The Death of Vishnu
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A National Bestseller "Enchanting…Suri’s novel achieves an eerie and memorable transcendence." —Time In Manil Suri’s debut novel, Vishnu, the odd-job man, lies dying on the staircase of an apartment building while around him unfold the lives of its inhabitants: warring housewives, lovesick teenagers, a grieving widower. In a fevered state, Vishnu looks back on his love affair with the seductive Padmini and wonders if he might actually be the god Vishnu, guardian of the entire universe.
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3 primary booksThe Hindu Gods
The Hindu Gods is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1998 with contributions by Manil Suri.
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On the steps of a Bombay apartment
Vishnu, a servant, a handyman, lays dying. The story shifts from
Vishnu's remembrances of the past to each of the apartment dwellers
and then to Vishnu's dying thoughts. Vishnu is ignored by the others
as much as possible, but becomes an embarrassment as his dying grows
more and more prolonged and more and more messy.
The book's strength, to me, was in its typically Indian focus on the
sensuality of life and the Indian casual acceptance of the horrors of
life.
