books galore

I've been reading a lot over the past month since there is really nothing else for me to do. Its been good to get back into the literary mindset and start reading books thatmake me think and if nothing else, keep me entertained. Recently I read the In Between World Of Vikram Lall, a book by MG Vassangi which won the Giller Prize a few years ago.

To begin with, it is a detailed tale of Vikram Lall's life - from his life in early years in post World War II Kenya to his rise as the most corrupt man in Kenya's post independence history. It is a gripping tale with many rich characters and even more memorable events. Yet, it does leave the reader wanting more, even after the voluptuous 327 pages. The story leaves us hanging, neither there nor here. We never find out what happened to Vikram, did he atone himself among his countrymen or did he have to come back top Canada and spend his days on the outskirts of Toronto, nameless and disgraced. The reader is led to believe that the book is written to tell his story, but we never realise this objective as the author leaves the story in mid-point. In some ways, that is as it should be, for Vikram is a man always in between - be it between his sister and her lover, between politcians and the bankers that launder their black money, and even between innocence and guilt.

Vassanji succeeds admirably in constructing a believable yet unseen society in which class and ethnicity are the forefrunt. Vikram himself is an Indian in origin - a perilous niche to fill in Vassangi's Kenya between the overlord whites and the native blacks.

A good read overall despite some shortcomings.