The Romantics - Pankaj Mishra

[Patrick]

*** 1/2

True, I was not expecting much when I picked this novel; yet I was agreeably surprised by this reflection on the clash of cultures and the romantic ideas you might have about different cultures. In several ways, this was the exposition of the disillusionment and disenchantment that may arise once these romantic ideas crumble. Mishra illustrates this not only through his main protagnist, Samar, young Brahmin open to Western ideas, yet fiercely set in his own cultural background, but also the characters who revolve around his life, mostly Westerners, but also some dubious "extremists" like Rajesh. If there is one single thing that Mishra did admirably, it is to explain what it feels when you are faced with a clash of cultures. I probably would never have come across were it not for the List; thanks heaven I did.