Book Review : Narcopolis — Jeet Thayil
It is a complicated novel to read. Several characters sway in and out of the book like intoxicated souls, each taking charge as narrators of their own story and recollecting their disillusioned past. The only constant theme is addiction: addiction to substances, sex, religion & violence. It exposes the unseen, grotesque side of opium dens and the red-light area of Bombay from an insider perspective.
The story is set in 1970s Old Bombay and revolves around a set of degenerate characters Mr. Lee (a Chinese opium seller), Rashid(owner of an opium den and brothel), Dimple (a trans sex worker) and the narrator Dom who returns from New York only to get sucked into the hallucinatory world of Bombay.
The only character who remained constant in the story from the beginning was Dimple - the transgender sex worker who works in Rashid's opium den. I was only able to sympathize with this character from the very first chapter. There was a whiff of a beautiful platonic relationship between Dimple and Mr. Lee, amidst the plethora of non-reliable characters. I was slightly disappointed when Dimple's story was abruptly cut for some unwanted rambling by a reformed ex-addict. Except for Dimple, all other characters are hazily sketched, perhaps intentionally by the author.
For a non-intoxicated reader, it was at times tough to follow certain narratives in the first read. Overall the book shocks you with all the brutal things a normal human being is capable of under intoxication. This should deter people from wandering into the dark alleys of "Narcopolis".
-Preethi