3 Review(s)

This is a story about God. No, religion. No, its a novel about Communism and Marx and Kerala. Or is it about the original sin, and the follies of man? Yes, thats what it is. A novel about men. Two in particular, and both rather talkative: Lord Spider, famous writer with a string of pseudonymsone of them female (and long forgotten)and J.L. Pillai, learned executioner, carpenter and aspiring writer with the ability to morph into bat or bird. Spiders wife and freelance philosopher Radha, and Brother, the Satanic dog-love of her life, complete the Circle of Love formed in the noble cause of an Essay on Compassion, commissioned by the local Communist Party.As the essay grows, in words and rhetoric, so do the stories, aided by the coming and going of several players, including Gandhi, Stalin and Jesus in His 37th incarnation. And oh yes, a frog and a snake and Tarzan, to name just a few more.By one of Indias foremost writers, widely known for his wicked turn of phrase and irreverence for all that is considered the Establishment, this is a novel in brilliant, irresistible freefall.