description: At the opening of this novel, Vishnu lies dying on the staircase he inhabits while his neighbors argue over who will pay for an ambulance. Each neighbor has his own Mr. Jalal is searching for higher meaning; Vinod Taneja longs for the wife he lost; and Kavita Asrani is planning to elope. Suffused with Hindu mythology, this story becomes a metaphor for the social and religious divisions of contemporary India, and Vishnu's ascent of the staircase parallels the soul's progress through the various stages of existence. As Vishnu closes in on the riddle of his own mortality, we wonder whether he might not be the god Vishnu, guardian not only of the fate of the building and its occupants, but of the entire universe. "Vibrantly alive, beautifully written, full of wonderfully rich and deeply human characters." (Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of THE HOURS)
language: English
title: The Death of Vishnu
titlecomplete: The Death of Vishnu
genres: Fiction, Literature, Asia, Adult Fiction, India, Literary Fiction, Novels, Indian Literature, Contemporary, Historical Fiction
ratings_count: 9114
series: The Hindu Gods
awards: awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Booker Prize
category: Longlist, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: McKitterick Prize, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Kiriyama Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Corine Internationaler Buchpreis
category: Rolf Heyne Buchpreis, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
publisher: Books on Tape