Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard
Kiran Desai
Faber & Faber

This is a book I've been meaning to read for a while, by an Indian author who I'd heard Salman Rushdie praising very much. Desai's second book, The Inheritance of Loss, also went on to with the Booker Prize, which upped the stakes a little. Would this live up to my expectations?

Not quite. Not at all, in fact, I'm sorry to admit. The first thing that attracted me to this book was, of course, the fabulous title -- which is about the most memorable thing about Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard. I had heard of the extremely funny satirical elements that were supposedly in the book, and that it would be a quirky, strange read. And I also heard the magical words, guaranteed to make me read any book: "monkey invasion"...

I'm not sure quite what to classify this as. It could be totally outside of speculative fiction, except for the last scene where someone is (utterly unexpectedly) turned into a guava fruit and carried off by the monkeys; the end.

I'd hoped for some of Rushdie's rich style, but instead Hullabaloo had the most boring opening pages (up until about page 40, where things got better) I've read in a while. Now, I'm aware that I'm relatively alone in this view of the book, a book which has been touted by many as the début of a great new Indian voice -- I wanted to like it, I really did, but I found myself bored for most of it, and unamused for the rest. If you like Monty Python you'll love this book... I love Monty Python!

Hullabaloo tells the story of Sampath, a bored post office worker, who climbs a guava tree for a bit of rest and quiet. Very soon afterwards he has people standing at the bottom of the tree, proclaiming him to be a baba, a holy one, filled with divine knowledge. Sampath's father, who has previously been disappointed in his son, sees an opportunity to make money, and starts to charge people to see Sampath and be given sage advice. Even the police and the army start paying him tributes, as his fame grows. Then the monkeys invade, causing mayhem, respecting only Sampath, who they see as some kind of monkey king/god. Thus, lots of plans are hatched to get rid of the monkeys (despite holy Sampath wanting to keep them), turning one man's search for solitude, up a tree, into the biggest story in India...

Sounds good, doesn't it? It's just a shame that it didn't work out so well. I found the characterisations rather bland, Sampath in particular, and the prose dull. I was expecting this to be one of my better reads of the year, but, I tell you what, it's nothing compared to Twilight...

For more information:

Amazon UK
Amazon US

--Previous review--

Twilight

Twilight
Stephenie Meyer
Atom Books

434 pages
2006

Firstly, apologies for the delay. I've found it a bit hard to get into meaty, gritty epic fantasy these last few weeks, and I found myself stalking bookshops looking, hoping, for something that would take my fancy. Nothing did. I felt a little burnt-out on reading and wondered whether I should pick up some DVDs instead. And then I heard a plaintive chattering from behind me: a man, old, with an anorak and a beard, a cliché with a temper, had entered the dingy, musty and damp Fantasy section, and was engaged in what looked like a fascinating and spirited conversation about the state of modern fantasy (how it was infested with vampire hussies, etc.), except there was no one else there with him, and he smelled of urine...

Eureka! Vampires. I needed something light and fun and engaging, something that I could whiz through with ease, with vampires in it ... Twilight. And I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I would, even, go so far as to say, I'm a fan...

As far as the story goes, there isn't much that stands out at first glance. A teenage girl, Bella, moves to a new town and, despite her fears of not fitting in, is soon hot gossip there. Far from being the plain, ordinary, boring girl she thought they would think her, though, she is made to feel very welcome, and it's clear that she's a lot more attractive than she assumed. Well, of course. Only the strange Cullen family -- in particular, Edward Cullen -- are distant, cold, aloof, and perforce, this is a vampire novel after all, all also happen to be extremely, inhumanly attractive. Duh.

Edward varies between being distant and extremely close, warning her, as he picks her up in his arms and carries her to the nurses' office, for example, to stay away from him, as he is very dangerous. He's extremely fast, impossibly strong, with skin as pale as semi-frozen water moulded into the shape of snow-flakes, and he's totally, dazzlingly irresistible... And that's all good fun. Bella, our first-person narrator, isn't whiny and has a sharp, often sarcastic, sense of humour. She doesn't sit around moaning and sighing (much).

There were a few parts of the story that made me frown, however. Bella describes her search online for the characteristics of a vampire, as she tries to find out what Edward is (while she bethinks herself mad for doing so). Apparently, she finds no record, even in fiction, of a vampire that matches Edward's description: Handsome. Pale skin. Fast. Strong. Possibly reads minds. Speaks with strange turns of phrase that might be from the previous century... Come on! That is the description of a vampire. Still, that niggle is ignorable.

A lot of the first part of the novel is a build-up to the romance between Bella and Edward, and not that much action (i.e. guns and big explosions) occurs. Nonetheless, Stephenie Meyer writes very fluidly, in a style that draws you in: the writing was good, compelling and seductively dark. Later on in the novel, it builds to a large climax, as we realise that not every vampire is like Edward, some are like animals, animals that won't give up the hunt, and they are hunting Bella...

I got the film tie-in cover (the movie is out soon, but the dates for the UK, at least, keep changing), but I do think the original cover (above) is better. Thoroughly good fun.

For more information:

Amazon UK
Amazon US

--Previous review--

German Deal for Hannu Rajaniemi

You might have heard, on the blogosphere, about a newbie called Hannu Rajaniemi, who has just made a pre-emptive three-book deal with Simon Spanton of Gollancz, friend of this blog. I didn't have time to report it at the time, but John Jarrold has just sent me more news about the remarkable early signs of a new force in SF...

PRESS RELEASE – GERMAN RIGHTS PRE-EMPTED AT FRANKFURT FOR DEBUT SF NOVELIST

Following Simon Spanton’s World Rights pre-empt for three books from new SF novelist Hannu Rajaniemi earlier in October – on the basis of reading one chapter – German rights for all three books were also pre-empted for a good five-figure sum in Euros at the Frankfurt Book Fair, by Carsten Polzin of Piper Verlag.

John Jarrold, the agent who concluded the original deal with Spanton, said, “This is wonderful. I know Carsten well and respect him greatly. He and Piper will do a great job with these novels – Hannu and I are both delighted. Congratulations to all involved!”

Other offers for Hannu’s novels from publishers across Europe are also being discussed by Gollancz’ Rights department.

Contact John Jarrold by e-mail at j.jarrold@btinternet.com or by phone on 01522 510544, or Simon Spanton by e-mail at sxs@orionbooks.co.uk or by phone on 020 7240 3444 for further information,

21^st October 2008

I have reviews coming...

Meme

Where is the meme? you ask. Are we not to be delighted by irrelevant facts about your favourite types of cheese, oh Book Swede? Will you not tell us a bit about yourself, and then nominate others to do the same, thereby passing the meme ever onward?

Well, no, I have not the time, I'm afraid.

The word meme is itself a meme, though, a unit of information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Meme, as a word, was actually invented, I discovered today, by the evolutionary biologist and ethicist Richard Dawkins, to sound similar to gene.

You learn something new every day. Or, at least, I do; that's one of the blessings of not having paid attention at school. Speak soon... Sent by email from my phone, hoping it arrives...

Contest Updates

Ugh. Life is hard. Another week, another bereavement. For fear of turning this into an agony corner, I won't go into any more details, save to say that it's the reason for my long absence (again). I refuse to allow anyone else to die. I've drunk enough rosé as it is this week.

I'm aware that the Chris Evans contest was due to come to an end a couple of weeks ago. I'll select the winners soon, don't fear. I was planning on running more contests in September than I did ... I guess you'll just have to have them all crammed into this month, you poor people. (Well, actually, the contests will straddle this month and next, but never mind.) So, look out for them, and I'll actually be reviewing a book very soon...

Meanwhile, in between writing that review, I am reading Atonement by Ian McEwan (which is much less boring, and much more fun, than the beginning of the film, which is how far I got before I picked a different movie). I also have a selection of six of the Booker prize winning books that were nominated for the Best of the Bookers Award in the post on its way to me. I seem to be going through a "serious Literature" phase, tempered by the fact that I have a strong desire to read those Stephenie Meyer teen vampire books and indulge in graphic novels...

So, that's the 411 on me. Contests, reviews, more contests, and more, coming soon...

While or Whilst? Among or Amongst?

Just a quick Sunday thought that has been bothering me.

I know in America and Canada it is pretty much always considered pretentious or archaic to use whilst instead of while. (Incidentally, the American use of gotten, instead of the common British got, contra what the Daily Mail tried to tell me the other day, is not a sign of the verbal depravity of American speakers, but a use of an inflection that has died out in the UK, but survived in the United States.)

In the UK as well, though, whilst is becoming much less common, and some of the connotations of pretentiousness and posh-speak and archaism now apply to it. I use whilst quite often. Not to seem more educated than I am, but because it seems most natural to me. I've always used it -- and I'm not old, either. (This whole thought started this morning when my own mother, who still uses slang terms that Dr. Johnson, in 1755, called "archaic and rarely used", laughed at me for saying whilst instead of while.) Now, I don't say whilst all the time... Whilst I was waiting for Tom I popped into the bookshop... is surely a legitimate use? While I was waiting... also feels fine, but whilst adds a certain flavour, doesn't it? It just seems more natural to me; it sounds nicer, it flows off the tongue easier; the -st at the end of whilst also helps pronunciation of the following vowel, I.

But should I move with the times? Clarity of meaning is surely most important, and if I carry on using archaic things (that I've somehow picked up without a classical education of any kind; I was state-school educated) people will think me pretentious and arrogant. Now whilst that doesn't matter to me too much, I don't want what I'm saying ignored or laughed at... Does this mean I have to stop using the Oxford comma?! I love using commas before and, in lists and when and is within a clause, and before and after or, etc. (This is one of those cases where British English has said this use is archaic, whereas American English still recommends it.)

Whilst or while? Among or amongst? Which do you use? Amidst? (I use this one very rarely and with an eye toward its poetic, archaic sense.) Betwixt!?

Hello again, and thanks, and why I now hate deer

Back now :) Everything went OK, gave my dad a good send off and it was actually quite fun, for a funeral. That's good. He'd have liked that. Finally started watching the news again, and the world has changed rather a lot, with an huge economic meltdown (added that in case someone else had contrived to remain ignorant of this). Darn it.

Thank you everyone for your kind messages of support and emails and offers. They're very much appreciated. I'll be getting back into the flow of things soon, and I've gotten quite a few nice looking ARCs on my bed which all look rather good. [Well, they would do if they're "nice looking"...]

I'm having trouble moving pages, though ... In a pub the other day. One of those types of pubs where everywhere you look on the walls, there is some stuffed face of an animal, staring out in shock. One fell off the wall. A small deer. With antlers. Hand pierced. Ow. Free meal and drinks. Yay. (Weirder things have happened this week...)