Interesting books from the perspective of a native living under benign occupation. The reader comes to be immersed in the Indian culture, is acquainted with snakes, and foods, and music, and color, and ethics, and beliefs, and humidity... I could go on and on. I came aware with an appreciation of a different way of life. ( )

Swami and Friends
I'm not sure what I expected when I decided to read Narayan, but what I got was not it. What I got was a masterfully rendered little story of a boy and his friends in rural southern India in the 1920s. It possesses the kind of narrative pleasure that one comes across only rarely. The storyline is modulated beautifully. It is a traditional linear narrative; it doesn't jump around. The sequence is chronological. The boy, Swami, wanders here and there and we follow him. The story deals with his travails at school, at home, and when he is with friends: particularly two colorful fellows called Mani and Rajam. Swami's thoughts are very much a child's thoughts but this isn't a book for children. The emotional range is too rich, too complex. The ending is abrupt and powerful. Highly recommended.

The Dark Room Excellent too

The English Teacher
I am reminded of how John Gardner differentiated between sentiment and the sentimental. This book is high in genuine sentiment. It is based on Narayan's life when, after a period of prolonged bachelorhood after marriage, his wife came to live with him in the provincial town where he was a teacher of English. What fascinated, among other things, was all the detail about how Indians lived in the late 1940s. The writing is straightforward, the timeline chronological. There is no plot to speak of. The teacher's wife and child arrive at a large house the husband has selected for them. The lay out is rudimentary though spacious. I was astonished at how little they lived on, compared to the gluttonous West of that time. Narayan captures the smell of the place exquisitely, it dirtiness, its roads beaten down by the multitudes over millennia. Like Narayan's own wife, the professor here watches his die. It is a drawn out death though anything but predictable. In fact, it's gripping. The wife's parents show up to share the nursing duties. Later, the professor meets a soothsayer who channels his wife from "the other side." Highly recommended. ( )

SWAMI AND FRIENDS: I'm not sure what I expected when I decided to read Narayan, but what I got was not it. What I got was a masterfully rendered little story of a boy and his friends in rural southern India in the 1920s. It possesses the kind of narrative pleasure that one comes across only rarely. The story is line is modulated beautifully. It is a traditional linear narrative; it doesn't jump around. The sequence is chronological. The boy, Swami, wanders here and there and we follow him. The story deals with his travails at school, at home, and when he is with friends: particularly two colorful fellows called Mani and Rajam. Swami's thoughts are very much a child's thoughts but this isn't a book for children. The emotional range is too rich, too complex. The ending is abrupt and powerful. Highly recommended. ( )