May 1, 2004
The e-mail says "Hi, I saw this and thought of you. Check it out." When the attachment, Leela.exe, is opened, a radiant image of 21-year-old Bollywood starlet Leela Zahir dances on the screen. Meanwhile, behind the scenes in the guts of the computer, a nasty virus takes root. Arjun Mehta, the timid, unlucky antihero of Kunzru's newest witty and wicked creation (after The Impressionist), released the virus in a desperate attempt to regain his job at a global securities company. Instead, his creation ends up causing billions of dollars in damages and disrupting the lives of young British entrepreneur Guy Swift, his glamorous girlfriend Gabriella and the actual starlet, Leela Zahir. It's often the kiss of death to have an author narrate his or her own audiobook--not so in Kunzru's case. His reading is strong, yet subtle. Although he does not give each of his complex characters their own identifiable voice (except when a character hails from a different country), he makes up for that fact with his dramatic prowess. Each line of dialogue is not read so much as spoken, with all the inflection and emotional impact that a talented actor would convey. This is a thrilling audio experience and an intelligent look at contemporary culture gone awry.
Starred review from May 3, 2004
With this taut and entertaining novel, London native Kunzru paints a satirized but unsettlingly familiar tableau, in which his alienated characters communicate via e-mail jokes and emote through pop culture, all the while dreaming of frothy lattes and designer labels. Arjun Mehta is an Indian computer programmer and Bollywood buff who comes to the U.S. with big dreams, but finds neither the dashing romance nor the heroic ending of his favorite movies—just a series of crushing disappointments. When he is told he will lose his job at the global security software company and thus may have to return to India, Arjun develops and secretly releases a nasty computer virus, hoping that he can impress his boss into hiring him back when he "finds" the cure. Arjun's desperate measures are, of course, far reaching, eventually affecting the lives of Guy Swift, an English new money entrepreneur; his girlfriend, Gabriella; and the young Indian movie star Leela Zahir. Kunzru weaves their narratives adroitly, finding humor and pathos in his misguided characters, all the while nipping savagely at consumer culture and the executives who believe in "the emotional magma that wells from the core of planet brand." While Guy Swift creates a marketing campaign for border police that imagines Europe as an "upscale, exclusive continent," Arjun Mehta is fighting to keep his scrap of the American dream. Kunzru's first novel, The Impressionist
, was received enthusiastically (it was shortlisted for numerous awards, and won quite a few others, including the Somerset Maugham Award), and this follow-up will not disappoint fans of his stirring social commentary. Agent, Emma Parry
. (June)
Forecast:
This second novel may not receive the barrage of coverage and buzz the first did (that would be nearly impossible), but sales should hold steady as readers discover that Kunzru is no one-hit wonder.