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The Romantics
Pankaj Mishra is one of the most promising talents of his generation, and this stunning, universally praised novel of self-discovery heralds a remarkable career.
The young Brahman Samar has come to the holy city of Benares to complete his education and take the civil service exam that will determine his future. But in this city redolent of timeworn customs, where pilgrims b...more
The young Brahman Samar has come to the holy city of Benares to complete his education and take the civil service exam that will determine his future. But in this city redolent of timeworn customs, where pilgrims b...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
February 20th 2001
by Anchor
(first published January 1st 1999)
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a superb 1st novel of the new india, rootless young people meet rootless westerners for a slap up of double melancholia. It illustrates one young man's search for meaning and love, only to find void and illusion, just like they said it would be. same as it ever was (TH's), but gains a small measure of accommodation at least, after years of work and isolation. I liked very much how the author would change his descriptive style of the world according to mood of the protagonist. That is, when he wa...more
Who are the “Romantics?” They are all of the characters in the book who have “memories, wounds, ambitions, and regrets,” no matter where in the world they come from. The Romantics takes place in India, where the main character in the book, Samar, attended school in one part of India, only to continue his studies for the Civil Exams in Benares. Samar was accustomed to his daily routines each day, eating breakfast each morning with the owners of the boarding house, studying at the library, and com...more
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Had been meaning to read Panjak Mishra for some time, especially with all the raving reviews of 'From the Ruins of Empire' I came upon recently. Found this in hardback at Blossoms, Bangalore at a bargain price and pounced immediately.
I have been rewarded suitably, for this is a very very good book. Well written and poignant, the story weaves in and out of places etched on to India's layered past - Allahabad, Varanasi, Pondicherry, Dharamshala, Mussoorie and paints them in vivid, colorful portra...more
I have been rewarded suitably, for this is a very very good book. Well written and poignant, the story weaves in and out of places etched on to India's layered past - Allahabad, Varanasi, Pondicherry, Dharamshala, Mussoorie and paints them in vivid, colorful portra...more
Although it does meander a bit (particularly in the second half, once the narrator leaves Benares), the novel creates an atmospheric, fin-de-siècle sort of mood – which is particularly interesting for its dislocation in contemporary (or nearly) India. The narrator, Samar, finds himself enduring a long (long) cross-roads kind of experience during the course of the novel, and his meetings with various other characters (both Indian and European or American) lead him mostly to confused, speculative...more
Well at least I finished it this time...
Boredom got to me last time I tried to read this book. The narrator is a dull, insecure observer who doesn't reveal enough of himself or others for this reader to be drawn into his world.
Samar reminisces about his time as a student in the holy city of Benares, where he hoped to lose himself in books. My response to this book is much like his response to his first reading of Flaubert's "Sentimental Education" which struck him as "flat and overly long. [He]...more
Boredom got to me last time I tried to read this book. The narrator is a dull, insecure observer who doesn't reveal enough of himself or others for this reader to be drawn into his world.
Samar reminisces about his time as a student in the holy city of Benares, where he hoped to lose himself in books. My response to this book is much like his response to his first reading of Flaubert's "Sentimental Education" which struck him as "flat and overly long. [He]...more
One of the reviews at the front of my edition says, "Samar's story is the story of innumerable young, small-town men who, hungry for significance, and at odds with their new destiny, struggle to make sense of an alien comsmopolitan through borrowed intellectual tools (Outlook)." I would say this sums up this slight novel perfectly: a story of missed opportunities, betrayals, sell-outs, settling for second best--yet finding, at last, an inner peace and acceptance.
The constant references to "The...more
The constant references to "The...more
I'm not sure I gave The Romantics enough attention. I read the final 80 pages or so in one fell swoop, and they stuck with me much more than the snatched moments I had devoted to it before. Another coming of age tale, this one is set in modern day India. The central character has come to Benares to take his civil service exams, but his attentions are drawn elsewhere by the mishmash of people and cultures all looking to find themselves in a town historically known for its spirituality. In the end...more
The blurb for this book, as printed here on Goodreads, with its binarisation of East v West and its unabashed recycling of the stupidly tired cliches, is terrifically bad. I made the mistake of reading the blurb when I was about midway through the book, when the protagonist was at his most self-indulgent, which whininess lead to a certain reductivism around the politics of intercultural relations. This made me suddenly skeptical about the whole narrative, since it seemed there was no ironic dist...more
The Romantics, Mishra’s only novel, is well-stated, with a lovely use of language and semantics. But if I, an unestablished not-yet-emerging author, had written this novel for a creative writing class, I’m sure it would have come back to me slashed and bleeding red ink all over the place. Mishra tells a first person narrative of Samar, a young academic living in Benares, and the various foreigners - presumably the titular romantics - he encounters, becomes acquainted with, and may or may not bef...more
This book is more 3.5 stars for me but I'm rounding up. I wasn't incredibly impressed with it, but I enjoyed the portraits of the Westerners living in Benares, people mostly backpacking through who just ... stayed. I felt I knew these people somehow, as an expat myself who lived in a city that was a bit like Benares at one point, so I think for that reason alone I was more drawn to the book than I might have been. The portaits of these characters are well drawn, in particular Catherine and her s...more
The novel is a coming-of-age tale that's practically Victorian... its protagonist a mere spectator of a modern and exciting merger between East and West. Living in India, Samar is an intellectual who loves to read. He has this gift to take on Western classics like Flaubert's "Sentimental Education" and applying them to his daily life as a university student who, although seems to want to experience his world as any youth would, is a teeny bit hesitant, hopelessly flawed. Miss West, his elder fri...more
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This is a novel set in Benares, India, and appears to deal with stratified Indian society as well as the influence of the West on the young male Indian narrator. A good mix.
In other news, this is the first LARGE PRINT book I have ever [attempted to:] read (it's the only version the liberry has), so I suppose it's appropriate I'll be sitting home reading rather than venturing out in this weather where I risk slipping on the ice and breaking a hip. Which has nothing to do with the book, I realize,...more
In other news, this is the first LARGE PRINT book I have ever [attempted to:] read (it's the only version the liberry has), so I suppose it's appropriate I'll be sitting home reading rather than venturing out in this weather where I risk slipping on the ice and breaking a hip. Which has nothing to do with the book, I realize,...more
I believe this is Pankaj Mishra's first novel. In some ways, it is the stereotypical story of 'east meeting west' and most of the characters seem to have been created to fit a certain mould. It is the story of Samar, a young Indian who comes to the holy city of Benares and has hopes of making it to the elite Indian Civil service. He meets a bunch of westerners in the holy city and the rest follows. There is the beautiful French woman, Catherine, who is in love with Anand, an aspiring sitar playe...more
The imagined identity of Benares (Varanasi) and the its reality often seem at complete odds: Its heritage as a holy site of pilgrimage and spirituality is often belied by its harsh grittiness. Against this backdrop, Pankaj Mishra beautifully describes the intellectual and romantic journey of a young brahmin student, who has come to Benares to lose himself in books and solitude. After falling in with a crowd of American and European expatriates, he soon falls in love with a French woman, with mil...more
The Romantics goes into a lot of details and the characters start forming only halfway through the book - both traits unsuitable to readers accustomed to fast-paced books. The book effectively portrays the layers of emotions, struggles, sadnesses and longings of each of the characters in a unique way. It is definitely a worthy read - however The Romantics will be appreciated only by a mature and patient reader.
Reached for this off the bookshelf while suffering a fever and cold and was just what I needed, remembering those rooftop guest houses and the tangled kites, the ghats, the river boats, the pilgrims of Varanasi (Benares). A wonderful look across and within cultures from the perspective of a young Indian man.
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Two and half more like it. The story line has this blue coat of melancholy but Pankaj Mishra deserves applaud for the beautiful prose. He literally drives you there in Banares and then to Dharamshala with the power and beauty of his words. It is slow moving and at times you get bugged of Samar's aloof nature and yet there is something that pulls you back.
A different kind of read for a change.
A different kind of read for a change.
It was a "go with the flow" kind of book...melancholy at times, happy at times...depressing at times but nevertheless just showed some offbeat characters-- both Indians and Westerners in "Beneras". Also reflects to a certain extent the "cluelessness" of ppl...the "mystery" of people. At the end you might not learn anything new so if you dont mind reading a "go with the flow" kind of a book, you can read or else u can skip it!
Apr 29, 2009
Laurajane
added it
a coming of age story; intertwines sexual, intellectual and political awakening.
I have more patience with the tentative and awkward steps of unrealized potential now than I did at 18, when I read Joyce's *Portrait of the Artist*
I have more patience with the tentative and awkward steps of unrealized potential now than I did at 18, when I read Joyce's *Portrait of the Artist*
Dec 07, 2008
Kiehl Christie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who travels / would like to travel
I felt like this book assaulted me when I was finished with it. Mishra ruthlessly handles young Western travelers who establish themselves for long periods of time in foreign countries, thoroughly questioning their motives.
It is not a book that eliminates a desire to travel, but instead invites us to question how we travel: from how we view traveling, what we hope to gain from traveling, and how we interact and perceive and relate to locals in the areas that we travel.
Wonderful, thoughtful, eff...more
"...a sense of life as drift and futility and illusion, and to see it dramatized so compellingly through a wide range of human experience..." this is a line from this fine novel and the line also to me somewhat captures the theme.
Not the kind of book I usually enjoy all that much because of the focus on emotional angst in the midst of sex, but the book manifests enough of other topics that it kept me as a friend.
"This book reminds me of earlier novelists such as Henry James and E.M. Forster. A gentle and quite book 'The Romantics' evokes a real sense of being in India. Samar, a graduate student meets a group of westerners while living in Benares. His encounters with this group of ex-pats bring expose him to the differences of western and eastern culture. I think my favorite part and perhaps the most indicative of the novels feel comes from the section in which Samar and Catherine go to a spiritual retre...more
Enjoyable read but it is a pretty cliche east/west story with characters that seem shallow and a narrator who seems to be trying too hard.
Another one I tried because it was in "1001 Books." I wouldn't say it's a must read. Kind of interesting, but not great. This book would probably have more appeal for people who are from India (like the author) and can relate more to the places and customs. I will say I enjoyed the last part, Part III, much more than the first two parts.
The story is about an Indian Brahmin boy who goes to Benares to continue his college studies. He meets some expats (English and French) and is bewildered by man...more
The story is about an Indian Brahmin boy who goes to Benares to continue his college studies. He meets some expats (English and French) and is bewildered by man...more
It reminded me of my trip to India, vivid descriptions; however, the characters were painfully unlikable, sad really.
My friend suggested this book to me.when i read this book i felt i was rediscovering myself , must read .....
The reason I fell in love with Varnasi, and why I visited the city.
Not very careful depiction of facts, but an interesting read..
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Pankaj Mishra (पंकज मिश्रा) is a noted Indian essayist and novelist.
In 1992, Mishra moved to Mashobra, a Himalayan village, where he began to contribute literary essays and reviews to The Indian Review of Books, The India Magazine, and the newspaper The Pioneer. His first book, Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India (1995), was a travelogue that described the social and cultural c...more
More about Pankaj Mishra...
In 1992, Mishra moved to Mashobra, a Himalayan village, where he began to contribute literary essays and reviews to The Indian Review of Books, The India Magazine, and the newspaper The Pioneer. His first book, Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India (1995), was a travelogue that described the social and cultural c...more
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Apr 18, 2013 07:37am