Books: Best Indian Fiction of 2022
Best Indian Fiction of 2022
Even as we were emerging from the pandemic, blinking in the bright light, my reading through the year continued to be both substantial and satisfying. This is a listicle of Indian fiction of 2022 that fulfilled my one-point criterion: it touched a chord with me.
Valli. Written by Sheela Tomy, translated by Jayasree Kalathil, this book is part-allegory, part-homily, wholly eco-fiction. It tells of the people who populate a hamlet in the Western Ghats, the steady encroachment of tribal lands, the abrogation of tribal rights, the destruction of the land itself. It blends environmental concerns with societal dissensions, it pitches oppressors against the victim, and it shows us just what we can and are doing to this land of ours, beyond Wayanad, across the country.
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Shehan Karunatilaka sets this Booker prize-winning story in 1989, and populates it with other-worldly beings who had ghastly things done to them in the name of the terrible war that wreaked havoc in Sri Lanka for 26 long and miserable years. Do read this book for the creativity of the satirical plot, the lovely relationship between Maali and the two people closest to him, for descriptions of the Mahakali, for the very real cynicism when contemplating how many war manipulators have walked free.
Black River. Nilanjana Roy turns to crime fiction with all the skill she brought to her delightful cat books. The black river of the title is the beleaguered Yamuna, and the story tells of what takes place near it, as well as some distance away from it. A little girl has been murdered and while the tale proceeds in pretty much the manner you want crime thrillers to proceed (with no gratuitous trail of red herrings, thankfully), it` s Roy`s evocative sketches of the characters that really tugs at the reader`s heart.
The Body by the Shore. Tabish Khair`s cerebral sci-fi thriller situates the action on an oil rig-turned-dubious resort in the North Sea just off Denmark. Set in the future, around 2030, with frequent references to the coronavirus pandemic that hit the world a decade ago, the reader sees that the world has not changed drastically in the wake of Covid. The mess of politics, the dire state of economics, and manipulative games being played by those with political and economic clout, all seem to be the same-old, same-old.
Villainy. This sardonic take on villainy Delhi style by Upamanyu Chatterjee is all the more effective for its matter-of-fact, unemotional tone of narration. Villainy takes a cynical look at how the rich live in a bubble that is impervious to even murder charges and prison stints; a rueful look at caste and community hierarchies; a resigned look at how utter villains walk away from acts of dire villainy.
The Immortal King Rao. Vauhini Vara`s debut work is speculative fiction but the dystopian new world that she draws seems culled from an ongoing or impending reality. Much is explored in this book, like caste, race, politics, capitalism, technology and the repercussions of all this on human lives. There is great skill at work here in drawing worlds, real and imagined, incorporating technology and philosophy, and yet keeping human relationships at the heart of the story.
The Living Mountain. Amitav Ghosh takes us through a series of moral lessons using an allegory about a living mountain, the Mahaparbat in Nepal, and how over time it went from being a revered deity that no one set foot on, to a peak to be summitted, a massif to be mined for its precious metals, a mountain to be verily desecrated. The mountain is the point of focus and we are shown the results of man`s insatiable greed, of man`s desire to control other men, of what happens when nature strikes back.
Everything the Light Touches. Janice Pariat`s climate change novel is a reflective one, to be read and savoured slowly. Multiple voices tell the story of three people who embark on personal and professional journeys. A botanical leitmotif runs through and anchors the stories of these individuals, and when the prose suddenly transforms into poetry, it leaves the reader astonished and delighted.
Sheila Kumar is a manuscript editor, author of four books and journalist who reads a whole lot of books and reviews many of them.
This appeared in the Sunday Herald of 25 December 2022.
Sheila Kumar • December 25, 2022