Narcopolis

Narcopolis is that edgy novel that tries to be walk that narrow path, where it avoids being clever or disturbing or a provoking social commentary. A story so detached from its characters it feels almost criminal for a writer to be so stoic while handling a subject matter like the opium culture of big sprawling city.Jeet thayil's shows his capability to weave a free flowing prose that borders on being poetic & crass. It feels like reading this novel you want the characters in the book & author to loose whatever limit or border they have encapsulated themselves in & go all out & pour themselves onto following pages, but that doesn't happen. Characteristics such as that may work in hands of a genius like Cormac McCarthy or Faulkner, but here it inhibits the story from crossing out into whole another level. You will be left with such rich characters but you will never get to know each thus always keeping the reader away from the book. Whatever the reason Jeet decides to do so, it doesn't work here. There is a brave story with overlooked characters here but its carefully protected away with a plot that jumps around , sometimes without any clear cut direction. Its an ambitious effort to delve into drug culture in old bombay that comes out brave with first few pages promising a richly explored book but as the story goes on it seems like its curated sternly throughout thus leaving you wanting more at the end, just short of being memorable but if you are looking for a lyrical not too light-weighted read about opium culture of bombay this is a good place to start.

Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil presents a vivid picture of the Bombay drug scene, and the life of the people associated with it. The book reads like a collection of stories, with the narrative consistently jumping in the past to cover a character's history for instance. There are instances when the character often slips out of reality and into hallucinations, thanks to the Opium High they are riding on.One thing I'd like to clarify about this book is that it is not for everyone. The author being a poet himself has brought in the elements of poetry, thus taking the narrative apart from the set pattern a story is supposed to be dictated in.P.S.: That opening sentence is dope (pun intended). It sets the tone which the book is going to follow throughout, along with the brilliant lyrical narrative the readers are in for.Verdict: Recommended.

This book grew on me. It took its time, meandering through the lives of various characters and the haze of their addictions and motivations, but eventually it reeled me in. The writing is savage, sensitive and powerful all at once and it effortlessly sucks you into this trippy universe.

Drugs and addiction depicted in Mumbai very nicely wrote

Read this long back, it's one amazing read and a must. Compelling tale about the underbelly of a city.

It requires high concentration to finish this book. Makes me wonder why is such high vocabulary used for Mumbai story. Not recommended for someone who is looking for good criminal novel👎

Superb book. Superb writing. And as far as Amazon is considered, the book quality is good, delivery too was quick. Keep up the good work Amazon!

Worth it

perfect delivery

Where to start... I had no real idea what this book was going to be about. I don't think that I have ever read a book based in India before, but i read this as it was the book chosen for my book club.The main emotions stirred in me by this book were disgust and confusion. The book confronted many different themes including gender, sex, drug use, religion, marriage, prostitution, crime, plus many others. This was all set against the backdrop of 1970's Bombay. Unfamiliar with the history, and quite possibly the culture of Bombay and India in general, I found it quite difficult to follow the story (the language used, the types of places mentioned). I believe this could also have been due to the writing style, which I found to have both positive and negative aspects. It seemed that there wasn't any real, solid story to the book, more a series of situations and events that occurred, involving various combinations of characters in various locations. This was something I found difficult to follow, becoming unsure who was talking at different points in the book. However, the authors descriptions were evocative, and I certainly formed images in my mind of how I thought places and people looked.There were some very graphic, and disturbing scenes in the book involving drug use, sex (both consensual and non-consensual, in heterosexual and homosexual situations), occurring separately, and together. It mingles religion/sex/drugs together very closely which could certainly prove problematic for some readers. I equate some of the scenes in this book with the kind of scenes that occur in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, graphic and difficult to read. Alot of these did not seem to have any real build up, or come-down, and were in some cases, just another thing that happened, told in quite a neutral tone.I would say that it would be difficult to say I enjoyed this book, I found it difficult to become attached to the characters, or to feel empathy to many of them. It is quite possible that I missed the point of the book, as I realise that the book dealt with many difficult themes - however when the book ended, I was left unsatisfied, but not particularly wishing that the story would continue. Time shifts and character shifts made it difficult follow.I did however enjoy reading it from the perspective that it was out of my comfort zone in terms of usual genres of books, and that despite the confusion I encountered (which could of course just be me being a bit thick!), the writer delivered many interesting thoughts, along side deep questions, interesting character conversations and vivid imagery, whilst also dealing with problematic themes.I am unsure as of yet, whether it is a book I would recommend to others due to the nature of the content. Not for the faint hearted.

A group of characters - loosely connected through their use of opium and later other variants of opium and Rashid's khana, in which it is smoked or injected or inhaled - has a range of experiences in 1980s Bombay. These range from the visit to Bombay of an artist who specialises in images of Christ, through to the live of the local gangsters and corrupt police, through ethnic conflict and general poverty. The final chapters of the book are a 30 years on return by the narrator who has been part of the scene, but not a central part. Much of the book concerns Dimple, who works for Rashid, and Mr Lee for several chapters, from whom she inherits an opium pipe which buys her original entry to Rashid's khan.This is therefore not a tightly plotted novel - it has more the rewards of an interlocking set of short stories - memorable incident, some reflections on the meaning of life, and a very strong sense of time and place.The opening chapter is an 8 page unparagraphed reflection by the narrator looking back on his own first experience of opium at Rashid's. If this does not immediately appeal, it is unlikely that the rest of the book will fare much better. On the whole, I enjoyed it and it will certainly linger in the memory.

I read this book whilst on a trip to India in Feb 2013, visiting West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya. Thayil's book is based entirely in Mumbai (with a sub-plot dealing with the Chinese origins of one character in the early days of the Communist Revolution), but much of what Thayil describes will be familiar to anyone who has visited any Indian city, if only superficially. The book is well-written with a pacy narrative and a very evocative style, as befits a poet like Thayil, but is not for the faint-hearted as it depicts a cast for whom no moral code seems to apply, and in which casual and often brutal violence, drug use, utter squalor, poverty, and the disposability of human life are quite normal. Some of the characters, such as the transgender prostitute and opium worker Dimple, are capable of generating some sympathy from the reader, but most are repulsive. Still, don't let that put you off. Four stars for the writing, but if I was judging it on the likeability of the characters, it would get two.

I quite like picking up books which receive mixed reviews, and that was one of my reasons for reading this one.It's nomination for awards was also a factor.Sometimes a book is perhaps easier to understand if you feel some cultural or experiential link to the prose. The world of drug addiction and opium and the reality of Mumbai/Bombay is beyond my experiences, but the book did give me a feel for that, and certainly made me think.It is though a little bit like an excited child, changing topics quickly and sometimes hard to follow.Unlike some who seem to have preferred the start to the end, I felt the book actually got better as it went on, perhaps because initially I really didn't see what it was doing or aiming for. In the end it was quite a poignant ride, and although I've only rated it three stars, I would say it was worth a read - I'm glad I read it.