Manu Joseph, Open magazine’s
editor, is back with The
Illicit Happiness of Other People
(W.W. Norton), his second novel.
The first, Serious Men, a fierce
caste-and-class satire involving
a high-ranking physicist and his
lowly assistant, won the inaugural
Hindu Best Fiction Award, the
PEN/Open Book Award, and was
shortlisted for the Man Asian
Literary Prize. From scientific affairs,
Joseph shifts his gaze to domestic affairs in the
new novel, which is based on a true story and set in
Madras of the late ’80s. How did Unni Chacko, a teenage
graphic artist, fall from the balcony of his home? Was
it an accident or did he kill himself? When a package
arrives in the mail, three years after his death, Chacko’s
father sets out to solve the mystery. It’s also a philosophical
quest. “What [the father] Ousep discovers, after
interviewing Unni’s friends, fellow artists, teachers,
and anyone else he can track down, is a deeply thoughtful
teenager burdened by weighty existential quandaries,”
according to Publishers Weekly. Delhi-based Joseph
writes columns for the International Herald Tribune.
American Dervish (Little,
Brown), Ayad Aktar’s debut novel,
won wide praise and has been
translated into 25 languages.
That’s not all. He is also drawing
attention for his work as a playwright,
filmmaker, and actor. His
Disgraced (featuring Asif Mandvi)
was a critical success in New
York last year (it goes to London
in 2013), and another play, The
Invisible Hand, will open in the
spring. Born in New York to Pakistani
immigrants, and raised in Wisconsin, Aktar has
degrees in theater and film from Brown and Columbia.
He starred in The War Within, a film he co-wrote, and Too
Big to Fail, shown on HBO. In the latter film, he played
Neel Kashkari, the advisor who had a lead role in tackling
the 2008 financial crisis. Aktar’s novel focuses on
a young Pakistani-American male, and Mina, a female
émigré from Pakistan, as they both grapple with identity
issues. “His well-written, strongly plotted narrative
is essentially a conventional tale of family conflict and
adolescent angst, strikingly individualized by its Muslim
fabric,” notes Kirkus in a starred review.
Young children will delight
in Grandma and the Great Gourd
(Roaring Brook Press), retold by
author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
The colorful and stylish illustrations
by Susy Pilgrim Waters
are evocative, setting the
mood for a story that’s, at first,
faintly reminiscent of Little Red
Riding Hood. However, what we have here is a crisp narration
of a Bengali folktale, which Divakaruni’s grandfather
used to tell her, just as she told it to her two boys
when they were young. She has dedicated her book to
all three, not to mention the pet dog that inspired her
to write it. Instead of a big bad wolf, there’s a clever red
fox that stops a grandmother—not a little girl—as she
walks through the jungle to visit her daughter. The fox
wants to eat her, as do the bear and tiger she encounters.
How does Grandma manage to trick the predators,
initially, and then foil them on her return journey? Well,
the title holds a clue, and her two dogs play a crucial
role, too!
With its lists of unusual
feats, the Guinness World Records
2013 will appeal to fans looking
for a fun read. Though it’s not
everybody’s cup of tea, the GWR
is hugely popular in India, where
there are numerous record holders.
Like Ram Singh Chauhan,
whose moustache is 14 feet long,
making it the world’s longest.
And did you know that the largest
roti, made at Jamnagar’s Jalaram Temple, weighed
over 141 pounds? No word on how many people ate it.
Rajiv Golcha in India owns the largest ruby, weighing
close to 49 pounds. Mawsynram in Meghalaya gets the
most rainfall (467 inches annually). When it comes to
extravagance, few can beat Laxmi Mittal, who spent $55
million on his daughter’s wedding. Sachin Tendulkar
became the first ODI cricketer to score 100 centuries.
Then there is 5-year-old Shreeya, who limbo skated under
27 cars to cover a record-breaking 48.2 meters. The
world’s shortest woman, Jyoti Amge, and shortest man,
Chandra Bahadur Dangi (from Nepal), were present at
the release of the GWR’s 57th edition.