The Death Of Vishnu – Manil Suri

Manil Suri paints his story like a collage.  I guess that is the way he builds up different characters, each being unique in its own way. Like his previous book (that I read), this one too doesn’t really take the story to any conclusion, rather prefers to keep the threads loose, thus leaving the reader to interpret in his/her own way.And so, we have a love story between a Hindu Girl and a Muslim boy, the background of dreamy Bollywood plots, the disillusioned man who falls into the trap of religion (the very thing he was dead against), neighbours who don’t get along with each other (an understatement in this case), some extra characters like panwallah, ganga, thrown in, and of course Vishnu, the hero of this novel.And while you keep hoping to know more about Vishnu, you rarely get to read much about him. Just a few aspects of his life, a few experiences. Not much is written about who he really was. But that doesn’t matter. Because though he is the central character, the story is more about the people around him.

I have begun to like Manil Suri’s writings. Though sometimes I do find things a little incoherently arranged, yet it suits my line of thinking!!

Pic from here