Rajorshi Chakraborti

Magical realism in a disturbing political thriller, told in a confessional first person voice, SHAKTI is not the sort of novel that you'd normally expect to show up in the list for a crime fiction award, but if the Ngaio Marsh Award has shown me anything over recent years it's to expect the unexpected, and go with it.

A story of women, their courage, their struggles and secrets, set against a backdrop of right-wing, nationalist politics, this is about three Indian women who find themselves dealing with a great gift, and the consequences of that. What if the greatest gift you ever received came from those you trusted least? What if it stained your hands with blood, but also turned you into a hero? Are your fundamental beliefs coming from a god or a demon?

Needless to say, not a straight-forward thriller, the magical realism aspects of this novel are very high on the agenda, but as a form for exploring human reactions in the event of darkness, threat and unexpected transformation. The thriller aspects of the novel come from the constant tension that is felt in the epic good versus evil battle that's going on - this time without the super-hero's or the overt villains, instead SHAKTI is often an internal battle, conducted against a Faustian background, with the hand that holds the triggers not always obvious.

Not my usual reading to say the least, SHAKTI was utterly compelling, intriguing, and odd - in a good way.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/shakti-rajorshi-chakraborti… (plus d'informations)

This book is the first on The New Zealand Ockham Book Awards longlist for 2019.
It is an original premise for a New Zealand novel, I thought. A point in it's favour.
Abhay and Lena live a comfortable happy life with their daughter Mira in Wellington. Some months earlier they had travelled as a family to India for Abhay's cousins wedding where Abhay reconnected with his half-brother Ashim for the first time in 25 years.
An incident in their childhood reaped consequences and caused a major turning point in their lives and that of their sister.
Abhay decides it is time to repair the lack of communication and invites Ashim and his young daughter to New Zealand.
However, it soon becomes apparent that Ashim has an agenda of his own which causes a rupture in their contented lifestyle. Abhay then decides to surprise Ashim with a visit to India to settle matters. This is a major wrench for his young daughter, as he was a stay-at-home Dad and author. Lena, also doubts whether they will be able to repair their family unit.
The settings in both New Zealand and India are well-drawn, as are the characters. I did get a little tired though of the navel gazing and angst of Abhay.… (plus d'informations)

I read Derangements on my way from Mumbai back to San Francisco and my feelings toward Rajorshi Chakraborti's work are ambivalent. His writing shows promise and but the current body of work is fuzzy. This is a writer still trying to find his voice, so far all I can really hear is an echo. Mr. Chakraborti shows the influence of writers like Franz Kafka and Haruki Murakami but has yet to achieve the surreal magic that seems so effortless in the works of those masters.

Reading Chakraborti is like watching Deepika Padukone try to match up to Shahrukh Khan's moves in the video for "Love Mera Hit Hit", the song from his new movie, Billu Barber (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYyKvp5oT8Q). What Shahrukh seems to do with an assured nonchalance, Deepika seems desperate to emulate but falls just short. Even though her performance is in itself quite good. (Apologies to those unfamiliar with Bollywood, but check out the video and you will perhaps see what I mean).

Reading Or the Day Seizes You and Derangements mixed the stories up for me, especially since both the books have very loose and multiple plots. Many of the episodes in both novels are fresh and interesting (the school story in Or the Day seizes you), but some parts seems forced, contrived (especially the cat incident in Derangements). Mr. Chakraborti is a writer to watch and I'm recommending it.… (plus d'informations)