Discuss

[Jeremy]

I've been reading this book for a while (I'm savoring it) and it is really one of the best reads I've had in a long time. This is one of the those books that has something for everyone. What do you think? Let's discuss.

[Sarovar]

just started it: i read slowly so it may take me forever to get through. I loved how it starts out though- i was really pleased to realize that this piece of what is deemed literary fiction was going to have a pulp detective story influence.

[Sarah]

I am encouraged by your comment that it has something to offer everyone. Did you find the beginning difficult at all to get into?

[Neil]

Since I never seem to find time to read long novels because, as a literature professor as well as professor of philosophy and critical theory, I more or less read for a living, but too widely to allow time for 900 plus page novels. That being so, I decided to buy the audio book version of SACRED GAMES and listened to the entire thing over a period of 2-3 weeks--while driving, walking, doing the dishes, etc. This worked perfectly for me. I always had the hard copy of the book nearby in case of urgent need, but found it unnecessary to refer to it. Audio books as long as this one are not cheap--unless you can find a way to borrow the CDs from your public library--but the cost is worth it. Worth noting too that it takes only two seconds of listening to trash such as 50 SHADES OF ..... to figure out that's what it is. And maybe two minutes of reading it.

[Pranav]

i'm very happy to see that so many readers, who are not from india, can relate to this story.. i just finished the book and what i was thinking was that anyone who hasn't visited or known about india wouldn't grasp the context of this book, which is sprawled over 900 pages.. i guess i was wrong.. i think the glossary has helped a lot in this.. this book, which first comes across as a detective mystery meets thriller is essentially a biographical sketch of contemporary india and its inhabitants.. anything i write can't convey the grandeur and splendor of this epic saga.. Hats off, Mr. Chandra!!!

[Hugh]

SACRED GAMES is an amazing achievement: from rich characters to a wonderful sense of place, it is able to combine the best of the mystery genre with big ideas on fate and destiny. I've never had 900 pages go by so fast and still wanted more.

[Nik]

@Neil - wait, you're a literature professor but you don't read long novels?!?!??!!?

Guess Clarissa's not on your syllabus then ... or half of Dickens ...

[Nik]

Sacred Games is very good indeed - I think Chandra is good on richly textured layers of plot and event that the further you get into the book the deeper you delve.

Love and Longing in Bombay was good but I especially loved his first, Red Earth and Pouring Rain.

[Cnochur]

Red Earth was an epic work of awesomeness that warranted its length and depth and breadth. I feel like Sacred Games, while great and totally enjoyable, was a fairly straightforward story written AS IF it was a Red Earth-style masterpiece. That said, I don't know what I'd cut out or how to simplify it. I hope there's more Sartaj Singh novels in the works, but I hope...how to say this...Chandra takes them a little less seriously this time.