25  India – Rich like us – Nayantara Sahgal (Score 7.75)

I was pleased to note that my copy of this book had travelled from Delhi, The New Book Depot. Google shows this to be located in a multi-storey block in Connaught Place.

We learn immediately that India is in trouble. There has been a clamp-down, the so-called “Emergency” introduced by the President at the instigation of the Prime Minister, and dissidents are being jailed (see also the article at Wikipedia). There is no opposition. One person is in complete charge, albeit with a Cabinet and a Parliament. This reads like a dictatorship.

Mr Neumann is attending a meeting. He is clearly not from the UK since “he was no expert at shades of English”. He is the representative of some non-Indian company which sees a vast market in India for its products, with the clamp-down making things easier for them.

Indian regulations forbid importing any product which is, or can be, made in India. This does not seem to worry the Indian who is meeting Mr Neumann. He has the ear of senior politicians and both they and he stand to make a considerable sum of money if more senior individuals also “forget” the regulations.

There is a slight schism within the family which is entertaining Neumann later. The mother is a Cockney, married to an Indian who built his wealth honestly, from scratch, with a mule train running to and from Tibet. The second generation seem to be nouveaux-riche who would take any opportunity offered, honest or not, and have no feeling for their staff.

Neumann seems to be an American since his business is “controlled by men in skyscrapers”, a world away from where he is at present.

The mother is clearly not happy with the way in which people have been treated when their land has been taken from them, with no compensation, to build the factories for the work being discussed over dinner. No authority has been given for this, nor is any likely to be given. Bribery and corruption are endemic at all levels of the “Emergency Government”.

Other aspects of government seem to be equally unusual. There is forced sterilisation of men to reduce the size of families. This seems like Nazi Germany.

From page 131 there is a document, written in 1915 by the grandfather of Sonali, an honest woman who has been sacked from a government position as a result of refusing to turn a blind eye. She keeps quiet out of fear for her life.

The document discusses induction of poor untrained Indian farmers into the army to fight for the Raj, and the continuing existence of “sati”, burning alive of a widow after the death of her husband, even after the passing of several laws to ban it. Sinali’s great-grandmother was murdered by her dead husband’s relations by burning her alive by “sati” despite her struggles and escapes from the flames. This was done so that the family could take over the husband’s property and assets. This was very common.

In fact, we have a similar occurrence near the end of the book when the wife of a man who is in a coma is murdered at the instigation of his son by an earlier wife so that he can continue milking his father’s funds even before he dies.

I learned a lot about modern India from this book. I learned, especially, that much of what I thought I knew was lies and propaganda, issued on BBC radio and television, and shown in cinema newsreels. I must presume that this was sent by the Indian authorities to hide the Prime Minister’s actions. Why, in those days, would the BBC query any such information from the appropriate authorities?

I scored this book at 8.0.

24  Guatemala – After the bombs – Arturo Arias (Score 3.00)

This is a strange book, telling the story of a young boy growing to be a young man over the years following a terrifying bombardment by planes from an unidentified enemy of Guatemala City. We only find out who the enemy was very close to the end of the book.

I find it very difficult to comment meaningfully on the style of writing, so I can do no better than repeat a quotation from “The Village Voice Literary Supplement” given on the back cover of my copy of the book.

“After the Bombs is a sort of bildungsroman run riot. Arias mixes stream-of-consciousness, lyrical outbursts, Marx Brothers antics, a nuanced poetic sense of rhythm in his sentence construction, funky gossip and myth, all with a fine sense of theatricality.”

Make what you will of that. I know that I would not envy the translator his task. I wouldn’t even think of tackling this one in Spanish.

Near the beginning we learn that the unnamed husband is probably a Basque nationalist when he shouts out “Viva Euskadi” on entering the Bar Madrid after work.

The, equally unidentified, wife is taking the baby for a walk. The baby cries continuously from the pain of the pustules caused by hives which the doctors cannot cure. The bombing of Guatemala City starts and goes on for hours, the dive-bombers in wave after wave unleashing their bombs, bringing death, destruction and terror.

The woman reaches home, and takes shelter with the baby under a heavy table. Eventually the bombing stops.

There is a new government.

We learn that the baby is Máximo Sánchez. At some indeterminate time after the bombs, when he has grown a bit, he is walking through the still deserted and derelict streets. He is now four and a half. There may be some dichotomy in time. There are still bodies and body parts lying about amid the rubble. There seems to have been no government action to clear up, or to bury the dead from the bombing.

The end of Chapter 2 “Funeral for a bird” reminds me of “The Storyteller” by the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa. The old man here tells Max about the war against the invading Spanish which the Quiche lost, along with their culture, their cities and their freedom.

The book continues in a zany style of writing which fully extracts the Michael from that period of the history of Guatemala.

I persevered with it, against my better judgement, since I don’t like giving up on a book, but I skimmed about the last fifty pages. There is a story, but it is very difficult to track it down in the weird writing. I really can’t recommend “After the Bombs”, and could only score it at 4/10.

23 United States – The House of Mirth – Edith Wharton (Score 7.25)

I really enjoyed this story of the inexorable decline of a young woman from “Society” to near destitution. I won’t tell you the details of the ending so as not to spoil the story for you if you decide to read it.

Selden, and Miss Lily Bart, appear separately in the first sentence of the book. He knows her, but is surprised to see her in town, in New York, in Grand Central Station.

He walks towards her, and she spots him. From his thoughts we learn that she is a “Society” lady. She is pleased to see him. It is clear that they don’t meet each other very often.

He leads her to his nearby house for a cup of tea. She is apparently about 29, but her attitudes seem to be those of a 21^st century girl of about 16.

On page 18 we have Selden’s “caravan” tea. Russian caravan tea is available in Edinburgh. This is the first time I have seen it mentioned in literature.

The “Sarum Rule”, mentioned on page 21 is a Roman liturgy.

American “Society” seems to have been like that in 18^th century English literature – very snobby, revolving largely round dinner parties and “getting one up” on one’s rivals in the hostessing field.

Wharton wrote in a leisurely, descriptive, style which I am finding most enjoyable. She does not rush – she seems to choose her words very carefully to achieve the very best effect. Another difference between Wharton and more modern writers is that she sets the ambiance more clearly – see, for example, the opening paragraphs of Chapter VI.

We follow Lily Bart through the “Society” season, watching her plans to obtain a husband and her failing as a result of both chance and her own occasional ineptness.

We see much of the vacuous life led by these people, and it is clear that Lily knows little of the lives of the ordinary people whom she sees vaguely as she wafts through life, still managing to keep afloat.

I wonder if Mrs Wharton had much idea of how ordinary people lived since she, herself, was very much part of “Society”. The introduction tells us that she was born “Edith Jones” and that her father’s family was the Jones with whom everyone tried to keep up.

On page 18 we read “… the sense of being important among the insignificant was enough to restore to Miss Bart the gratifying consciousness of power. Much as I like her, and feel for her, she really is a snob. She is a product of her birth, and a victim thereof.

A propos my comment earlier, Miss Bart finally comes into close contact with poor people through her friend Gerty Farish who is involved with a charitable organisation for young women. Lily finds this a real eye-opener.

A lot of Lily’s problems caused by the misapprehensions of other people are caused by the coincidence of place where someone could, deliberately or unintentionally cause her harm by tale telling.

At the end of Part 1 the Dorsets invite Lily to go on a Mediterranean cruise with them. This turns out to be the cause of her mistakes, other people’s nastiness, and the final cause of her downfall. Lily is eventually sent home at very short notice (immediately) by Mrs Dorset. The situation is such that Lily is snubbed by most of those she considered to be her friends.

Eventually, after the blow of having been disinherited (apart from $10,000) by her aunt on her deathbed (as a direct result of lies promulgated about Lily) and still owing $10,000, she is invited by Mrs Fisher to come with her to a country house where she is staying. Lily, although she goes gladly enough, shows that she has learned nothing about her attitudes towards people whom she considers to be “below her”. On page 247 we see in her thoughts that “she was accepting the hospitality and courting the approval of people she had disclaimed under other circumstances.

Even towards the end she is still very much a snob.

This beautiful and well written book deserves one of the highest scores which I have awarded in nearly twelve years in the Round the World Book Group. I gave it a score of 9.5.

22 Faroes – Barbara – Jørgen-Franz Jacobsen (Score 7.80)

The story opens in a Faroes gale, with roaring winds and pounding seas. A sighting has been made of the “Fortuna”, a ship from Copenhagen bringing much needed stores. It’s November 1750 something.

The action is in the Royal Stores Warehouse in Torshavn where a motley bunch of men are gathered, chewing the cud about the news and other things. The store clerk has provoked animosity between two of the men, deliberately, which leads to great hilarity for the others but no more than repeated verbal violence between the victims.

The door opens, letting in the gale. The eponymous Barbara, daughter of the deceased Judge Stenderup and his widow Magdalena. Barbara is obviously popular and well-liked by the men, who enjoy the banter (about the silk ribbons expected on the Fortuna) between her and her cousin Gabriel the store clerk. We learn that Gabriel has designs on marrying the twice-widowed Barbara and is hatching a plan to stop her marrying the priest expected on the “Fortuna”. Her two dead husbands were also priests.

It seems that the people are superstitious. There is talk of “Master Naaber of the Lofts”, with his pointy hat and yellow eyes, who wanders between all of the lofts in the town. There are “The seven members of the council” who sit at a long table writing letters. They have been seen, but no-one knows where the table is.

There is a conclave in the Pastor’s house at which a number of the senior members of the community are present to meet the new priest, Pastor Paul Aggerson. One is an old widow, Arngard. Her purpose in life seems to be to bad mouth Barbara, She obviously hates her and is out to make trouble for her. She effectively says, in the old way of speaking, that “she is no better than she should be”, meaning that she is of doubtful morality. Barbara’s fault, according to this harridan, seems to be that she is friendly with men who are not her husband, and we feel that there is nothing more than that innocent behaviour. She is, in fact, friendly towards everyone.

Barbara and her friend Suzanne come in. She is hoping to find a letter from the Fortuna to her, but no! The new Pastor seems taken by her.

After Pastor Wenzel has amazed his congregation by preaching the most powerful sermon they have ever heard, about the snares of the world, the congregation leaves. They all go home and are enjoying dinner when the alarm sounds as a large ship is seen approaching. No Danish ships are expected so it must be the enemy. Then another is seen. Panic ensues and people start to take their prize possessions and their flocks and food stores into the mountains.

It turns out to be three French warships returning from the American wars, and driven off course. There is no enmity between Denmark (and therefore The Faroes) and France. The vessels merely want to re-water. The officers and captains come ashore. There is great feasting, with dancing and other festivities. We see in great detail how Jealousy and Envy are fearsome demons.

On page 105 there is an expression which I have otherwise heard only in my native West of Scotland, “dead serious” (pronounced “deed serious” there. It derives ultimately from “indeed serious” but is now confused with the word “deid” which is the local pronunciation of “dead”.

On page 112 there is the story of Pastor Rasmus Ganting who went into a green mound where the “Earth people” live. That reminds me of the story of the real Reverend Robert Kirk of the Church of Scotland in Aberfoyle who wrote “The secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies” and claimed that it was based on what he learned while staying with the Little People. He wrote it in 1691 and seems to have disappeared, mysteriously, shortly after.

He appeared to people and talked to them about how to return him to the world of mortals. However, the people failed to bring him back, and he disappeared forever.

Pastor Paul becomes infatuated with Barbara, but I won’t tell you anything about the succeeding events so as not to spoil the story for you any more than I already have.

Suffice to say that I really enjoyed this story of a much maligned woman who was ahead of her time. I scored it at 8.5. I would suggest to any readers that you should make a list of the main characters and their relationships right from the start.