The Great Indian Novel - by Shashi Tharoor (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published: New Dehli, India: Penguin Books, 1989.

Book Synopsis

"A wickedly funny satire, sparing no one, not even Mahatma Gandhi . . . Just thinking about it makes me want to go back and reread it."--Fareed Zakaria, New York Times Book Review

In this award-winning novel, Shashi Tharoor has masterfully recast the two-thousand-year-old epic, The Mahabharata, with fictionalized but highly recognizable events and characters from twentieth-century Indian politics. Blending history and myth, Tharoor directs his satire as much against Indian foibles as the bumbling of the British rulers to chronicle the struggle for Indian freedom and independence.

The Great Indian Novel is a dazzling tapestry of prose and verse that is alternately outrageous and instructive, hilarious and moving,

Review Quotes

"A wickedly funny satire, sparing no one, not even Mahatma Gandhi . . . Just thinking about it makes me want to go back and reread it."--Fareed Zakaria, New York Times Book Review

"A richly complex work of imaginative flight and scholarly depth. The Great Indian Novel combines historical fact with daily marvels."--Louise Erdrich

"A hot-minded, century-striding tale of modern Indian shenanigans . . . Reads fast and randy, like a miniseries that won't quit. . . . It should entertain everyone."--Washington Post Book World

"An outrageous feast, spilling over with myths, rhymes, tales of ancient treachery and wisdom and tales of modern foolishness and heroism . . . Wildly original."--Chicago Tribune

"A great Indian novel . . . An exhilarating experience."--Village Voice

"A tour de force of considerable brilliance."--Times Literary Supplement

"Enormously successful . . . This is indeed a great Indian novel."--Newsday

"An entertaining tour de force."--Sunday Times (London)

About the Author

Shashi Tharoor was born in London and brought up in Bombay and Calcutta. He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, the Times of India, and Foreign Affairs. A human rights activist and winner of a Commonwealth Writers Prize, he is currently a member of the Indian Parliament and lives in New Dehli, India.