Ghachar Ghochar Review

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm wary of translations as these tend to filter out the essence of the original. But this book looked like it did retain the tone, feel, and flavor of the original.
The narrator is dispassionate and is not sure if he is even suffering from an identity crisis or if he cares enough about it. He makes you want to hate (detest) a lot of people in his family, except for his wife Anita. Or, it would be the other way round, and you'll end up feeling sorry for him and his family (less likely).
The ending left me disappointed because I wanted to know more and see the narrator change. It doesn't happen. I guess the story is more real than reality in that way. It doesn't take away anything from the story, rather emphasizes that some people can live their entire lives feeling passionate about things but don't bother to act on it as it takes too much effort.

Two friends of mine suggested this book and one of them sent me a copy to read. I'm happy to have read it. Gave me pointers to handle subdued and less worthy narrators in a story.


View all my reviews