The Poison Earrings

0/5 ( ratings)

For a page-turning introduction to contemporary India, you’ll want to stay up all night reading The Poison Earrings. Sidd Burth’s crisp and humorous prose is as admirable as it is pleasurable to read. Burth covered seventy thousand kilometres by car over a period of eight years on a quest to rediscover the soul of his country. This story is set in the tea-growing region of the country's scenic north east, California and Paris. It interweaves social turmoil into the lives of its central characters and thus turns it into an inside view of an unknown region while looking at the devastating effect of insurgency on a once peaceful society.... It offers a sensitive account of cultural clashes in modern India while drawing a vivid picture of Americanized urbanism.... The middle part of the story, set in a posh neighbourhood in New Delhi, follows extra-marital fantasies and unbelievable activities of married people in an invisible social underbelly while giving a glimpse of how private companies achieve their business goals. In the end, the relationship of the two main characters turns out to be far more complex than they thought during their childhood. This book, having a passionate love for India at its heart, gives a lucid account of how the largest democracy of the world thinks and acts, and its society of wise men, gangsters, police, prostitutes, soldiers and corporate bosses affect everyday life of its people. The later part of the story, set in California, makes it not the usual showcase of professional climb of an immigrant woman- elusive, dangerous and beautiful, against the post 9/11 American absurdities. Later, when the reader travels through Paris and French countryside, Europe looks more beautiful than it actually is. Packed with laughter, it’s a moving tale of struggle, courage, survival and beauty. It is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature. -Geoffrey Horne, Paris.