Small-Town Snapshots

Manjushree Thapa's debut novel about the politics and identity of a small town in Nepal has a certain compelling range and sweep of vision. Contemporary literature, especially with a social medium like the novel, gives voice to the aspirations of a society and articulates its doubts and confusions. Thapa writes about her complex and marginalised society with sincerity and authenticity. The characters are clearly defined, and come to life as the contours of the story unfold. Rishi Parajuli, the disillusioned and disenfranchised political activist who gives lessons in Nepalese history to uncaring students, effectively conveys the many contradictions in Nepal's polity. The other characters, such as the alcoholic chairman of the People's Party district committee, or long-suffering woman protagonist Binita Dahal, tend to become somewhat one-dimensional, but put together form a convincing tableau of small-town Nepal.

Yet, while the book communicates the flow and feel of local sentiments, there is a lazy, cliche-ridden feel to Thapa's language. This is an ambitious first novel where the author's intentions overstretch her skills. Perhaps a less omnibus approach might have made the narrative more credible. But events in Nepal have moved at such an improbable pace, and with such strange and bizarre convolutions, that they've outstripped the conventions of probability, leaving fiction utterly disadvantaged.