Age of Vice: A Novel

by Deepti Kapoor

Hardcover, 2023

Call number

MYST KAP

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Publication

Riverhead Books (2023), 560 pages

Description

Fiction. Literature. Mystery. HTML:AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK �??Dazzling...Finally free from the book�??s grip, now all I want to do is get others hooked.�?��?? The Washington Post �??Cinematic�?�A luxe thriller�?�As a storyteller, Kapoor is a natural.�?��?? The New York Times "Sensationally good �?? huge, epic, immersive and absorbing ... certain to be a book of the year." �??Lee Child This is the age of vice, where money, pleasure, and power are everything, and the family ties that bind can also kill.   New Delhi, 3 a.m. A speeding Mercedes jumps the curb and in the blink of an eye, five people are dead. It�??s a rich man�??s car, but when the dust settles there is no rich man at all, just a shell-shocked servant who cannot explain the strange series of events that led to this crime. Nor can he foresee the dark drama that is about to unfold. Deftly shifting through time and perspective in contemporary India, Age of Vice is an epic, action-packed story propelled by the seductive wealth, startling corruption, and bloodthirsty violence of the Wadia family �?? loved by some, loathed by others, feared by all. In the shadow of lavish estates, extravagant parties, predatory business deals and calculated political influence, three lives become dangerously intertwined: Ajay is the watchful servant, born into poverty, who rises through the family�??s ranks. Sunny is the playboy heir who dreams of outshining his father, whatever the cost. And Neda is the curious journalist caught between morality and desire. Against a sweeping plot fueled by loss, pleasure, greed, yearning, violence and revenge, will these characters�?? connections become a path to escape, or a trigger of further destruction?  Equal parts crime thriller and family saga, transporting readers from the dusty villages of Uttar Pradesh to the urban energy of New Delhi, Age of Vice is an intoxicating novel of gangsters and lovers, false friendships, forbidden romance, and the consequences of corruption. It is… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Hccpsk
Age of Vice is definitely a hefty read — both in size and subject matter — but, except for a few small sections author Deepti Kapoor keeps it moving so the book reads much shorter than it looks. The story sprawls across India during its era of modernization and focuses on characters from
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different layers of society as we meet Ajay, sold by his mother into servitude; Neda, a young working-class woman trying to find herself in Delhi; and Sunny, the son and nephew of notorious businessmen. This book is full of action and violence yet explores themes of loyalty, family, wealth, and corruption.
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LibraryThing member delphimo
Deepti Kapoor and Robinton Mistry harp on the ills and problems of India in Age of Vice and A Fine Balance. Both books contain pages and pages of suffering and hardships. Age of Vice utilizes too many pages on dialogue with Ajay, Sunny, and Neda that this reader skipped many pages. Too much
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excessive use of drugs, sex, and alcohol with the wealthy, while the poor risk loss of home and security. The jail system exposes the corruption of wealth and power within the inmates. Ajay goes to prison for one of Sunny’s friends, so the poor privileged man will not be exposed to the horrors of prison. Gangs control the prison and force the weaker inmates into service. Neither book provides any hope for the poor.
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LibraryThing member gpangel
Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor is a 2023 Riverhead Books publication.

It’s been ages since I read a good crime drama/family saga. Age of Vice certainly fits that bill. The psychology behind powerful family run criminal enterprises, the glitter of vast wealth, the innocent people that get drawn in
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or trapped in that web is always compelling.

Set in India in the early 2000s, the story follows Sunny Wadia, the son of a corrupt businessman, Anjay, a boy who witnessed horrible violence and was then sold into servitude, eventually coming to work for Sunny- constantly at his beck and call, and Neda, a journalist working on a crime story who becomes dazzled by Sunny’s wealth and exciting lifestyle. But when a horrific car crash occurs, it changes the course of their lives in unexpected ways…

This one is a bit hefty, but it is such an absorbing page turner it goes by super-fast. This is, by far, one of the best modern organized crime dramas, I’ve read in ages. This book is definitely worthy of all the buzz and excitement! Can’t wait to read more books by this author!!
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LibraryThing member sblock
Poised to give this novel five stars but felt like it kind of fell off rails at the end. Still a great read.
LibraryThing member Perednia
A novel of love and loss told within the framework of a New India crime family.
LibraryThing member eas7788
Takes itself very seriously but can’t pull it off. The descriptions of drinking and drugging get old. Ajay is by far the strongest character and book is weaker when away from him. The Neda section is okay but not as vivid. By the time we get to the last sections, darting from Sunny to newspaper
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reports to the kidnapper and back to Ajay and Neda, I was impatient for it to end, which it did, weakly. By using so many POVs, the story gets watered down and less compelling. I enjoyed being immersed in her setting, but the trip was too long and the tripping too much.
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LibraryThing member KallieGrace
This epic family crime drama did not disappoint, keeping my interest for the entire 500+ pages. Some parts were very difficult to read, there is a lot of the worst of humanity reflected in this story. The power and wealth that replace morals and empathy really steamrolled so many of the characters.
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There is a lot of jumping around in timeline and perspective and I wasn't always following the transitions, but I did enjoy how much time was covered in the characters' lives. The ending lost me a little, I felt like I didn't have all the threads to this massive braid of a plot, but it was still enjoyable to read to the end.
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LibraryThing member Narshkite
I am going to skip the star rating. Made it to page 124 and called it. I found the prose overwrought and there is no subtlety at all in the storyline (I also was not crazy about the structure, but I can't really say what bugged me.) Everything that happens is utterly plot driven, people's actions
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are what are need to move the story where Kapoor wants it to go, and are never actions we understand based upon what little we know about the characters. Also, everything is on the page - there is no room for imagination. It reminded me of reading Dan Brown (not a compliment) but the Indian version. It was just 100% not interesting to me and there are plenty of other books to read. I am in the tiny minority, people seem to love this, but I call 'em as I see 'em.
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LibraryThing member pdebolt
This is a long book set in India in the early 2000s. Ajay as a child witnessed the death of his father, followed by being sold into servitude. Eventually he was recognized as a loyal hard worker and came to be employed by Sunny Wadia, the son of a powerful, corrupt businessman. As a valued Wadia
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employee, he came to be part of an enviable lifestyle. One of his duties to Sunny was transporting Neda, a journalist, to wherever Sunny was.

A car crash with fatalities upends their lives in unimagined ways with Ajay at the epicenter of prison violence and treachery. Ajay continues to search for his mother and sister who were left behind when he was sold. There is heartbreak in his search.

This is a novel of organized crime in India and also a family saga. India is seen as a multi-layered country with pockets of great poverty and families with generations of wealth and status.
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LibraryThing member Mercef
19 and a half hours of audio. Holey moley! Why did I ever take that on?
Waaay too long a story. A promising start, in an unfamiliar setting (India) with characters totally outside my sheltered world view. However, by the half-way point, I was becoming confused with the shifting time narratives told
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from different characters’ perspectives (possibly not so confusing if I could see chapters, or flick back to clarify the story). Confusion then led to not caring much about the resolution.
The narrator used different voices for the characters (always good) but I remained irritated throughout not only by the excessive use of the word “says”, but by the narrator mispronouncing it as “saze”.
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Pages

560

ISBN

0593328795 / 9780593328798
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