Synopsis
The Temple-goers by Aatish Taseer
A young man returns home to Delhi after several years abroad and resumes his place among the city's cosmopolitan elite - a world of fashion designers, media moguls and the idle rich. But everything around him has changed - new roads, new restaurants, new money, new crime - everything, that is, except for the people, who are the same, only maybe slightly worse. Then he meets Aakash, a charismatic and unpredictable young man on the make, who introduces him to the squalid underside of this sprawling city. Together they get drunk and work out, visit temples and a prostitute, and our narrator finds himself disturbingly attracted to Aakash's world. But when Aakash is arrested for murder, the two of them are suddenly swept up in a politically sensitive investigation that exposes the true corruption at the heart of this new and ruthless society. In a voice that is both cruel and tender, The Temple-goers brings to life the dazzling story of a city quietly burning with rage.
Reviews
A gripping tangle of politics, murder, bribery and betrayal Observer A young writer to watch -- V. S. Naipaul Naipaul's praise is rare enough to be notable; and Taseer lives up to it. Among the sharpest and best-written fictions about contemporary India Independent A coolly accomplished, pulsating account of modern-day Delhi Guardian Scathingly comic, disquieting, ironical. Vicious fun Spectator Part thriller, part investigation of male friendship, part exploration of the tension between traditional values and modern liberalism in Indian society. Assured, engaging, highly readable Sunday Times A subtle, cleverly observed comedy of manners that turns into an altogether edgier and more sinister narrative Literary Review A brooding tale ... desire, greed and murder all feature Daily Mail
About the Author
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Aatish Taseer was born in Delhi in 1980. He has worked as reporter for Time Magazine and has written for the Sunday Times, Prospect and India Today. He has also written a travel memoir, Stranger to History: a Son's Journey through Islamic Lands (2009) and a highly acclaimed translation Manto: Selected Stories (2008). He lives in Delhi and London.
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Categories
Literary / Contemporary
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