Mainly about a place and time, namely an opium room on Shuklaji Street in Old Bombay in the 1970s and thereafter, Narcopolis (coming soon, Faber and Faber, London, 294 pages) is a debut novel by Jeet Thayil, better known as an Indian poet and musician. Partly peculiar, partly intriguing, it's no ordinary book.
Unusual characters, a jumble of Hindus, Muslims and Christians, wander in from the impoverished city's rotten core, their passage and progress partly obscured by a haze of smoke wafting from one opium pipe after another. Among these pushers, pimps, gangsters, poets and other addicts, the most memorable person, a eunuch named Dimple, splits time between a brothel and the opium den, struggling but never quite finding a firm direction.
The book looks likely to be billed as “a kind of love song to Bombay in the form of a 30-year opium dream”. “Hugely excited” readers in India have advance-ordered thousands of copies.
Thayil claims to bring special insights, having been an alcoholic and addict too, although his “only remaining addictions” are to poetry and coffee. His inside knowledge shows: “Wait now, light me up so we do this right, yes, hold me steady to the lamp, hold it, hold, good, a slow pull to start with, to draw the smoke low into the lungs, yes, oh my....”
Does a story blending potent narcotics and a crowded metropolis make for a successful novel? Yes, and no. Thayil's obvious word skills lead to some memorable passages, mostly depictions and descriptions. But he often writes in unbearably long, heavily punctuated sentences. Although maybe poetic licence or depictions of opium-room thinking, these make for difficult reading. Instead of flowing smoothly, the story often plods.
The emphasis on place and time, more than on people, means that none of the characters are developed and likeable enough for readers to care much what befalls them, especially considering their self-destructive behavior inside and outside the opium room. Readers know that most of them will die prematurely.
Born in Kerala, India, the author studied in Hong Kong, New York and Mumbai (where he still lives). He has four published poetry collections, including These Errors Are Correct (2008) and English (2004). He edited the Bloodaxe Book of Contemporay Indian Poets (2008). Musically, he's a songwriter and guitarist.
As debut novels go, Narcopolis looks more competent than fantastic. If Thayil has a masterpiece novel in him, then it remains in the future.
Approval rating: 67 per cent.
(October 28, 2011)
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Poet-musician Jeet Thayil
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