Friday, July 21, 2006
A Review of Gautam Malkani's "Londonstani"
Gautam Malkani's much-hyped debut novel "Londonstani" was a must-read for me for more than the usual reasons. As an acquaintance of his, I was keen to discover just what it was that caused the guy to look perpetually stressed out whenever I met him. I also wanted to find out more about his highly-regarded university dissertation, which I never got the chance to read because it was always doing the rounds among interested parties. Finally, the fact that he is a precociously talented journalist who has shot up the ranks at the FT also provided a compelling reason to get stuck in (no doubt the publishing houses took note of this too). It was against this backdrop that I ordered "Londonstani" almost as soon as it became available online, not knowing what to expect in terms of content but imagining it would be something well-researched and thorough at the very least, given the time that had lapsed between the dissertation and the publication of his novel.
In the end I didnt just read "Londonstani", I devoured it. From the very first page, the book is delivered at a frantic pace; turning the pages fast enough to keep up with the storyline becomes a challenge in itself. The lives of the four young men central to the book - Hardjit, Amit, Ravi and Jas - may be macabre, misogynistic and vexatious; but they are never dull. Galvanised by their confrontational but compelling leader Hardjit, and by their desire for material success, the group's taste for hedonism informs their daily lives. Survival in the urban jungle is about marking out territory, brutalising competitors, and doing whatever it takes to get bread (and a little bit extra) on the table. What distinguishes these men from Brooklyn mafiosi is that they are nineteen-years old, have A-Level retakes to sit and are forever under the all-seeing eyes of their pushy parents. Throw into the mix a twisted sense of familial and religious duty and you have a group dynamic where its okay to carry out an illegal mobile phone racket while being served pakoras by Hardjit's mum; to gawp at a beautiful girl but then admonish yourself when you realise she isn't your creed; to turn up to fights late because you're buying pantyliners for your mum. Confused? Mr Ashwood, their former teacher, certainly likes to depict them this way, but in many ways, the crew are fully attuned to the inherent complexities of their lives. Studying politics wont get them anywhere; illegal phone racketeering, on the other hand, brings the instant reward of hard cash: the only legitimate songsheet in a world that dances to the tune of bling-bling economics.
All in all, "Londonstani" speaks about many things: the emergence of an aggressive masculinity in young adults as a reaction against their submissive fathers; the folly of acting in concert with individuals whose fundamental views you disagree with; the danger of acting on personal belief when it runs against a powerful group dynamic. These are not unfamiliar themes; what makes the book so penetrative, however, is the tools it uses to present and dissect them. For probably the first time in popular contemporary literature, we are given an insight into these themes as they apply in Asian rudeboy culture. To capture this, Malkani writes in a unique prose that combines Asian slang, Black slang, text message language and Punjabi. Though this is surprising initially, the reader gets used to it very quickly, and, in terms of linguistic accuracy, it is spot-on. Scatalogy is necessary only because it is reflective of reality.
The writing is not without fault, however. At times, one senses the author succumbing to his own frustration at choosing to write entirely within the confines of urban slang. Writing in vernacular means that Malkani is not given the chance to wax lyrical in the manner that a talented journalist such as him undoubtedly can. As a result, some of his extended dialogues (or should I say monologues) start to feel contrived, for example Mr Ashwood's discussions on politics and Sanjay's on "bling bling" economics. If you're trying to get through to disaffected nineteen year olds, you try to talk to them in their own language, not with verbose diatribe. And in infusing so much economics into the novel, one cant help but think that Malkani is using his book as a canvas on which to indulge his own passion for the subject!
These criticisms accounted for, it is the novel's sublime verve that is perhaps its greatest asset. It is what elevates the book into the realms of "excellent first effort" rather than "good effort". And it is sustained even though the novel deals with undoubtedly dark, sometimes depressing themes. This energy emanates from three things: Malkani's comic talent, evident in some hilarious dialogue throughout the book; his ability to set up his story at an electricfying tempo; and finally from happier aspects of the plot - sharp upturns in the otherwise rapidly descending gradient that represents Jas's fortunes. For example, when Jas gets a girlfriend and Arun stands up to his mum, the reader delights. Both have tragic consequences, in the same way as perhaps the lives of these youths are spiralling forever downwards - but fleeting moments of happiness make them worth living.
The novel's shocking twist is its piece de la resistance, but not its sine qua non. Nonetheless, I'd be lying if I denied that it made me scan the book again see if there were any blatant clues I missed out on.
It is a courageous man who not only chooses to write his very first novel in urban patois, but to tackle themes as difficult and in as original a manner as the ones on show here. Malkani pulls it all off very well. "Londonstani" is truely a bravura effort in the same way his dissertation probably struck his tutors as - original yet coruscating.
In the end I didnt just read "Londonstani", I devoured it. From the very first page, the book is delivered at a frantic pace; turning the pages fast enough to keep up with the storyline becomes a challenge in itself. The lives of the four young men central to the book - Hardjit, Amit, Ravi and Jas - may be macabre, misogynistic and vexatious; but they are never dull. Galvanised by their confrontational but compelling leader Hardjit, and by their desire for material success, the group's taste for hedonism informs their daily lives. Survival in the urban jungle is about marking out territory, brutalising competitors, and doing whatever it takes to get bread (and a little bit extra) on the table. What distinguishes these men from Brooklyn mafiosi is that they are nineteen-years old, have A-Level retakes to sit and are forever under the all-seeing eyes of their pushy parents. Throw into the mix a twisted sense of familial and religious duty and you have a group dynamic where its okay to carry out an illegal mobile phone racket while being served pakoras by Hardjit's mum; to gawp at a beautiful girl but then admonish yourself when you realise she isn't your creed; to turn up to fights late because you're buying pantyliners for your mum. Confused? Mr Ashwood, their former teacher, certainly likes to depict them this way, but in many ways, the crew are fully attuned to the inherent complexities of their lives. Studying politics wont get them anywhere; illegal phone racketeering, on the other hand, brings the instant reward of hard cash: the only legitimate songsheet in a world that dances to the tune of bling-bling economics.
All in all, "Londonstani" speaks about many things: the emergence of an aggressive masculinity in young adults as a reaction against their submissive fathers; the folly of acting in concert with individuals whose fundamental views you disagree with; the danger of acting on personal belief when it runs against a powerful group dynamic. These are not unfamiliar themes; what makes the book so penetrative, however, is the tools it uses to present and dissect them. For probably the first time in popular contemporary literature, we are given an insight into these themes as they apply in Asian rudeboy culture. To capture this, Malkani writes in a unique prose that combines Asian slang, Black slang, text message language and Punjabi. Though this is surprising initially, the reader gets used to it very quickly, and, in terms of linguistic accuracy, it is spot-on. Scatalogy is necessary only because it is reflective of reality.
The writing is not without fault, however. At times, one senses the author succumbing to his own frustration at choosing to write entirely within the confines of urban slang. Writing in vernacular means that Malkani is not given the chance to wax lyrical in the manner that a talented journalist such as him undoubtedly can. As a result, some of his extended dialogues (or should I say monologues) start to feel contrived, for example Mr Ashwood's discussions on politics and Sanjay's on "bling bling" economics. If you're trying to get through to disaffected nineteen year olds, you try to talk to them in their own language, not with verbose diatribe. And in infusing so much economics into the novel, one cant help but think that Malkani is using his book as a canvas on which to indulge his own passion for the subject!
These criticisms accounted for, it is the novel's sublime verve that is perhaps its greatest asset. It is what elevates the book into the realms of "excellent first effort" rather than "good effort". And it is sustained even though the novel deals with undoubtedly dark, sometimes depressing themes. This energy emanates from three things: Malkani's comic talent, evident in some hilarious dialogue throughout the book; his ability to set up his story at an electricfying tempo; and finally from happier aspects of the plot - sharp upturns in the otherwise rapidly descending gradient that represents Jas's fortunes. For example, when Jas gets a girlfriend and Arun stands up to his mum, the reader delights. Both have tragic consequences, in the same way as perhaps the lives of these youths are spiralling forever downwards - but fleeting moments of happiness make them worth living.
The novel's shocking twist is its piece de la resistance, but not its sine qua non. Nonetheless, I'd be lying if I denied that it made me scan the book again see if there were any blatant clues I missed out on.
It is a courageous man who not only chooses to write his very first novel in urban patois, but to tackle themes as difficult and in as original a manner as the ones on show here. Malkani pulls it all off very well. "Londonstani" is truely a bravura effort in the same way his dissertation probably struck his tutors as - original yet coruscating.
