaotic crossroads between past and present. Here, American-trained professionals like Tara return to their old-fashioned families with heads full of Quentin Tarantino dialogue; a successful entrepreneur is shaken when his partner suddenly reneges on their plan to return to America; a traditional Indian mother slyly circumvents her Western-educated daughter’s resistance to marriage; a neighborhood gossip is determined to discover what goes on behind the closed curtains of the hip young couple across the street; a chauffeur must reconcile his more orthodox credos with his employer’s miniskirt lifestyle.
Publishers' Weekly is a little luke-warm:
"Though the stories often don't end up as strongly as they begin - Sankaran builds tension brilliantly but doesn't always offer a climax to balance it - they are memorable for their subtle wit and convincing evocation of a dynamic world."
Posted by Pooja Makhijani at April 27, 2005 02:16 PM
Comments
DesiLit Daily has turned into DesiLit Weekly. Thanks to Mary Anne, Pooja and Soniah for posting regularly. But what about the other volunteer authors? Surely there's enough Desi Literature out there to have a daily posting.
Posted by: Melvin at April 30, 2005 06:08 PM
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