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The Death of Vishnu

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 4,581 ratings · 363 reviews

Manil Suri's comic prose and imaginative language transport readers to the petty squabbles and unrelenting conflicts of modern-day India. At the center of the narrative is the character of Vishnu, an aging alcoholic houseboy on the precipice of death, who lies, penniless, on the bottom step of a middle-class Bombay apartment house. While Vishnu appears to face his impendin...more

Paperback, 304 pages

Published January 1st 2002 by Harper Perennial (first published 2001)

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Aug 04, 2007 Deepa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Well - I read this book a few years ago, front to back, without really reading the blurb about the author. Loved the book, and when I finally read the blog....to my surprise, I saw that it was DR.SURI!!! Dr. Suri was my Calculus 2 Professor in college, no joke. He teaches math at University of Maryland Baltimore County, where I went. His class was totally hard, and my friends and I had to fight to stay on top of things.
But, I must say, his book was excellent. After I found out he was the author,...more

17 likes · like · see review

Jul 12, 2009 Corinne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club

an absurd indian soap opera...I was more enthralled by the writing-- which was witty and interesting and at times beautiful prose-- than the plot. But the book was funny and sad and thought-provoking at the same time. I'm glad I read it. I think had Suri developed his characters more fully (and perhaps made fewer of them the center of attention for so long) I would have been more engaged. Instead, we are supposed to care about the lives of 8+ people in 250 pages. Too much. I wouldn't necessarily...more

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Apr 09, 2008 Kerri rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Jane Austen fans looking for a new era and geography

Shelves: fiction, book-club

A blur of memories, times past, and dreams of Vishnu, an alcoholic who "lives" on the steps of a Mumbai apartment, and of all the residents of the building who are affected by his death.

In the beginning, the characters seem more like caricatures-- typical "bourgeoisie" with petty concerns and trivial quibbles. It could just as easily be one of those lighthearted American or British novels from the early 20th century. As the novel progresses, though, we get deeper insight into some of the charact...more

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Sep 15, 2008 Laura Broder rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn't love it. I wanted to love it: I'd heard such good things about it (this was an NPR find). And with my recent trip to India it was so relevant. They talked about places I'd seen! But alas, the story didn't hold me.

The author tries to weave an intricate web of the lives of those who live in an apartment building where a man lays dying on the stairwell. Each chapter contains vignettes into each of their lives, as well as into the subconscious of the dying Vishnu. The story does provide an...more

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Jul 20, 2008 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, south-asia-theme-setting

There is much to admire about this novel- the writing is lyrical but clean, the characters lovable, human, flawed, maddening, the construction of the book flows like a spiral staircase- leaving you slightly dizzy but thrilled.

What keeps me from loving this book are these very elements: there are so many characters and plotlines that I was left wanting. Vishnu's slow death that was entwined with Hindu mythology was lost on me. I didn't have a sense of place, of Bombay. I felt that the women in t...more

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Dec 16, 2008 Isa rated it 4 of 5 stars

While it has been several years since I read this, what I remember was its rawness, the honesty and beauty in its descriptions of lives in poverty, and the dreams and peeves of her female characters - their neighbors, potential or actual husbands, johns. I loved its rawness and its honesty for contributing to a feeling of emotional understanding for a place I have never been. The characters were more symbols than people sometimes, but I didn't get bored with them because the language kept them b...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Ruby added it

I enjoyed this book so much. The imagery, smells, flavors, and high-pitched voices of opinionated women all ring clear and true through the book.

Vishnu is a homeless man who is allowed to live on the balcony of a building in Mumbai as long as he stays clean and does the odd job for the other tenants. When he is obviously dying, the true nature of the tenants comes out as they bicker over who will by his potential hospital bills, clean up after him when he looses bodily function, and who tries t...more

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Apr 18, 2007 Aashish rated it 4 of 5 stars

A simple story about society and class in India, neatly written and very easy to follow. It reads like a soap opera at times, but the underlying stories are very real and believable. Its a very quick read.

In Hindu mythology, Vishnu is the "preserver", although this book is not about Hindu mythology at all. The author, Manil Suri, has suggested that it is the first of a trilogy of books and that the forthcoming novels might be titled "Life of Shiva" (the destroyer) and Birth of Brahma (the creato...more

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Mar 05, 2007 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars

I cannot remember the last book I read in which I smiled and laughed so much. I thought the author did an excellent job of creating each character; you get a very good sense of each person in the story. Suri descibes the scenes so well that you can easily picture what is taking place in the building.

It is an interesting glimpse into life in Mumbai. While providing plenty of humor, it also is a good critique of human nature and social issues in India (as well as some issues that are global in sco...more

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Jun 02, 2013 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

I feel terrible. I meant to add my review as soon as I finished this beautiful read; while my thoughts were clear and fresh and certainly before I jumped in another book. Oh! well, the best layed plans.

I found the novel interesting and lyrical in the way each character's life bloomed or rather unraveled or spiraled out of control as the main character, Vishnu is dying on the staircase of a Bombay apartment building. The descriptions of gentle, tender moments and the contrast of unbelievable cold...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Mitch rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-fiction

Actually, I'd classify this just as fiction more than as literary fiction.

What's good here is the 'Indian-ness' of the storyline and characters.

The story is a window into the intertwined lives of a three-story apartment building in Mumbai, and the thread that somewhat ties them together is the death process of a man who has the paid-for right to live on their stair landing and run errands for them. (This is based on a real-life situation from the author's past.)

What's interesting is that the au...more

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Mar 22, 2013 David Harris rated it 5 of 5 stars

I visited India for the first time three years ago. I have been back twice since then, and I am always on the lookout for books or films which can give me further insight into the various mindsets of what amounts to a very diverse population.

I am told that India has one of the largest middle classes in the world, amounting to some 400 million. But, of course, when you visit India you are much more likely to come into contact with the poor and underprivileged people who occupy any and every avail...more I visited India for the first time three years ago. I have been back twice since then, and I am always on the lookout for books or films which can give me further insight into the various mindsets of what amounts to a very diverse population.

I am told that India has one of the largest middle classes in the world, amounting to some 400 million. But, of course, when you visit India you are much more likely to come into contact with the poor and underprivileged people who occupy any and every available spot on sidewalks, train station platforms, in parks, and other public places. In contrast, books like this and movies like Monsoon Wedding provide useful glimpses into the lives of people whose everyday experience is, presumably, more authentically Indian in that it hasn't been completely obliterated by the trauma that has upset the poor in recent generations, causing them to have to pull up stakes in the villages where they belong to try to eke out a living in inhumane conditions in large, inhospitable cities far from home where no one knows their names or anything about them.

I enjoyed this novel for two main reasons: 1- I felt like it was a fairly authentic look at life in a random apartment building in Bombay from the differing perspectives of several characters, both Muslim and Hindu, living there. (Inaccessible to me as a tourist in Bombay.) 2- I enjoyed the glimpses into religion and mythology which the characters Vishnu and Mr. Jalal brought to the story. As a reasonably well educated and doubting Mormon, I enjoyed reading about Mr. Jalal's tendencies toward doubt intermixed with a general fascination toward religious thought and a well-read background in the history of Islam in India.

I've read six or seven novels set in India recently, and I've found that the accolades heaped on celebrated writers like Rushdie are largely undeserved when you start to look around and see what else is available. (Rushdie's short-story collection, _East West_, has its moments, and _The Satanic Verses_ is a masterpiece, but much of the rest of his work is pretty lackluster in my opinion. _Fury_ is a case in point.)

Those who did not like the book offer valid criticisms. Yes, the book is slow in places. And yes, it is difficult to tell Mrs. Arsani and Mrs. Pathak apart. But any worthwhile reading experience is a challenge, and if you just looking for entertainment, you should probably look elsewhere.

Postscript:

Here are some recommendations for further reading about India:

If you are interested in the religions of India, Gita Mehta's _The River Sutra_ is a lovely novel set in a remote hill station along a river holy to Hindus which deals with all of India's major religions one after the other in a very lyrical, almost poetic way. It would be a great book to have along when visiting a quiet hill station or other retreat.

If you're interested in the plight of street children in Bombay and the groups that are trying to help them, Meher Pestonji's _Sadak Chhaap_ (unavailable in the US for the moment) is a good choice. This is a very easy read, but it is also very informative.

'Monsoon Wedding' is a film that came out around the same time as 'My Big, Fat Greek Wedding'. The two have their similarities, and you might enjoy watching them back to back. The most memorable scene involves a small businessman hired to decorate for the wedding who is standing under a marigold trellis while it drops a steady stream of petals onto his head. He takes a petal into his hand, puts it up to his mouth and takes a bite and suddenly realizes he is in love with the family's maid.

I also like the bride's thoughtful philosophizing as she weighs the advantages of staying with her TV-talkshow-star boyfriend who is married or going through with the wedding and marrying the man her parents have chosen for her.(less)

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Dec 10, 2012 Hilary G rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ex Bookworms group review:

I thought this was a great book, but I'm afraid this isn't going to be a great review. Unfortunately, with all that's been happening lately, I left it too long between reading the book and writing the review, something I try to avoid because details quickly become very hazy. Still, the overall impressions left by the book are still vivid in my mind and this time round, that is going to have to do.

This book was VERY Indian and perhaps surprisingly so, as I read that the...more Ex Bookworms group review:

I thought this was a great book, but I'm afraid this isn't going to be a great review. Unfortunately, with all that's been happening lately, I left it too long between reading the book and writing the review, something I try to avoid because details quickly become very hazy. Still, the overall impressions left by the book are still vivid in my mind and this time round, that is going to have to do.

This book was VERY Indian and perhaps surprisingly so, as I read that the author lives in America. It seemed much more Indian than The Last Jet Engine Laugh which relied on all those Bengali, Gujerati and Hindi bits to convey its setting. (And incidentally, wasn't Ruchir Joshi a film director? The Death of Vishnu was far more cinematic). The Death of Vishnu was Indian in ways that revealed how different Indians are from us – and how similar. There may not be anyone living on my landing (though a tramp fell asleep there once and we called the police) but the snobbery and social climbing at the kitty party wouldn't be out of place in an English village bridge club.

On the surface, the book was a soap opera (rather a good one) and the block of flats was a stage set on which familiar characters acted in understandable ways. On one level it was pure Bollywood (I swear I could hear Lata Mangeshkar singing the soundtrack), with healthy leavenings of comedy, farce, love, tragedy and adventure, but always a book to be taken seriously, a book that told us something life in Bombay in particular and the human condition in general. On another level it explored the cultural and spiritual metaphors of Indian mysticism and religion, which I have to admit to feeling more drawn to than to the prosaic and patronising religions of our Western world. I thought the juxtaposition of the mundane, the trivial and the domestic with the mystical, marvellous and mythological worked very well. The skirmishes over butter and water, Mrs Pathak's samosas and squashed cheese and Mrs Jalal's bananas did not seem out of place in the same world where Vishnu had his out of body experiences and Mr Jalal searched for spirituality. I was very interested to read that Manil Suri is a mathematician and it occurred to me that mathematics is about as far from myticism as you can get. I can't imagine this isn't relevant somehow, perhaps science is not enough?

It was very interesting that the hero (I choose that word) of the book, Vishnu, who drew all the threads together and around whom all the action was centred, was unconscious (perhaps even dead) throughout the narrative. He never spoke, moved or acted, except in flashback, yet was fundamental in the lives of all the people in the flats. Although he (or his body) was there, a practical reality, perhaps a nuisance and an embarrassment (I suspect he was a bit smelly), he was somehow transcended into a mythological being in the life of the apartment block, a bit godlike, Vishnu.

There were many parts of The Death of Vishnu that I found appealing, fascinating, meaningful, funny, sad, joyous, moving and human. Yet above all, The Death of Vishnu is more than a sum of its parts. A block of flats is a microcosm but its landscape was universal and timeless. I thought this was a lovely book, a worthwhile book, which I am glad to have read.

(less)

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Sep 23, 2012 Sundarraj Kaushik rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The whole book revolves around the happenings in a building in South Bombay. The book describes the daily life of the various tenants (all of whom seem to be retired and content to stay at home) in this building. All this is weaved around the death of a person named Vishnu who has been sleeping in one of the landings in the three storey building.
As Vishnu lies dying the tenants of the different apartments are in their own world, the wives who have to share a kitchen bickering among themselves, t...more The whole book revolves around the happenings in a building in South Bombay. The book describes the daily life of the various tenants (all of whom seem to be retired and content to stay at home) in this building. All this is weaved around the death of a person named Vishnu who has been sleeping in one of the landings in the three storey building.
As Vishnu lies dying the tenants of the different apartments are in their own world, the wives who have to share a kitchen bickering among themselves, the philosophy reading Muslim still trying to convince his wife to broaden her vision about religion and philosophy.
The third floor occupant lives in his own world after the death of his wife and hardly interacts with the others in the building.
The author has packed in the background stories of the Muslim family (Jalals) on the second floor and the loner (Mr. Taneja) in the third floor. To a little extent the life of Vishnu is also provided. There is romance between the daughter of the first floor Hindu family and the son of the Muslim family on the second floor.
A day before the death of Vishnu the girl has been taken to see a groom whom she is expected to marry on the grounds that he is an engineer and has found a job in a stable company. But the girl does not find that option as exciting as running off with the Muslim boy upstairs with whom she has been cuddling in secret with help from Vishnu.
On the day of the death the twosome decide to elope. But then reality strikes and the girl finds that travelling unreserved in the trains is not something she can endure for long. So she leaves the boy half way through their journey and comes back home.
In the meantime the father of the boy has been trying to achieve nirvana by putting himself through fasts, sleeping on hard ground after having failed to flail himself during the Muslim festival of Muharram as he realizes that he cannot endure the physical pain.
On the day of the death of Vishnu he feels she should be like Father Francis and Mother Therasa and should sleep with Vishnu. So he sneaks out of his house to sleep on the landing with Vishnu. In the meantime the the Hindu girl and his son have eloped and during that the Hindu girl as dropped her dupatta on Vishnu as a final gesture of his services towards her and her family. In the process of sleeping with Vishnu through the night Mr. Jalal gets entangled in the dupatta left by the Hindu girl. He dreams as if Vishnu is Lord Krishna and he gets the same vision as Arjuna gets in Bhagvat Geeta and feels that he has been chosen to spread the word of Vishnu to the world.
As he sleeps with this delusion, in the morning the lady who delivers the milk to the residents of the building finds two bodies instead just one of Vishnu she raises an alarm. One of the Hindu family comes down and helps Mr. Jalal back to his apartment.
The other Hindu family wakes up to find that their daughter is missing and the Mrs. Jalal finds that her son has left a note for her and has left.
Soon the news of all these incidents, spiced up along the way by the bearers, spreads to the other occupants of the building which include a cigarette seller and a betel leaf seller. It is finally concluded that the Jalal's must be taught a lessor for letting their son abduct a Hindu girl and a whole gang comes up to Jalal's residence. In the scuffle that follows Mrs. Jalal gets knocked on the head and Mr. Jalal falls down from his second storey balcony.
When the police come to enquire all the residents speak out against the Jalal's bringing out the dissonance between the two communities that still continues to date. Vishnu is being picked up to be taken to the mortuary and Mr. Jalal is recovering in the hospital while the condition of Mrs. Jalal is uncertain.
With this the author brings the book to a close.
Although the book has excerpts of rave reviews from some of the leading papers one does not get a feeling of fulfillment after reading the book. Maybe it is not for the Indian audience, but for the Western audience who may find such stories a novelty.(less)

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Jul 30, 2011 Lester rated it 4 of 5 stars

An impulse buy, but one which I am glad I have tried. This is a fascinating tale of a group of neighbours in a Bombay (sorry, Mumbai) building. It is a tale of bickering wives, demurring husbands, kitty parties, irani tea houses, paanwallas and cigarettewallas, and everything one needs to understand life at the bottom of the middle class in an Indian city.

The lives of the residents intertwine and range from comic (2 wives sharing one kitchen is bound to lead to bickering) to tragic (the undercu...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Ramesh Kurup rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-read-to-read, india-south-asia-mid-east

Manil Suri has opened my eyes to the excitement behind the dull and ordinary facade of everyday life in Bombay. When I lived in Bombay, I shared a series of awful one bedroom flats with two or three other bachelors. We all worked at a five star hotel so we avoided being home as much as possible. Who would choose to come home to squalor when marble foyers, fine dining and glamorous guests were available? Had I read The Death of Vishnu, with all the melodrama unfolding around me, I might have come...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Jean rated it 2 of 5 stars

A man of low caste lies dying on the stairway of a Bombay apartment house. From the apt. dwellers there is only concern about what to do about this embarrassing, messy situation, as the families go about their daily routines, bickering, making deals, ignoring and annoying each other, making life plans, falling in and out of love.

The writer does a wonderful job creating characters, although I had trouble at first distinguishing some of them (possibly due to unfamiliar names, shifts in point of vi...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Marion rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! The story circles around the man, Vishnu, who is essentially a squatter living on the porch of a small apartment house which houses 2 Hindu families and one Muslim family. Each family has had interaction with Vishnu over the years either hiring him as a servant or offering him charity and now he lays dying on the porch. What will these families do in response to this situation?

There is humor, there is Hindu mythology, there is Indian history that reflects on the legacy of one...more

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Feb 19, 2013 EJ rated it 4 of 5 stars

On PG 107:
As I read I am constantly feeling claustrophobic. Between the kitchen shared and fought over to the tension (selfishness) between the neighbors I am at unease. The fight and mention of space goes further. On page 76 losing space pg 60 losing space and more claustrophobia with the noise,
Page 76 caught my attention because he talks about owning this space that he’s (Vishnu) earned or worked hard for, and that death is the threat of losing all that he worked for. He was powerless as it sl...more

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Jan 16, 2011 Fritz Graham rated it 3 of 5 stars

In all honesty, I was really looking forward to reading this book. Once i finished it, I felt a little unfulfilled. Maybe my lack of understanding about Hindu mythology contributes to my lack of satisfaction. Maybe the story's disjointed nature makes me feel less intelligent than i normally like feeling (if i'm gonna feel stupid about something, let it at least be something as complex as, coincidentally enough, Calculus 2, which to this day is the one math class at college that i did not finish...more In all honesty, I was really looking forward to reading this book. Once i finished it, I felt a little unfulfilled. Maybe my lack of understanding about Hindu mythology contributes to my lack of satisfaction. Maybe the story's disjointed nature makes me feel less intelligent than i normally like feeling (if i'm gonna feel stupid about something, let it at least be something as complex as, coincidentally enough, Calculus 2, which to this day is the one math class at college that i did not finish and would like to).

I think that the love story of Vishnu and that of his upstairs neighbor was well done. Although I couldn't always follow who was being loved by whom and what sort of timeline I was operating in, I did appreciate his creation of this love story that drew me in. The cover of the book alone was amazing because I could transpose any of the couples into that scenario. It's a little sad that the book cover is something that i talk about more than the story itself, but hey it's worth mentioning.

I felt like the end of the story fell off, in regards to what happened to Salim's parents after the mob attack and I was quite disappointed in how quickly the love between Salim and Kavita disintegrated once they were on the road. It wasn't alluded to earlier in the story that all she wanted to do was have a cosmopolitan lifestyle like that of a movie star. All she did was like Salim, which was mutual. When they decided to leave each other, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. It made her seem much more immature than him. It would be one thing if she was immature from the beginning, but the sudden desire to be a big star confused and frustrated me.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm really unfamiliar with Hindu religious traditions (earlier, i called it mythology and i don't want to call it that because it's a religion that is alive, well, thriving and full of meaning and by calling it mythology all I do is sound decidedly ignorant, intolerant and un-accepting of unfamiliar religious traditions) so much of what was described towards the end confused me. I can understand the concept of rebirth and enlightenment. I guess they didn't fit seamlessly into the story.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience of this book and, honestly, would read the other two that accompany it. My only hope is that there is some link between the three that help me understand not only the flow of events in this story, but also help resolve many of the conflicts and allow me to better understand a culture of which i'm remarkably ignorant, yet completely fascinated by.

In all honesty, this isn't a bad work for a mathematician. A definite tip of the hat to you Mr. Suri if, for anything, that fact alone.(less)

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Feb 21, 2013 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a very good novel about life in modern India. The scene is Bombay and the characters are the inhabitants of an apartment building. The title character, Vishnu, gets to live and sleep in the stairwell in exchange for doing odd-jobs. Suri is wonderfully clever and funny in depicting the lives of these people and how Vishnu's illness affects their lives at the same time while conveying their underlying sadness and unhappiness. It is a portrait of static and rigid Hindu society, governed as...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Nicole rated it 2 of 5 stars

A book that takes some dedication to finish as it becomes a bit convoluted to follow the further along you read. Vishnu is a homeless man who lives on the stairwell in a Bombay apartment building, getting by via small errands for the various tenants. However, as the book opens, Vishnu lays dying and the lives of the tenants continues on, as folks contemplate whether he is actually dying, or simply sleeping. The stories of the tenants and their assorted rivalries and secrets, are interesting. How...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Mallory rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was drawn to this item on the library booksale shelf because of the Indian setting. It starts off well. A man slowly dying in an apartment stairway, Vishnu, becomes the subject of bickering between neighbors who can barely tolerate each other. As the author introduces more and more people from the apartment building into the story, however, it becomes muddled and eventually ends up on this existential track. Suri paints incredible pictures with his words and descriptions – you can almost taste...more

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Oct 12, 2008 Nicole rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Nicole by: Elizabeth

I was a pretty good book, however, I sometimes got the present confused with flash backs and imagination. It took me a while to get into it, and I thought the ending was unsatifying. You meet all these characters, then you do not find out what happens to them.

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Aug 25, 2012 Shelley rated it 4 of 5 stars

What an interesting book! I was just amazed at how EVERYONE in the apartment building was so wrapped up in their own issues and lives that they failed to acknowledge the fact that a man lay dying on the landing downstairs. On and on they fight and worry and carry on about who is using the most water in the shared kitchen and who is running off with who and their everyday lives. Poor Vishnu lays dying and no ones cares. Not one of them really wants to extend themselves past their own comfort zone...more

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Dec 29, 2008 Diane C. rated it 5 of 5 stars

An allegory of how we live, pass into the next life, and start all over again. Kind of assumes being on board with eastern philosophy.

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Jun 28, 2010 Bookmaniac70 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Bookmaniac70 by: ApoloniaX

It was a good, nice book. The inhabitants of the house are like a small society. Within it one can find contempt, pity, vanity, deception, gossip and little compassion. I liked the subtle humour in depicting their everyday interactions. No one is changing
for better except poor Vishnu whose death recreates the best moments of his life. What was the meaning behind his transformation? Was it to show that after being despised and outcast during his lifetime, he retained his dignity and happiness?...more

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Apr 05, 2010 Rain rated it 1 of 5 stars

The death of Vishnu without Vishnu would have made a much better novel in my opinion.

My beefs as related to Vishnu: The magical realism was lacking the finesse of, say, Allende and went on (and on)interminably; some of the sex scenes seemed gratuitous and bordering on violent (without acknowledging it as such); I wondered how exactly Vishnu managed to acquire the funds necessary to wine and dine his lady friend considering that he was an alcoholic landing-dweller?

The goings-on in the apartment...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Manish rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: indian-writing, fiction

The buzz and the acclaim that this book has garnered over the years raised my expectations but for me, this one was a disappointment. Vishnu is an alcoholic and a homeless chap who survives doing odd jobs for the residents of a building in Bombay. This in turn earns him the right to apportion a part of the staircase of the building for him to 'live'. Each chapter explores the lives of the other residents of the building and this analysis attempts to be a microcosm of the change sweeping through...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Rashmi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

I glanced into the book while looking for another one, and the title sounded interesting.

This books about a man named Vishnu who is dying on the steps of an apartment complex in Bombay and the characters around him. In the beginning it was quite gripping and I thought it would keep same momentum going! But in the middle I felt it was a drag because of Mr. Jalal and other couldnt relate the mythology to Vishnu! The only interesting character was Mr.Taneja and his love his wife (even after she di...more

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About Manil Suri

Manil Suri is an Indian-American mathematician and writer, most notable for his first novel, The Death of Vishnu.

He attended the University of Bombay before moving to the United States, where he attended Carnegie Mellon University. He received a PHD in mathematics in 1983, and became a mathematics professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

He still continues to hold this job even th...more

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Quotes from The Death of Vishnu

“What did religion do to people, to provoke such obstinancy, such hysteria - how did it push people to the stage of torturing themselves and killing each other? ” — 6 people liked it

“What will happen to the flowers, now that you are gone? The earth that clings to the steps, the tulsi that begins to sprout. The colors that brighten the darkness of the stairs, the scents that perfume the air. Must I climb alone the petal-strewn trail of your descent?” — 2 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65285.The_Death_of_Vishnu?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266463687l/65285.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65285.The_Death_of_Vishnu?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri[/url]

The Death of Vishnu

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