The Facts
Length: 314 pages.
Publisher: Doubleday Canada.
This is Vassanji's sixth novel.
Quick Summary
This novel is told from the first-person perspective of Indian-born Karsan Dargawalla, heir to the Shine of the Wanderer, which his father reigns over. Karsan forsakes his eternal and holy duty by escaping to America, and later Canada, but the death of his father forces him to return in middle-age to reconsider his path. Most of the novel is told through flashbacks and moves between three narratives: the surreal, medieval India of Nur Fazal, the Wanderer; the childhood of Karsan, beginning in the 60's; and present-day (2002) Karsan, returning home.
The Good
Reading legitimately good writing after Cross Currents was a sigh of relief, especially because I had never heard of Vassanji before (supposedly, one of Canada's current top writers) and this was a blind pick off the shelf. The story starts of slowly, without any real primary conflict or action. Antagonism is found, hesitantly, in the presence of a police officer, investigating the whereabouts of Karsan's brother, but even Karsan's relationship with the officer isn't directly oppositional. As Karsan delves deeper into his own reflections, the story picks up; I found myself reading in larger increments as I continued throughout the novel (this might be less pleasant than it sounds: in the later half of the novel, Karsan has integrated himself almost completely into North American societal norms, whereas the first half is very much traditional religious India).
The Average
I'm hesitant to call anything about this book ugly, but maybe "average" better describes it. After I gave a friend a synopsis of the plot, she described it as a "story that's been told before." And she's right: the prodigal son returns to his pastoral home and serves as a symbol of a new and better future. And the worst part is that's about it. There's no real conflict or passion; the "hesitant antagonist" switches between the police officer looking for the brother, and the brother himself (resentful of, it seems, everything). Karsan and his brother do not reconcile. Karsan's own thoughts on the Shrine are unclear, even at the end of the novel. Karsan has moved from one romance to nothing, and there's hope for another, but that plays at the edges as well. The story feels unfinished.
There is a secondary plot. It revolves around the "secret" of Nur Fazal's identity. But it's swept almost completely under the rug for most of the novel, and only pokes its head during the final pages. Compared to the life story Karsan's just told, the revelation seems unfounded, unimportant, and annoyingly out of place. I'm still unsure what Vassanji was trying to do with it, and if can be any way related back to the main storyline. Is his brother the Spiritual Avatar of Nur Fazal? Or is Karsan? Why did you title your book The Assassin's Song, Vassanji? Why are the final pages (perhaps the most important) dedicated to this subject?
The Ugly
Subtitle.
The Good
Aged Karsan makes a great "Man Who Has Lost Everything." That's becoming an archetype, isn't it?
Final Thoughts
If Indian history for the past 40 or so years is an interest to you, then this book deserves at least a look, especially regarding Muslim-Hindu violence. Vassanji has a calming, traditional writing style, but perhaps that drives his plot into the realm of forgetfulness.
Arbitrary Score: 2.8 out of 5.
Next book: Apricot Jam, and Other Stories, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (2011)
