In his haunting seventh novel, Chaudhuri follows a novelist also named Amit Chaudhuri as he struggles to find balance in a constantly shifting world. Returning to Mumbai, he’s disoriented not only by the physical changes in the city since he attended school there, but also by the shock of the terrorist attacks in 2008, and, most of all, by the fate of his childhood friend who became addicted to drugs and moved on. As Chaudhuri’s fictional alter ego wanders the city and recalls his past, the narrative becomes a rich meditation on memory, identity, friendship, and the role imagination plays in the living of a life. Chaudhuri, who grew up in Mumbai, is professor of contemporary literature at the University of East Anglia, an author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and editor of The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature.
