An ingenious, devastating, explosive novel about the ramifications of choice from "one of the most original and talented authors working today" (NPR).

"How ought one to live?" This is the question that obsesses London-based publisher Ayush, driving him to question every act of consumption. He embarks on a radical experiment in his own life and the lives of those connected to him: his practical economist husband; their twins; and even the authors he edits and publishes. One of those authors, a mysterious M. N. Opie, writes a story about a young academic involved in a car accident that causes her life to veer in an unexpected direction. Another author, an economist, describes how the gift of a cow to an impoverished family on the West Bengal–Bangladesh border sets them on a startling path to tragedy.

Together, these connected narratives raise the question: How free are we really to make our own choices? In a scathing, compassionate quarrel...]]> Thu, 30 May 2024 11:51:51 +0300 https://library.land/neel-mukherjee/381934-the_lives_of_others.html https://library.land/neel-mukherjee/381934-the_lives_of_others.html
]]> Mon, 24 Nov 2014 21:10:48 +0200 https://library.land/neel-mukherjee/77591-a_state_of_freedom.html https://library.land/neel-mukherjee/77591-a_state_of_freedom.html
*Selected as a 2017 Book of the Year in the Guardian, New Statesman and The Irish Times* 'A brave and frequently devastating novel whose themes of displacement and dehumanisation are all too timely' Paul Murray'The most astonishing and brilliant novel I have read in a long, long time' Hanya YanagiharaWhat happens when we attempt to exchange the life we are given for something better? Can we transform the possibilities we are born into? A State of Freedom prises open the central, defining events of our century – displacement and migration – but not as you imagine them. Five characters, in very different circumstances, from a domestic cook in Mumbai, to a vagrant and his dancing bear, and a girl who escapes terror in her home village for a new life in the city, find out the meanings of dislocation, and the desire for more. Set in contemporary India and moving between the reality of...]]> Fri, 08 Nov 2002 16:36:54 +0200 https://library.land/neel-mukherjee/375993-a_life_apart.html https://library.land/neel-mukherjee/375993-a_life_apart.html
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