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The City of Devi: A Novel
The City of Devi: A Novel | Manil Suri
5 posts | 5 read | 6 to read
From the author of The Death of Vishnu, "a big, pyrotechnic…ambitious…ingenious" (Wall Street Journal) novel. Mumbai has emptied under the threat of imminent nuclear annihilation; gangs of marauding Hindu and Muslim thugs rove the desolate streets; yet Sarita can think of only one thing: buying the last pomegranate that remains in perhaps the entire city. She is convinced that the fruit holds the key to reuniting her with her physicist husband, Karun, who has been mysteriously missing for more than a fortnight. Searching for his own lover in the midst of this turmoil is Jaz—cocky, handsome, and glib. "The Jazter," as he calls himself, is Muslim, but his true religion has steadfastly been sex with men. Dodging danger at every step, both he and Sarita are inexorably drawn to Devi ma, the patron goddess who has reputedly appeared in person to save her city. What they find will alter their lives more fundamentally than any apocalypse to come. A wickedly comedic and fearlessly provocative portrayal of individuals balancing on the sharp edge of fate, The City of Devi brilliantly upends assumptions of politics, religion, and sex, and offers a terrifying yet exuberant glimpse of the end of the world.
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quote
Bertha_Mason

"I point out that the only alternative to survivor's guilt is eternal serenity: the clear and happy-go-lucky conscience of a corpse."

blurb
Bertha_Mason

Jaz is coded as cluster B, which explains why the reviewers hate him so much. I suspected so, and suspected I'd end up sympathizing with him. And I did.

quote
Bertha_Mason

"A second later I hear another drone, this one more gravelly, as if the engine has sucked in a pigeon it's trying to digest."

blurb
Guildedearlobe
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Today for #agameoffavorites the topic is an author from a county other than yours. Manil Suri‘s The City of Devi is a mad capped apocalyptic tale like Neil Gaiman Bollywood style. It‘s complicate love triangle also enriches the novel. Suri says he read a lot of Jacqueline Susann but lists VS Naipaul as an influence particularly in the way he would write people speaking English in a way you could tell they were speaking an Indian language.

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review
Megara
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Panpan

This book started out absorbing, but progressively my rating of it dropped and dropped as the story developed. By the time I decided it was not worth the read, I had already invested too much time and emotion into it, so I forced myself to finish.

I loathe "the Jazster."