Review: A Vivid Glmpse of Another World
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2011
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch says, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."The semi-autobiographical Camel on an Ashtray offers the reader a vivid opportunity to experience the life of Sonell, a young Indian-Iranian-British man, both in London and Mumbai.Anand's colorful--and at times lyrical--writing makes that experience immediate and visceral. Sonell stumbles through life, pulled faintly by ambition and tugged more forcefully by habit, procrastination, and, alas, alcohol. For all his flaws, I found him eendearing.The story ends abruptly, in a manner characteristic of Indian novelists such as R. K. Narayan. This can be disruptive to Western literary sensibilities--it was to mine. More importantly, the ending left me wanting to read more about Sonell and more from this author.