First published 1993. Phoenix paperback, 1995, pp 549, c.190,000 words.
The third part of this monster novel (total for all three volumes apparently 591,554 words – slightly longer than War and Peace) draws towards the inevitable conclusion of Lata’s marriage. But who will it be to? The romance in incidental to the real theme which is India itself. What sort of country will it become, post independence and partition? The conflicting forces are all on display here: religion, cast, regional identity, politics, forces of cohesion and of destabilisation. Add in the usual mix of human failings and strengths, desire, snobbery, avarice, the need to control, to retain traditional values and to break for freedom. Add in Indian fatalism, teaming cities, untamed wild lands, traditional values and modernisation, culture and industry. It’s a heady and chaotic mix that is superbly evoked as India in this novel.
Seth’s writing is an easy and comfortable read. There is nothing forced or self-consciously literary here. When there is word play deployed it fits well with the characters; something the Chatterjis, one of the central families, are particularly pleased with themselves about, but delivered in a mostly light-hearted and amusing way.
Occasionally the plot meanders down a by-way. Do we really care so much about specific acts of governments, both regional and national? And are we really interested in so much detail about Congress Party machinations of the period? On the other hand, the madness of crowds is very well realised and the fatalism of the people along with how some are easily swept up in the latest religious cult. How easily politicians, traditional community leaders and power-brokers whip up the uninformed masses into hysterical mobs.
By the end, Seth has boxed himself into a corner by trying to keep the reader guessing. None of Lata’s suiters are going to be an entirely satisfactory conclusion. It is perhaps a forgivable weakness when the real subject in India, which Seth has evoked with such masterly style.
© William John Graham, May 2022