(Book: City of Devi; Author: Manil Suri; Publisher: Bloomsbury)
The final instalment in mathematician-author Manil Suri’s trilogy is curiously dedicated to ‘Devi,’ and not the third Hindu God in the Holy trinity, Brahma. The earlier two books were Death of Vishnu and The Age of Shiva. But as the reader finds out in due course, the author has brilliantly woven in the explanation in the early part of the book. Also, as the story is set in Mumbai, the author has decided to dedicate it to the city’s patron Goddess Mumba devi. Among the three books, this one is the most ambitious as it brings together an unusual love triangle set against a religiously divided Mumbai which is on the brink of an apocalypse.
Caroline Moor writes in The Spectator: “It is a city which, at the beginning of the novel, is threatened with nuclear annihilation in four days’ time. Religious tensions have been inflamed by a Bollywood hit, Super-devi, a mixture of Slumdog Millionaire and Superman. Opportunistic extremists are exploiting blood-thirsty Hindu and Muslim mobs; relations between India and Pakistan have reached meltdown; cyber-attacks and terrorist bombs have destroyed communication by internet and phone; rumours and violence proliferate.”
In the midst of all this whirling chaos and mayhem, the protagonist Sarita searches for her missing physicist husband Karun. At the same time, one encounters Jaz, a cocky, handsome and glib homosexual, who is searching for his partner. And they both meet, ending up searching for the same person in that chaos. As The Hindu writes, “Suri does an effortless tightrope walk between banality and satire, the meticulously believable and the outrageously fantastical.” In a mixed review, Adam Mars-Jones writes in the Observer: “The thriller aspect has been well plotted, but its horrific aspects must be downplayed if the romantic triangle is to remain the focus. Set pieces become sketchy and even massacres arouse little reaction. Providential turns of event reliably rescue the main characters, as if this was a romp, though, not a comedy.”
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