A Tiger for Malgudi

My reaction to this novel was mixed. While I certainly enjoyed reading it, I was somewhat disappointed in the novel as a whole. The most interesting parts, not surprisingly, were those that really focused on Raja and his struggle to understand his world and his situation. I found Raja’s journey

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toward spiritual transformation to be enlightening and inspiring. For me, the book is weakest when the focus shifts to secondary characters, such as the film director Madan, or when depicting village shenanigans. There were entire passages that seemed unnecessary and a tad tedious. However the prose style had a simple elegance, which I found very appealing. In sum, it is easy to see why Narayan’s writings are popular with readers, fellow writers (he was Graham Greene’s favorite author), and critics (he was short-listed several times for the Nobel prize). While I probably wouldn’t read this one a second time, I will definitely pick up some other books by Narayan, including more of the novels of Malgudi.

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