The Land of the Wilted Rose

Mental Note to Self : Never (NEVER) READ a book, you accidently clicked on to REVIEW.

About the Author : Anand Ranganathan read Chemistry at St. Stephen’s, Delhi, and thereafter went to Cambridge for his BA in Natural Sciences. He stayed on at Cambridge for his PhD and post-doctoral studies. After returning to India, he joined the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology at Delhi, where at present he is researching tuberculosis and dengue, among other things. The Land of the Wilted Rose is his debut novel.

My Rant on this book : Honestly, i was putting of reviewing this book, until I got a reminder from BLOGADDA about the same. I could review it in THREE WORDS … “WHAT A MISTAKE”

Are we still reading for more??? Alright here goes : SO I was a little apprehensive as to how to review this Book, especially as I was having a tough time reading the same. So then I force myself to start , and turn the pages(read), and well the only thing that kept running in my head was , the authors reason of wanting to come up with this novel. We all are accustomed to Gandhi, and having a “White Mahatma” did not clearly make any sense to me.

The initial bit, tries to grab the readers attention , however it tends to loose its charm. The first page, wherein we are greeted (confusing) by our characters are just so hard to understand. Anand Ranganathan , in my opinion , did go a little too far beyond what was required , in etching the situations of people living in Britain.

However, I must give the author, credit, for having chosen a subject, that is different and interesting. However , I personally feel that , he did not do much of a justice to the unique concept.

We are welcomed to an era where Britain is a part of “the great Indian Empire”. It is a play on the colonization of India though here, it is Britain which is ruled by a17-year old king who dominates almost all the regions of India. This king, referred to as Maharaja , has been on the throne since the age of 12 and is quite the womanizer. He needs bathing attendants and has an instant affair with a woman who he later crowns as the Governess-General of Cyprus.

The concept has been taken from Mahatma Gandhi and his dedicated struggle towards independence, however here there is a role reversal of countries, wherein Britain yearns to free itself from the Indian empire, and “Jack Riley” comes in as the messiah.

The book has been stretched far  more than what was required. The writing style is detailed, however the usage of too many words at once is annoying.. The protagonist is the underdog in the book till the end but maybe that’s what the author intended to do. 

The book, seems like a one-sit read because of its size .However,the  reality is that you will have to devote time and attention to if you want to read it completely.

It would have made so much sense to put all the four books into one, than the four series..(Atleast then he did not have to worry about whether people would read the remaining bit).

Do i recommend you to read it ??? NO 

My Rating : 2 / 10  (Only because of the uniqueness of the subject)