It will not make you want to keep the book down at any point. The writing is packed with punches and more. Thayil has beautifully explored each and every one of its aspect. Bombay has various aspects to it as a city and Mr. The story takes you on a roller-coaster ride – and sometimes the funny part is, you don’t know which turn is going to come next. Lee from China who lends a totally different approach to the story. Dimple is a eunuch and her story unfolds as does the story of the city and then there is also the enigmatic Mr. Narcopolis is everything you imagined but were too scared to say it out aloud – blue smoke, drugs, opium drug dens, heroin and Bombay at the heart of it all – the glitter of the city juxtaposed with its bleakness, its gutters and its diseases of race, class, religion, violence and death.Īmidst all this is Dimple and this is her heart-breaking tale. Bombay is the protagonist as it always is – harsh, sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, sometimes cunning and sometimes giving, and the action of the book is set here, for its characters to play on this wide canvas, to let their emotions and feelings take a different turn altogether. It captures all elements of Bombay, who is coincidentally the hero or heroine of the story, which is what I loved the most about the novel. It is not only a disturbing read, but also highly intense. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil is a book that doesn’t leave you till you have finished it.

Publisher: Faber and Faber, Penguin Books

Narcopolis review