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Original Essays | May 3, 2013

Emily St. John Mandel: IMG The Festivals

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When it happens, it feels like winning the lottery. An email arrives out of the blue, from one of my publishers or a festival director or a member... Continue »
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The Death of Vishnu

by

The Death of Vishnu Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Vishnu, the odd-job man in a Bombay apartment block, lies dying on the staircase landing: Around him the lives of the apartment dwellers unfold: the warring housewives on the first floor, lovesick teenagers on the second, and the widower, alone and quietly grieving on the top floor of the building. In a fevered state Vishnu looks back on his love affair with the seductive Padmim and wonders if he might actually be the god Vishnu, guardian of the entire universe.

Blending incisive comedy with Hindu mythology and a dash of Bollywood sparkle, The Death of Vishnu is an intimate and compelling view of an unforgettable world.

Review:

"Few have invested their fiction with such luminous language, insight into character and grasp of cultural construct as Suri does....This fluid novel is an irresistible blend of realism, mysticism and religious metaphor, a parable of the universal conditions of human life." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"A delightful and rich first novel...lyrical." Wall Street Journal

Review:

"Vibrantly alive, beautifully written, full of wonderfully rich and deeply human characters....The depiction of the Asranis and the Pathaks, in all their convincingly human awfulness, brings to mind such masters of scrupulous meanness as Flaubert and Flannery O'Connor." Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours

Review:

"Enchanting....Suri's novel achieves an eerie and memorable transcendence." Paul Gray, Time

Review:

"Suri's elegant, clever prose and emotional and philosophical probing carry the action of the novel entirely....Suri has created an endlessly complex world that both breaks its inhabitants' hearts and occasionally holds out the prospect of redemption." Suzy Hansen, Salon

Review:

"[A] literary accomplishment...eloquent, refined and tasteful." Washington Post Book World

Review:

"The reader is swept away by Suri's fresh, witty observations and tender comic moments." The Seattle Times

Review:

"[A] deft and confident first novel....The Death of Vishnu reminds me of the work of an earlier writer, the deliberately modest and beautifully constructed novels of R. K. Narayan." Michael Gorra, New York Times Book Review

Review:

"Suri...has entered the realm of literature with assurance, agile humor, and an impressive breadth of social and religious concerns.... [A] tenderly comic, wryly metaphysical, and hugely entertaining tale..." Donna Seaman, Booklist

Review:

"[P]rovocative....[Suri's] story succeeds by challenging a sitcomlike cast of characters to greater depths with a change of setting....Suri contributes to our understanding of what it means to believe." Elizabeth Kadetsky, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

Review:

"There is an exquisite beauty in Suri's prose....An extraordinarily insightful look at human relationships." Carol Memmott, USA Today

Review:

"Vivid and engrossing....[T]he depth of Suri's characters...takes [the novel] beyond the confines of its particular setting, and raises it into a work of fiction that seems not only universal but absolutely cosmic." Francine Prose, Elle

Review:

"Enchanting....Suri's penetration of his characters' lives is as precise and cunning as that of a master surgeon like J. M. Coetzee." Anna Mundow, Boston Sunday Globe

Review:

"Witness the debut journey of a remarkable writer....[A] combination of ruthlessness, insight, humor, and wickedly perfect pitch....For once, all the hype about a major new literary voice isn't wrong." Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"Suri has a cynic's sense of humor and a seeker's sense of wonder, and the author displays both to penetrating effect in his first novel." Padma Viswanathan, Book Magazine

Review:

"Suri writes with obvious affection about a Bombay perhaps already lost, evoking its moods and attitudes, its light and smells....Suri's eye for detail and natural ability to create a strong sense of place and time define his considerable talent." Navtej Sarna, Times Literary Supplement (U.K.)

Synopsis:

Vishnu, the odd-job man in a Bombay apartment block, lies dying on the staircase landing: Around him the lives of the apartment dwellers unfold: the warring housewives on the first floor, lovesick teenagers on the second, and the widower, alone and quietly grieving on the top floor of the building. In a fevered state Vishnu looks back on his love affair with the seductive Padmim and wonders if he might actually be the god Vishnu, guardian of the entire universe.

Blending incisive comedy with Hindu mythology and a dash of Bollywood sparkle, The Death of Vishnuis an intimate and compelling view of an unforgettable world.

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About the Author

Manil Suri, a native of Mumbai (Bombay), has lived in the United States since 1979. He is a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker. The Death of Vishnu is his first novel.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780060004385
Author:
Suri, Manil
Publisher:
Harper Perennial
Author:
by Manil Suri
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Death
Subject:
Apartment houses
Subject:
Domestics
Subject:
Domestic fiction
Subject:
Bombay
Subject:
General Fiction
Copyright:
2002
Edition Number:
1st Perennial ed.
Edition Description:
Perennial
Series Volume:
72-67.
Publication Date:
January 8, 2002
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
304
Dimensions:
7.94x5.30x.72 in. .51 lbs.
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Related Subjects

Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

The Death of Vishnu Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$1.95 In Stock
Product details 304 pages Perennial (HarperCollins) - English 9780060004385 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Few have invested their fiction with such luminous language, insight into character and grasp of cultural construct as Suri does....This fluid novel is an irresistible blend of realism, mysticism and religious metaphor, a parable of the universal conditions of human life." Publishers Weekly
"Review" by , "A delightful and rich first novel...lyrical."
"Review" by , "Vibrantly alive, beautifully written, full of wonderfully rich and deeply human characters....The depiction of the Asranis and the Pathaks, in all their convincingly human awfulness, brings to mind such masters of scrupulous meanness as Flaubert and Flannery O'Connor."
"Review" by , "Enchanting....Suri's novel achieves an eerie and memorable transcendence."
"Review" by , "Suri's elegant, clever prose and emotional and philosophical probing carry the action of the novel entirely....Suri has created an endlessly complex world that both breaks its inhabitants' hearts and occasionally holds out the prospect of redemption."
"Review" by , "[A] literary accomplishment...eloquent, refined and tasteful."
"Review" by , "The reader is swept away by Suri's fresh, witty observations and tender comic moments."
"Review" by , "[A] deft and confident first novel....The Death of Vishnu reminds me of the work of an earlier writer, the deliberately modest and beautifully constructed novels of R. K. Narayan."
"Review" by , "Suri...has entered the realm of literature with assurance, agile humor, and an impressive breadth of social and religious concerns.... [A] tenderly comic, wryly metaphysical, and hugely entertaining tale..."
"Review" by , "[P]rovocative....[Suri's] story succeeds by challenging a sitcomlike cast of characters to greater depths with a change of setting....Suri contributes to our understanding of what it means to believe."
"Review" by , "There is an exquisite beauty in Suri's prose....An extraordinarily insightful look at human relationships."
"Review" by , "Vivid and engrossing....[T]he depth of Suri's characters...takes [the novel] beyond the confines of its particular setting, and raises it into a work of fiction that seems not only universal but absolutely cosmic."
"Review" by , "Enchanting....Suri's penetration of his characters' lives is as precise and cunning as that of a master surgeon like J. M. Coetzee."
"Review" by , "Witness the debut journey of a remarkable writer....[A] combination of ruthlessness, insight, humor, and wickedly perfect pitch....For once, all the hype about a major new literary voice isn't wrong."
"Review" by , "Suri has a cynic's sense of humor and a seeker's sense of wonder, and the author displays both to penetrating effect in his first novel."
"Review" by , "Suri writes with obvious affection about a Bombay perhaps already lost, evoking its moods and attitudes, its light and smells....Suri's eye for detail and natural ability to create a strong sense of place and time define his considerable talent."
"Synopsis" by , Vishnu, the odd-job man in a Bombay apartment block, lies dying on the staircase landing: Around him the lives of the apartment dwellers unfold: the warring housewives on the first floor, lovesick teenagers on the second, and the widower, alone and quietly grieving on the top floor of the building. In a fevered state Vishnu looks back on his love affair with the seductive Padmim and wonders if he might actually be the god Vishnu, guardian of the entire universe.

Blending incisive comedy with Hindu mythology and a dash of Bollywood sparkle, The Death of Vishnuis an intimate and compelling view of an unforgettable world.
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