The March Hare

Have you ever read a first novel that was just depressingly good?

Vikram Chandra's 'Red Earth and Pouring Rain' is just that. Expansive, intelligent, engaging, and ambitious. Successful. Just good writing. And this is his first time out of the box.

The story encompasses about three hundred years of history, as well as the story of a young Indian who goes to college in America and a monkey who, due to a near-death experience, realizes that he is the reincarnation of Sanjay Parasher, poet.

Yes, the monkey types.

Characters include: The East India Company; Yama; Hanuman; Ganesha; Alexander the Great. And they're all fully-developed, independant characters who jump out of the book and sit in your lap.

The paperback edition is 542 pages, and they're 542 good, honest pages that you really have to read. No skipping around in here, people. And what's more, you want to read them.

Is it wrong to find this mortifying? I mean, even Harper Lee only wrote a novella, practically, and then saved the rest of us from undying shame by never writing anything again.

Vikram Chandra must be stopped.