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Animal's People
by Indra Sinha
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9781416578789 |
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Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
I used to be human once. So I'm told. I don't remember it myself, but people who knew me when I was small say I walked on two feet, just like a human being...
Ever since he can remember, Animal has gone on all fours, his back twisted beyond repair by the catastrophic events of that night when a burning fog of poison smoke from the local factory blazed out over the town of Khaufpur, and the Apocalypse visited his slums. Now just turned seventeen and well schooled in street work, he lives by his wits, spending his days jamisponding (spying) on town officials and looking after the elderly nun who raised him, Ma Franci. His nights are spent fantasizing about Nisha, the girlfriend of the local resistance leader, and wondering what it must be like to get laid.
When Elli Barber, a young American doctor, arrives in Khaufpur to open a free clinic for the still suffering townsfolk — only to find herself struggling to convince them that she isn't there to do the dirty work of the Kampani — Animal gets caught up in a web of intrigues, scams, and plots with the unabashed aim of turning events to his own advantage.
Profane, piercingly honest, and scathingly funny, Animal's People illuminates a dark world shot through with flashes of joy and lunacy. A stunning tale of an unforgettable character, it is an unflinching look at what it means to be human: the wounds that never heal and a spirit that will not be quenched.
Review:
"Orphaned Bhopal slum resident Animal, who 'used to be human' before an industrial chemical accident left his bones 'twisted like a hairpin,' narrates in a rich argot this tense and absorbing Brit import, shortlisted for the Booker in 2007. Animal, who walks on all fours, focuses on the events surrounding the impending trial of the 'Kampani' responsible for the accident. He falls in with a group led by famous musician Somraj; Somraj's daughter, Nisha; and Nisha's boyfriend, 'Saint Zafar,' who devotes his life to fighting the Kampani and caring for the poor. Tensions mount as suspicious 'Amrikan' doctor Elli Barber opens a clinic in the slums, lawyers from the Kampani arrive in Khaufpur to negotiate a settlement, and Animal, desperately in love with Nisha, copes with his desires and frustrations. While some of the supporting characters remain one-dimensional, Animal's voice — a mlange of grit, pointed social criticism, profanity and lust — brings to life what could have become a tendentious parable, and his struggles personalize the novel's grand themes of secrecy, betrayal and unexpected acts of love and kindness. Sinha balances big issues with an intimate depiction of life at its bleakest." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"Indra Sinha's 'Animal's People,' which recently won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the best book in the Europe and Asia region and was shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize, doles out a fair share of tragedy. Set in the slums of a re-imagined and renamed Bhopal, India, site of the deadly Union Carbide gas leak, the novel promises to level a damning indictment against corporate greed and indifference..." Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)
Review:
"Compelling, heart-wrenching and laced with redemptive hope...it explores the really big issues — justice, equality, the nature of humanity — and does not once flinch from what it discovers." The Observer
Review:
"Sinha's writing is a blade gleaming in the moonlight. And the novel, for all its pain, is a work of profound humanity." The Guardian
Review:
"Animal's People is raw, furious, and utterly compelling. Indra Sinha is a brave writer, and he's produced a novel of great power." Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Review:
"I was absolutely bowled over by [Animal's People]. It is brilliant. In the narrator, Animal, Sinha's created a character who's as original and memorable in his own way as Holden Caulfield — funny, profane, witty, touching and immensely appealing." John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Review:
"A double triumph for Sinha: The plight of the world's powerless has seldom been conveyed more powerfully, while Animal is destined to be one of fiction's immortals." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"[A]n antic, ribald, and searing tale of greed and heroism. Sinha's daring farce asks what it means to be human, rekindles compassion for the still uncompensated victims of the real-life catastrophe, and celebrates the resiliency of love and goodness in the poorest and most poisoned of places." Booklist (starred review)
Synopsis:
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Animal's People is by turns a profane, scathingly funny, and piercingly honest tale of a boy so badly damaged by the poisons released during a chemical plant leak that he walks on all fours.
About the Author
Sinha, one of the pioneers of the net in Britain, was born in India. He had a successful career as an advertising writer in London.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
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dksugarpaws, June 16, 2008 (view all comments by dksugarpaws)
The quote displayed hit me to my inner core.
I have feelings that relate closer to this novel than are comfortable for me to reveal. As truely human beings we need to feel a connection with compassion and identity. Unfortunatly these rights and comforts can be stolen from us and maybe never returned. This is written in a way that a victim may feel. Disturbingly heartbreaking and real in a way that some us can only admit metaphroically.
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bingotongco, June 6, 2008 (view all comments by bingotongco)
A debut novel by an Indian author, this novel is like a rough-hewn gem, of such clarity anyone who reads it will not wish for any refining or cutting by the jeweller.
It speaks in the voice of the main character, known only as Animal, who was deformed by an organization called the Kampani. When the Kampani's factory burned down, plagues and sicknesses came upon their area, Animal's back was twisted to make his behind the highest point of his body. He speaks with such brutal honesty and sarcastic wit that makes this book an easy read, but forcing the reader to dig deep into his emotions and realize that, even in the darkest hours, one can and must find hope.
Walking about on all fours, he speaks of his life, loves, and the people in the area known as...
Animal's People.
View all 2 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9781416578789
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Simon & Schuster
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- General Fiction
- Subject:
- Americans
- Subject:
- Bhopal Union Carbide Plant Disaster, Bhopal,
- Edition Description:
- Scribner Hardco
- Publication Date:
- March 2008
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Grade Level:
- General/trade
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 374
- Dimensions:
- 9.25 x 6.125 in
