"Night Theater" by Vikram Paralkar (BR)

[Silvana]

Come and join Ryan and I to read Night Theater by Vikram Paralkar starting from September 12, 2021. Feel free to start earlier or later.

Use spoiler tags and chapter markers when posting, please.

[Silvana]

Ryan, have you started yet? I forgot there is a sequel of a series I've been waiting for ages that was just published today and I've also committed for its BR.

I'll try to start Night Theater this weekend.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

I haven't, but I will start this week. I got a couple of eARCs that made me throw out my reading plans.

[Silvana]

Ryan wrote: "I haven't, but I will start this week. I got a couple of eARCs that made me throw out my reading plans."

No worries, that's actually good for me too ;p

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

There was a letter to a publisher in my copy of the book!

_____________
Dear Francesca

NIGHT THEATRE

This ain't a Wellcome book. It is a novel but I really enjoyed it - slightly against myself. I thought I wouldn't but I was wholly taken by it so I wanted you to have a copy too because I suspect - if you have any free time you would enjoy it too.

It is written by an Indian doctor (I think you can see the medical experience running through it) but it is a strangely powerful and successful work of fiction. It touched me more than I expected.

It is the story of a surgeon in rural India who is asked to perform at the very limits that can be required of his profession: to perform miracles. Informed by Vikram's own experiences as a doctor (he grew up in India and is now a physician - scientist at UPenn), it is a perspective, imaginative and austerely beautiful fable about the way surgeons negotiate the fine line between life and death.

I loved it. Could it, I wonder have been a Wellcome title instead of a Serpent's Tail? Too late to worry about now, but perhaps to think about for the next book like this. It is pretty remarkable.

Very best wishes

Yours sincerely

Andrew
_____________

I guess Francesca didn't agree!

[〰️Beth〰️]

I read this when it first published. I personally found a few things distracting towards the final quarter of the book but overall very good read and well written.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Started this today. It's real easy to get into. I'm not liking that the only person with a name is the surgeon (Saheb) so far but it's a minor grumble. It's clearly a deliberate feature rather than laziness.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Chapter 7

(view spoiler)[This is one of the kinds of writing that annoys me.

"The surgeon looked up at the sky. It seemed charred, as if some great and distant immolation had finally been completed. When he was the girl's age, already filled with doubt about everything he'd ever been told, he'd wondered how astrologers assembled all those creatures from the stars-rams and fishes and scorpions. All he ever saw were silent threats - the way the dots of light hung there, deceptively stable from one night to the next, preparing to dash themselves to the earth at the slightest provocation."

Its as though its trying to be otherworldly (and failing miserably) instead of giving it to us straight. It would be tolerably pretentious if it succeeded but instead... *sigh*

As it is, it's too hard to believe anyone that feared that the stars would fall upon their head would ever phrase it like this and anyone that used to think it would only bring it up in an attempt to be funny. Shame or ego wouldn't allow for anything else.

It might seem like a pinickety complaint but it's an aspect of relatability that's missing from the character, which is needed when trying to pull off the supernatural elsewhere in a story. (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

Ryan wrote: "Chapter 7

..."

I usually automatically skim over the passage but I can see why this could be annoying.

I have reached chapter 8, I liked that it is rather atmospheric, I can imagine the sweltering hot and the surrounding. The story itself was rather interesting, looking forward to see what happened next.

and am I the only one imagining (view spoiler)[the dead was actually altered by aliens hahaha the description of the 'angels' felt like something out of a scifi movie. (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

Managed to finish this last night. I think it is an okay book. It could be a good novella or novelette, some parts felt too long for me. (view spoiler)[The after life bureaucracy reminded me alot of The Good Place (hide spoiler)]

[〰️Beth〰️]

I think I like this because I never thought of it as science fiction or fantasy, just literary fiction. It allowed me to just accept the magical realism as part of the writing.

[Silvana]

〰️Beth〰️ wrote: "I think I like this because I never thought of it as science fiction or fantasy, just literary fiction. It allowed me to just accept the magical realism as part of the writing."

I can definitely see the charm.

Anyway, now I remember the reason why I wanted to read this book was because I was impressed by the author - a doctor IRL - when he was one of the panelists in last year's WorldCon. Also, it is my third (?) book by an Indian author.