Manu Joseph’s latest novel is wicked, sarcastic and garnished with wit. In the backdrop of the present political scenario of the country, he brings out the hypocrite in all of us. Just like the quote below, one is left with a baffled expression on finishing the novel.
“There are faces that only an Indian can make. Like that baffled face when he is shocked by the most logical outcome of his actions. He crosses the road like a cow, and he is startled by a truck. A vehicle on the road? How? He walks across the railway track, and he finds a train hurtling towards him. A train on a railway track? He is stunned.”
Review
When I received a copy of Man Joseph’s latest novel in my hands, my heart sank a bit. It is only over 200 pages, much shorter than his previous two novels, The Illicit Happiness of Other People and Serious Men
Two storylines
A man trapped in the debris of a collapsed building is mumbling something about a terrorist attack. The police who are rescuing survivors from the collapsed building are on alert and want to extract more information from him so that they can prevent the attack. In the other storyline we have Laila, ‘who has six pairs of shoes. She is a bit hip that way.’ Laila supports a large family with her earnings and is on a journey by car with her married boss even though her mother finds it inappropriate. Both the story lines are fantastic and when they merged I was taken aback by how effortlessly they blended together. This blending of parallel storylines deserves applause. We also have the stories of the ‘Patriarch’ and Miss. Iyer (who plays pranks on liberals and exposes them) which give us a fresh perspective into the plot.
Current political and Religious scenario
Manu Joseph serves it all in his platter – treatment (and place) of women in the country, the never ending war between conservatives and liberals, buildings collapsing because of lack of maintenance, life of extras in Bollywood, ineffectiveness of all political organisations and prejudice towards Muslims.
With the leader, Damodarji, who makes people chant DaMo DaMo (get it?), the Beard Squad, and Satya, a woman activist, who gets pranked that she won the Nobel Prize – we get a taste of many famous (infamous?) personalities of today’s India.
Imprinted Indianess
All the characters are refreshingly Indian. The author uses the ‘Indian English’ version at several instances. And this might cause frowns among those who look for fine writing in books. Phrases like ‘mom went all-Taliban’, ‘types’ , ‘something about our faces that is not very English-English’, ‘flashy girls at Bandra’ are a few examples.
Sarcasm
It is a well known truth that Indians have an affinity to study science whether or not they enjoy the subject and the author justifies this fad as – “Laila says poor people, like them should learn to love science because science is more equal and fair than arts. Aisha understands. The thing about science is that if you are smart no one can say you are not smart.”
Manu Joseph doesn’t shirk away from talking about religion – “Laila thinks no woman is religious…Imagine an old man peering into your life all the time. Which woman would want that?”
The sarcasm about the political figures of the country is spot on. The book presents to us the Hindu nationalists many of whom are “The saffron men of the Sangh, who have not read Chanakya or Machiavelli but love the synopsis” as well as the socialists (“Indian Marxists and their love for French wines when they wish to discuss poverty and revolution“) who wanted to reform India but “In the end the socialists said, sorry, there has been a mistake, someone had read the wrong book.”
About the waves of forced westernization to appear ‘cool’, we have this mantra in the book- “If you speak English and say ‘fuck’ five times in every sentence, you become hip.”
Out to offend everyone
I think anyone who reads this novel will be offended at some point. Manu Joseph makes fun of Arundhati Roy’s dislike for Ambani’s mansion, Antilla, by posing a similar question about her own house in Delhi to a malnourished woman. We see a similar response from the poverty stricken woman’s mouth. Throughout the book, we get similar instances that talks about the hypocrisy of Indians and Indian religions. Miss. Iyer who asks these uncomfortable questions and digs out uncomfortable answers from the so-called liberals is an unreliable narrator. The reader is always in a dilemma about which side of the argument she is on. She seems to have a mind of her own (like most Indians). This brings out the fact that there are no strict boundaries between conservatives and liberals, and both these sides are mocked for their pretentious attitudes in the novel. Their views overlap and this depends on an individual’s principles and background.
Though I enjoyed this unreliable character and the rest of the cast, there were instances where Manu Joseph asserts his own opinions in the storyline. This authorial intrusion jagged the smooth storyline and I wasn’t pleased about the effect. Again, sometimes I wasn’t sure which views were Miss. Iyer’s and which were Joseph’s personal opinions.
I loved the ambiguity in the ending and the unreliability of the the story. The reader might agree with some and disagree with some. When you close the book you get the feeling of having read a newspaper story and unsure about what ‘might have actually happened’.
Manu Joseph's new novel. Love it or hate it; you can't ignore it Click To Tweet
Final Verdict
I liked Manu Joseph’s previous novels more than his latest one. But I loved how fearless he is in writing about the current political and social scenario. While Arundhati Roy’s novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness meanders over a lot of issues of India, Manu Joseph’s latest one ponders on a few important issues and delivers them with a sharp punch in a brief story. For fans of Manu Joseph, this book is different from his previous books; so dive in expecting no similarities.
I quote from the book “India is a wound…But it is not a wound like a whiplash. It is a wound like a spouse.’ Indians (including me) would laugh, raise eyebrows and even disagree with portions of this novel.
Title : Miss. Laila Armed and Dangerous
Author : Manu Joseph
Publisher : Fourth Estate
Publication: 2017
Language : English
Pages : 216
Rating : 4/5
Disclaimer : Much thanks to Harper Collins India for a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.
I’ve never read Joseph before – if you were to recommend a book to start with, which would it be?
I would recommend either Serious Men or The Illicit happiness of being. Many Joseph is known for his sarcasm about real events more than the way he writes. I loved both his previous works equally
I made a mistake. The title of the novel is “The illicit happiness of other people”
Let me put it this way: people who offend easily tend to be the biggest “bigots”. A corrupt gvt official caught red-handed will claim his honour is attacked. And loudly.
I don’t know to-day’s India (my personal references are a bit old), but it seems to me, that despite all the many problems you surely face, as long as such a book can be published… India will be all right. Eventually.
(Another book I may probably never read, but duly noted)
(My Amazon order has not yet arrived…)
(Damn!)
Have a lovely week Resh
I hope you have a lovely week ahead as well. And hope your order arrives soon
Thank you. On both counts. The excitement of getting books in the “post” is almost too much to bear… 😉
I’ve never read anything by Manu Joseph but I tend to enjoy books that are filled with sarcasm. I’m also intrigued by the idea that he potentially offends all of his readers with this story. It sounds like his writing really makes you think. Great review!
Thank you. Yes, I think this is a book that you have to read with an open mind. I applaud the author’s fearlessness
I had never heard of the author either, but I love the idea of a book offending me and people who do not think like me at the same time. That would be an interesting reading!
Yes, I liked that aspect of the book. It makes you realise that just because we agree on nearly everything we might not agree on every single thing.
Fantastic review! This was really interesting to read- I’m not familiar with the author but it seems like a very striking book. I like the idea of a book offending basically everyone, because in a way that means practically no one should be offended, because we’re all in the same boat.
Haha, yes! Also it was kind of confusing to see what exactly the author’s views on the political situation are. So a nice read, overall.
“India is a wound…But it is not a wound like a whiplash. It is a wound like a spouse.” 😀 That was indeed funny. Ordered the copy today 😀
I hope you will enjoy the read. Do comment your link if you decide to review the book so that I can take a look.
Yes definitely
I guess I’m going to have to give this book a miss then. Lol. But I’m so glad you enjoyed it even if it wasn’t a good as the previous ones.
I read this one overnight and was still mingling on it. It is not quality of Manu’s previous books but it is by design I think its more of nonfiction than fiction.This book is not compassionate at all it is like bad news given on doordarshan stating cold hard facts with dark humour as is Manu’s style. Author uses Iyer as a literary device and all else is pretty real nonfiction but when I read it I wanted more of it. Ending seemed quite abrupt though. It seemed as though author was suggesting that this is not the ending second part will come when real life Damodarbai actually falls.
Book is must read in today’s scenario it helps you understand today’s political system why the way it is as is right now.When we think of Bigots we think ourselves on morally high pedestal this book shows us our(liberal) faults and at the same time it shows how their struggle to power is righteous in their head.Manu is thought provocative as always.
I would’ve loved it more if at least one chapter was from Damodarbhai’s perspective he seems very interesting character and how is (evil) mind works would’ve been interesting.