Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry


Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey is one of remarkable confluences of astonishingly beautiful writing and fully developed characterization. There is no major crisis that takes place, no earth-shattering destruction of place or person, there is a sustained tension throughout the novel. The protagonist is Gustad Noble. The novel is set during the rule of Indira Gandhi, and is a damning indictment of both her government and American foreign policy of the time. The journey is both a physical and metaphorical one, of Gustad's bedside visitation of a friend he thought had betrayed him and of Gustad's eventual realization that there are few absolutes in life beyond that of death, that for every face there are a myriad of facets. There are several but subtle poignant metaphors woven, the most memorable being the character of Tehmul, who is a physically and mentally disabled man with the character of a boy and it is this pull of the innocent versus the carnal that mirrors much of the political and social turmoil of the novel. This book was shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize. It was pulled from the University of Mumbai's English Curriculum because of protests from the family of Hindu's nationalist- Bal Thackeray. Through this book, we come to know about the journey of Parsis and their culture and the problems they faced.


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