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Love and Longing in Bombay

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 934 ratings · 67 reviews

On the heels of his award-winning and extravagantly praised first novel, RED EARTH AND POURING RAIN, Vikram Chandra offers five ingeniously linked stories--a love story, a mystery, a ghost story, and other tales spun by an elusive narrator sitting in a smoky Bombay bar. Critics around the world have embraced the book as a major work by this exciting young writer.

Paperback, 272 pages

Published October 1st 1998 by Back Bay Books

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Apr 19, 2010 T. rated it 3 of 5 stars

I spent 12 years trying to remember a story which I'd read in the New Yorker, and loved. For years I tried to reconstruct scraps of what I remembered about the story--practically nothing, except the image of a woman's fingers flying over a telephone keypad. Not the author's name, not the character's name, and certainly not the name of the story. Since it was set in India, I thought it might be by an Indian writer, but I wasn't sure.

At last I found it by exhaustively combing the New Yorker's onli...more

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Mar 02, 2010 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

I bought Chandra's immense novel Sacred Games a little while ago. While it looks to be wonderful, I've been a bit intimidated by the sheer size of the thing. So this collection of five stories -- one short novel plus four in the novelette/novella range -- seemed a reasonable means of warming myself up to Chandra's work, as it were.

The five pieces are called "Dharma", "Shakti", "Kama", "Artha" and "Shanti". Shamefully I had to look up the meanings of these terms; I'll give shorthand versions, wh...more I bought Chandra's immense novel Sacred Games a little while ago. While it looks to be wonderful, I've been a bit intimidated by the sheer size of the thing. So this collection of five stories -- one short novel plus four in the novelette/novella range -- seemed a reasonable means of warming myself up to Chandra's work, as it were.

The five pieces are called "Dharma", "Shakti", "Kama", "Artha" and "Shanti". Shamefully I had to look up the meanings of these terms; I'll give shorthand versions, which are not intended as formal definitions, as I discuss the tales. Each has a frame, of greater or lesser perfunctoriness, in which it's claimed the tale is one recounted to the author by a retired civil servant called Subramaniam; in one instance ("Artha") there's a further layer, in that the tale is one told to Subramaniam that he's now in turn recounting; and in the final story, "Shanti", the master storyteller proves himself to be the central character, who is a teller of and listener to tales . . .

Do you get the impression this collection is all about Story? Yes, and it's quite a lot about Bombay as well, seemingly an attempt to give this city -- which is an omnipresent, often broodingly dangerous backdrop and sometimes almost an active participant -- the same sort of mythopoeic status as a New York or a Paris. I'm not competent to judge whether Chakra's attempt (if indeed this was his intention) is successful. I do know that I'm a lot more interested in Bombay than I used to be.

The centrepiece of the collection is the short novel, "Kama" (sensual pleasure). On the surface it's a mystery story, as a cop tries to track down the killer of what seems at first to be a traditional middle-class family's ultra-respectable father. Of course, the truth proves to be very much other than this, as the seedy revelations come tumbling out in typical police-procedural style. But, as they do so, the tale morphs subtly into one about central cop Sartaj's own need to reevaluate himself and what he stands for: Does he really want to be the all-too-easily-bribable, occasionally torturing cop he's somehow become over the years? Is his sense of alienation from those around him really to do with his adherence to a minority religion or is that just an excuse? Is his reluctance to let his estranged wife finally go by signing the divorce papers born from love or just from possessiveness? And so on. In the end, the solution that's offered to the murder mystery is actually the solution to Satraj's own existential maze. This may offend the occasional mystery-reading purist, but the volte face -- the pulling of the rug from under our preconceptions -- is actually pretty delicious. (Besides, the straightforward solution is actually there as well, if you think about it for a moment.)

Incidentally, this tale does contain one of the longest Truly Hot passages I've read in a while: for fear of corrupting y'all and sending Donald Wildmon into apoplexy, wild horses wouldn't induce me to divulge such information as: pp118-25 of the 1998 Back Bay paperback edition.

"Artha" (the urge to seek material wealth) is the longest of the remaining stories, and is another significant piece of work. On the one hand it recounts how the principals of a startup software company try to work out why the accounting system that's their first major business installation keeps losing the trifling sum of 20 rupees and 20 paise (about halfway through the tale I glanced again at the meaning of the term artha and began chuckling). On the other, it's a very moving and involving love story, as the narrator is drawn into a world of thugs and gangsters in search of the boyfriend who seemingly abruptly dumped him.

"Dharma" (righteous duty) is a good ghost story, in which a stiff military officer is forced to dredge up memories of his childhood. "Shakti" (divine female creative power) is a highly entertaining satire, if perhaps a bit slight, of Bombay high society, with two social divas duking it out in a publicly undeclared war; the irony here is that one of them is actually a significant real-world achiever and clearly of very considerable intelligence, but that this is ignored as irrelevant by all and sundry, herself included. "Shanti" (inner peace), in which Subramaniam discovers his soulmate and as an envoi our narrator discovers Bombay, is a complex little ants' nest of stories that I hugely enjoyed reading and unpicking at the time yet discovered afterwards was the least affecting of the five pieces.

All in all: Golly! As Pam will tell you, for the couple of days when my leisure time was obsessively devoted to reading this book, I was good for very little else. Sacred Games's 900 big pages no longer look nearly so intimidating. In fact, when I finish the anthology I'm currently reading there's every chance that . . .(less)

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Sep 18, 2012 Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A loose-knit set of narratives about narrative. A too sure of himself main narrator bumps into an old storyteller whose tales open up the main narrator to a wider sense of the world, of possibility and, most of all, to the city in which the tales are set: Bombay. All in all, a love letter to the city, one that bids fair to challenge Rushdie's work for biggest homer. Some tales are better than others. "Dharma" is a wonderful, bittersweet story of duty and sacrifice that doubles as a ghost story w...more A loose-knit set of narratives about narrative. A too sure of himself main narrator bumps into an old storyteller whose tales open up the main narrator to a wider sense of the world, of possibility and, most of all, to the city in which the tales are set: Bombay. All in all, a love letter to the city, one that bids fair to challenge Rushdie's work for biggest homer. Some tales are better than others. "Dharma" is a wonderful, bittersweet story of duty and sacrifice that doubles as a ghost story with a truly surprising ending. "Shakti" is a clever morality tale about status, wealth and what money finally cannot buy. It feels just a little predictable at times and not quite at the level of the opener. "Kama" is a pretty steamy murder mystery boxed up with a cop getting a divorce but still having hot sex with the ex fantasy. Demands careful reading because the mystery and the love story are connected and Chandra doesn't spell things out. Very fine. "Artha" is perhaps the weakest tale in the lot--it is still good but doesn't feel up the level of the others. Again, as most of these stories are, this one tells two intertwined tales--one the story of the travails of a computer company startup, the other the woes of the gay second fiddle to the female owner of said startup. The end waxes lyrical however. The final story is a fine fable told by the old storyteller to the main narrator (who happens to have cold feet with regard to his own paramour, Ayesha) about how the old man and his wife came together. It is fantastic, a story ending a set of stories about stories, explaining that it was story that brought the storyteller and his wife together in the first place. Chandra is sly here, implying that the story itself may be just another tale woven by the teller to entertain and educate the main narrator. True or not, it has its desired effect, as the main narrator heads off into the night to find and win his Ayesha and celebrate a new life together in a city of stories, a city filled with names that are themselves invitation to fabling. This is high-order stuff and Chandra pulls most of it brilliantly.(less)

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Jun 09, 2011 Neha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011, kwench, short-story

Another book with Longing in its name.. and its theme too.. its true when they say that we all long for something.. some just know it and some don’t .. and its never ending.. one desire fulfilled leads to another and we live our lives longing for fulfilment. All in all life is a vicious circle of longing and what do we desire the most – love...

I have not been a fan of Vikram Chandra after reading ‘Red Earth and Pouring Rain’ and even ‘Sacred Games’ was just a decent read. But you can’t go much...more Another book with Longing in its name.. and its theme too.. its true when they say that we all long for something.. some just know it and some don’t .. and its never ending.. one desire fulfilled leads to another and we live our lives longing for fulfilment. All in all life is a vicious circle of longing and what do we desire the most – love...

I have not been a fan of Vikram Chandra after reading ‘Red Earth and Pouring Rain’ and even ‘Sacred Games’ was just a decent read. But you can’t go much wrong with a short story.. It is concise and flowing with quick results unlike a novel where you can carry on forever without reaching any conclusion. This collection of short stories narrate the few sides of love and longing in the vibrant city of Bombay.. a gay man and a simple naive woman searching for and loosing love.. a lost man finding love in a woman stranger travelling in search of his own.. a police officer searching for the criminals while his own love fails and marriage ends... how the war between two families end with love of their children..

The best part of all these stories is that they seem like happening to someone you know or probably yourself. The incidents in the book is what we read every day... takeover by an upcoming corporate of an age old family business, lovers and canoodling at Band stand, noise of Hindu – Muslim riots and closing down of city, Gujju businessmen or Marathi Sewaks, page 3 news of artists and exhibitions, under the table dealings, and all the excitement and fear of association with gangsters. The entire theme and soul is of Bombay.. how lives evolve over here from poor to rich and vice versa... how everyone comes here merging into one colour but forming a unique shade of his own in this rainbow of a city..

In all the noise of the city .. if you hold your breath and think for one second .. there is only one feeling that emerges in your head and that is of longing .. longing for love... and this book brings it out beautifully. (less)

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Jul 14, 2012 Benjamin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Love and Longing consists of five (very) loosely-related short stories. Most are gripping, and all are well-written. The different voices and styles of each story speak to Chandra's talent.

my favorite quote: "I tried for a minute to explain to Ma-ji that the question she was supposed to be asking was not exactly 'Where's Picasso, mother-fucker?,' but she was standing on the chair with such fierce exultation in her arms, having so much fun, and now the kids below were chanting with her, that it s...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Srinath rated it 4 of 5 stars

A wonderful collection of five stories all interlinked in an ingenious manner. All except one are set in Bombay. Chandra's brilliant story-telling grips you from the word go.

In the murder mystery detective story Kama, the detective Sartaj Singh who is going through a troubled marriage , becomes deeply involved in a murder mystery. This Police Inspector Sartaj Singh is the character that has a big presence in Chandra's other book "The Sacred Games" too.

Vikram Chandra's characters exert a kind of...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Larou added it · review of another edition

Shelves: general, fiction

A while back, I read Vikram Chandra’s debut novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain, and loved it – it was everything Magical Realism always promises to be but so rarely really is – it combines a rich, sensual writing that lets the reader soak in the sights, sound and smells of a vivdly evoked reality with a fertile, proliferating imagination that transforms that reality into something even richer and stranger but which still gives us a perspective on our world as it is – distorts it into clarity, to a...more A while back, I read Vikram Chandra’s debut novel Red Earth and Pouring Rain, and loved it – it was everything Magical Realism always promises to be but so rarely really is – it combines a rich, sensual writing that lets the reader soak in the sights, sound and smells of a vivdly evoked reality with a fertile, proliferating imagination that transforms that reality into something even richer and stranger but which still gives us a perspective on our world as it is – distorts it into clarity, to appropriate a famous phrase from Bertolt Brecht.

Love and Longing in Bombay is a collection of five stories, and it is quite different in tone from the novel, in so far as for the most part it sticks with traditional realism… or at least appears to. To me at least, there seemed to be a certain amount of litary pastiche involved, in so far as each of the stories is framed, placed in a setting where it is told verbally by a narrator to an audience, in a manner that I found very reminiscent of Joseph Conrad’s Marlow (or possibly the short fiction of Rudyard Kipling, who was also rather fond of that narrative device).

Each of the stories is named after a concept taken from Hinduistic philosophy - of which I have to confess that I do not have the first clue. I had to look the terms up in Wikipedia, but even at such a superficial level, having some idea what the concepts mean does shed some additional light on the individual stories. Both the narrative frame and the titles offer a perspective on the stories from the outside looking in, some rudimentary explanation or interpretetation, and both seem to presuppose that the stories are an illustration of some larger concept, or an example for a truth about life. Rather interestingly though, they never are the same, whilte the narrator Mr. Subramaniam always offers the stories to illustrate some point, that point never seems to stand in any correlation to the title the author gave the stories - the perspectives intersect, but are not identical.

The final story in the collection, though, is markedly different from the others: its title refers not just to a concept, but also to a name, and it is only one in which the narrator himself, Mr. Subramaniam, plays an active part. As if that was not enough to raise it to a meta-lavel, its plot also mainly consists of its two protagonists telling each other stories (which are given inside the story, but never as told by their original narrator, always passed on through an intermediary). This story strays quite far from the realism of the others, and I very much doubt it is coincidence that it is also the only one that (for the most part) does not take place in Bombay – making it appear as if Bombay was the gravitational centre of realism – or even reality – in India, with things becoming increasingly more fantastic the farther one moves away from it.(less)

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Sep 30, 2011 Madeline rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like literature about storytelling

Shelves: 2011, library-books, short-stories, indian-subcontinent, ghosts, class, women, queer, mystery, marriage-lets-you-down, noirish, historical-fiction, family, toughandromantic-as-the-cityheloved, love-story, existentialism

The five stories in Love and Longing in Bombay are connected in a few ways: they're all told through the same character, to the narrator, at varying degrees of distance; they're all really about Bombay (except, perhaps, "Shanti," the final story); they're all about some kind of love; they're all really, really about storytelling. I liked that Chandra uses the stories to explore a variety of genres, linking the stories through framing device and theme while exploring other areas in each individua...more

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May 10, 2007 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars

I first read this book in the Philippines and promptly took it out of hte library when I returned. I don't usually re-read books or short storis, but I've actually read this oee a few times. It sticks with me. I think its the deliciousness of hte characterers and hwo I feel as though I've been to Bomay and knows its landmarks and mood after reading these stories. The first one about the ghost in the old home is not my favourtie, but the Sikh detective, the computer software syspense tale, the so...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Lori Kincaid rated it 1 of 5 stars

I read a good bit of fiction by Indian authors. I have a deep connection to the subcontinent and try to learn about the culture through current literature. I have truly enjoyed works by Lahiri, Mistry and others. Their stories captured me.

Having giving that disclaimer, I truly did not like this book. Chandra is a gifted writer, no doubt, but I felt no connection to his characters, to their stories. Even though the stories were relatively short, I found myself having difficulty following them bec...more

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Jan 23, 2009 Tracy Staton rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of these stories introduces the detective character at the heart of Sacred Games, Chandra's big novel. It's not the best story in the book, though. Chandra runs through a variety of genres -- including the ghost story, which is one of the most touching of the collection. The best piece, IMHO, is about social-climbing in Mumbai. It's the one that stuck with me after I'd finished the book.

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Apr 11, 2011 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This one was interesting; I spent much of the time reading it trying to make connections amongst the characters. My favorite part was the chapter on Megha and Sartaj Singh. He was a main character in Sacred Games, and we never really get to know what happened with Megha--until this story. I like Seth's style of writing; it makes me think.

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Jun 19, 2009 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-short-stories

I really enjoyed a few of the stories in this book, but plodded through a couple, disinterested.
Overall i thought Chandra's writing was beautiful, rich and vivid. It was, i believe, the pace that bothered me. The stories did not have the pace or structure that i expect from short stories. I would feel as though i was reading a novel and then the story would end abruptly.
I loved the experience of being transported to india, and feeling another culture, another worldview, but the use of SO MANY ?...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Shylashree Chikkamuniyappa rated it 1 of 5 stars

5 short stories, I found myself having difficulty following them because I simply couldn't make myself care. The 1st story was unclear as to the events. 2nd story about 2 high-society ladies with a good ending. 3rd story about an inspector investigating a murder and giving divorce to his wife.

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Aug 14, 2009 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

WOW!! A vivid, amazing collection of short stories. Absolutely gorgeous. I'm so enamored of Sartaj Singh, the Bombay detective who's the main character in one of them, that I'm now settling in with Sacred Games (which also stars Sartaj). 900+ pages. EEK!

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May 13, 2013 Sundarraj Kaushik rated it 2 of 5 stars

Gives some insight into the life in Bombay, but nothing great to compel reading of the book, especially for Bombayites. It may be a decent read for non-bombayites. Do not expect a Sacred Games like experience.

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May 03, 2009 Diana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not stunning- definitely not a must read but interesting nonetheless. Short stories were sometimes hard to follow and the use of Hindi in the text was not often clear for those who can't speak the language.

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Mar 13, 2013 Archana rated it 1 of 5 stars

I picked up the book reading contents dharma artha shakti shanti etc..
I can say I was disappointed.

Neither the action that a fiction promises nor the smoothness of close to real life facts.....

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Jan 05, 2013 Catherine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing

Maybe I'm not deep enough to appreciate this sort of writing: I enjoyed each of these stories well enough at the time, but none have really stayed with me.
(Written three weeks after reading.)

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Dec 01, 2008 Cotleen added it

This is a short collection of stories, not coincidentally about love and longing. This book really brought me into the characters' worlds, and changed my outlook on my own.

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Sep 02, 2011 Malabaricus rated it 2 of 5 stars

A book you seem to have read before.Shades of Somerset Maugham with none of the language or depth. Quite trite stories with not very believable characters.

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Oct 10, 2011 Ken rated it 4 of 5 stars

An absorbing collection of stories that made me want to read more. The story-within-a-story device does get a bit tiresome, but not enough to detract from Chandra's brilliant imagery and character development.

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Dec 02, 2008 Heatherer Annasophiececilia Romaine rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

I absolutely love this book- each layer is fascinating and so well written, I find myself totally immersed in emotion with each page...

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Oct 27, 2011 Prakriti rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Brilliant! Highly recommended! The stories, the characters would stay in your mind long after you have finished the book!

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Aug 06, 2011 SanjeeB added it

Very vividly written! Wonderful stories; especially liked the narrator, Mr. Subramaniam. Highly recommend it!

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Dec 24, 2008 Brooke Everett rated it 2 of 5 stars

Only ok. It's short stories, and the first three were pretty good, but the last two barely told a story. I didn't even finish the 2nd to last one: I just didn't care about the characters at all due to lack of exposition.

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Sep 24, 2012 Priya Shah rated it 3 of 5 stars

finished wid dharma and shakti part.......
so nicely written.............

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Sep 08, 2007 Harpreet rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is one hell of an imaginative book! The stories are extremely vivid and explicit, and the descriptions take you into the story and bring you right next to the character @ that moment. There were parts of the book where I was slightly confused but overall the book just immerses you in its detailed stories. Also, there are many different aspects and views of love depicted in this book. It's not standard or the cliche Indian normative, there's a broader and a more open point of view of love a...more

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Oct 04, 2007 Zainab rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a collection of 5 short stories. It took me a long time to read this book, as I didn't like the 1st story and thought the rest of the book would be similarly uninteresting. But the subsequent stories were much better, and the last one really tied it all up beautifully. the 5th story is special because it's a lovely story in it's own right, but it also knits the book together, and makes you realize the significance that story telling has for the narrator of the tales. i was very sad when...more

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Apr 05, 2010 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely stunning - even better than sacred games!

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About Vikram Chandra

Vikram Chandra was born in New Delhi.

He completed most of his secondary education at Mayo College, a boarding school in Ajmer, Rajasthan. After a short stay at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai, Vikram came to the United States as an undergraduate student.

In 1984, he graduated from Pomona College (in Claremont, near Los Angeles) with a magna cum laude BA in English, with a concentration in creative w...more

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“So now that began to develop into a full-fledged shouting match of its own, and all in all it was soon a full-scale old-style Bombay tamasha, with people watching from every balcony and window in every building, up and down the road, laughing and giving advice and yelling at each other.” — 2 people liked it

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