3 Review(s)

Official Flipkart Review Any city perhaps is the most difficult to write about. The city’s structure, the history, its inhabitants, its mess, everything needs to be accounted for. Very few authors manage to bring out the essence of the city in their books. Amitava Kumar does a spectacular job of chronicling a city in his book, “A Matter of Rats: A Short Biography of Patna”. One might wonder what is there to write about Patna as a city. However, there is a lot more to the city and Kumar certainly makes you believe in that, once you have reached the end. Patna as a city comes alive in this book – from its rats, to within its shabby reality, to people’s perceptions of the city – all of them lend something important, written beautifully by Kumar. Every aspect of Patna is captured and that too in less than two hundred pages. Read about this city and be enthralled.   Amitava Kumar’s A Matter of Rats: A Short Biography of Patna is an engaging chronicle of the city of Patna and its myriad colours, history and soul. Summary of the Book Patna, as a city, has not been much sung in the recent past in the literary circles. This book thus holds much importance as the author tries to bring out not only the Patna which has the ruins of the once Pataliputra, but also its soul and plethora of colours that still makes it an eerie and beautiful city. From the infamous rats’ saga to the surreal quintessence of the city in its residents, Patna is a city that has more than what meets the eye. Every author has a city as their muse and Amitava explains why Patna grows beyond its confines and flaws and still becomes a likeable place to live in. His perspectives and observations come out of a profound composure and immense liking for Patna. About Amitava Kumar Amitava Kumar is a renowned Indian contemporary journalist and non-fiction writer. He currently lives in Poughkeepsie, and is the Helen D. Lockwood Professor of English at the Vassar College. He is the Board member of the Asian American Writers Workshop. His works of non-fiction and poetry have been published in The Nation, American Prospect, Toronto Review, Outlook, India Today, The Hindu, New Statesman and many other reputed newspapers and journals. He is also the author of A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm A Tiny Bomb, Nobody Does the Right Thing, Husband of a Fanatic and Passport Photos among other works.