Bibliofile
Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel, a damp squib? Critics impressed by Raj Kamal Jha's second book? <i >One Thousand Insults</i> and <i >One Thousand More Insults.</i>
It seems the prolonged birth pangs were worth it. Raj Kamal Jha’s much-delayed second book is finally out in the UK and London critics at least are impressed by "the guilty dream conscience of Indian literature". If You Are Afraid of Heights is yet another exploration of Jha’s obsession with taboo subjects: this story is about a 12-year-old girl found strangled and raped at the bottom of a canal. Jha, it seems, is already bracing for the knives that are sharpening for his Indian launch next month. In one interview he gave at the Melbourne litfest, he was on the defensive for using themes such as rape and child abuse: "It’s still there, it’s where modernity still hasn’t come in. I think the major thing that has got to happen is to break that silence down."
Our MPs are not exactly famous for their reading taste. But Sushma Swaraj insisted she cracked the secret of Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy’s obtuse language. "All those incomprehensible words he uses are there in these two books I found in Khan Market," she told the House during the confidence vote. The books: One Thousand Insults and One Thousand More Insults. Now that’s really an insult to a book of insults!