The Moors Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie

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Novel Travelling

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Bob Mehew: June 23rd, 2008

Where obtained: Bookshop - Delhi
Where read: Goa and Tamil Nadu
Where left: Bookshop - DelhiStill own yet to offload - will update!
Thoughts:
The Moors Last Sigh was fun to read - a huge collection of small interwoven and highly entertaining stories about a family of Portugese / Moorish origins behaving very very badly in India. Set in Cochin and Mumbai, it is a family saga spanning several generations, told in a series of anecdotes by the youngest: 'Moraes', in a conversational style the reason for which becomes skillfully apparent right at the end of the book. Details of disfunctional family relationships are spun out throughout the vast book's many pages. The stories cross-refer to each other repeatedly without ever becoming dull - rather they layer new insights into the dastardly behaviour of just about every character in the book.

The book also gave an insight into how the wealthy of India might have lived and do live today, a stark and refreshing contrast that balances other tales of India already consumed, such as the fabulous stories of Rohinton Mistry also to be found in this blog. In addition a political and criminal underworld commentary was included to produce a perspective on the workings of the the Mumbai Axis and its alter ego (as it is portrayed here), the Mumbai crime lords. Read for entertainment but also learn something about the Cochin spice trade and the Emergency in Mumbai.

I devoured most of this this book in in Goa whilst completing a masters course in the healing art of 'Reiki', and then afterward re-visiting the Russ Foundation near Madurai, Tamil Nadu, a girls home and charitable organisation that I had the privilege to be involved with on a previous trip to India. Comfortable surroundings were matched by a comfortable, easy-to-read novel that was not particularly thought-provoking but was particularly enjoyable. It was a great world to retreat to and lose myself in as I was pursuing studies of a more intellectual / spiritual nature in Goa that were provoking difficult questions on a 'meaning of life' scale.

In Tamil Nadu a couple of chapters were a calming, welcome end to days of unpredictable and unexpected events playing a role of 'Bob-Uncle' to 30 highly-spirited Indian girls and their wonderful 'Mother' and of the home VJ Lakshmi, with whom we laughed a qreat deal and, like this book, shared fond memories.

Novel Travelling

Follow the journey of books around the world and leave your own location and thoughts. For more information and to see the index of other books on this blog go to:
Introduction and Index

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