Debut
Mixed motives
VIJAY NAIR
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A tedious read that reveals confused intentions...
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Arrack in the Afternoon ; Matthew Vincent Menacherry; HarperCollins, Rs.350
Mathew Vincent Menacherry's debut novel Arrack in the Afternoon, is a mixed offering. Parts of it are well written and then there are also parts to the book that should have been reworked if not edited out completely. So you coast through the first work of the author, partly enthralled and partly disgusted. Perhaps Mathew Menacherry went through the same dilemma that most first time novelists find themselves in while penning what they imagine to be their path breaking works. They want their book to be treated with respect and at the same time are unable to let go of commercial considerations.
The protagonist of the novel Verghese Konnikara is someone who in modern parlance would be referred to as a “loser.” He publishes a collection of poems and is unable to sell a single copy. Since the author begins the book with this disaster, the reader assumes the tale is a fantasy. After all it is impossible for a published work not to sell a single copy. There are always obliging friends and family to pick up the first hundred. This mishap in his life is followed by some more improbable things happening to him, culminating in him turning into a modern day guru. But, the book is not something that we can conveniently slot as magic realism. The author chooses to juxtapose the surreal with the grim and the gritty landscape of Bombay and strikes discordant notes throughout his work.
Lost reader
It is difficult to access the protagonist through the narrative. This may appear a bit of nitpicking, but how can it be possible that Konnikara is chronically depressed and an alcoholic to boot and he is blessed with a physique that men and women drool over. The author can always claim that he wanted to fight shy of clichés and stereotypes but this is just the kind of inconsistency the reader may find hard to swallow. By the end of it all, we never really care for what happens to the protagonist and that is the book's greatest failure.
The author comes into his own when he is fleshing out some of the other principal characters. The story of Kochapu, Konnikara's father is a delightful treatise on not just one individual but an entire state that he represents. The early life of Patricia, Konnikara's mistress in Mhow, before she migrates to Bombay, is once again captured remarkably well.
However, Menacherry chooses to locate his work in the commercial capital of India and sets out to tell a story rooted in the opportunistic ethos of the metropolis. He fails in this endeavour not because what he has to say is inauthentic, but because there is nothing new he has to offer about the city or its denizens. The narrative also suffers because of the excessive emphasis on sex. There is a lot of it in the book and not particularly tastefully written. Sample this- “The servant who had many glimpses of the still-delectable form of Rashmina, pretended not to notice the thin line of semen that extended to the middle of the bed.”
Alluring title
Arrack in the Afternoon has a nice enticing title, irreverent but captivating. There is also some good writing and story telling in parts. But when an author claims he spent five years in writing the novel and another three in editing it, the reader expects a lot more.
However there is enough promise in this one for us to believe that there would be other more accomplished works from Menacherry in future.
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