Choice

February 5, 2024
Mukherjee (The Lives of Others) offers a diffuse novel in three parts, each tangentially linked by their protagonists’ negotiation of moral quandaries. The first section portrays London book editor Ayush as his depression pushes him toward a mental breakdown. He shows his five-year-old twins a video of pigs being slaughtered in lieu of a bedtime story, having gotten the idea they should know where meat comes from. The second section comprises a story by one of Ayush’s authors, about a bored academic named Emily, whose London ride share driver gets in an accident. The details are fuzzy to Emily, but she’s concerned she was involved in a hit-and-run. She tracks down the driver, but after learning he’s an Eritrean refugee, she has second thoughts about reporting the incident. The third section, set in rural India, is based on an anecdote Anush hears at a party about the gift of a cow to a poor family, which inadvertently sets into motion a series of events that leaves the family in ruin. Rote ruminations about the shortcomings of contemporary publishing and academia bog things down, and while Mukherjee exhaustively explores the gray areas inhabited by his characters, the three narratives don’t quite hang together. This doesn’t reach the heights of the author’s previous work.

October 1, 2024

Mukherjee's (A State of Freedom) latest novel challenges listeners with three interlinked stories (each with a different narrator) about people constrained by postcolonial neoliberalism yet still seeking individual agency. Publisher Ayush chafes against the profits-over-art mindset at his small literary press in London and starts an ideological tug-of-war with his economist husband over their twins' upbringing. Narrator Antonio Aakeel's crisp, clear enunciation and reflective tone embody Ayush's education and idealism; his enhancement of Ayush's idiosyncrasies stays with listeners, through hand-offs to two additional skilled narrators. In Part II, Sofia Engstrand's performance of an anonymously authored short story from a collection Ayush publishes is engrossing but contains some noticeable splices. Engstrand employs class-distinct accents as a niche scholar whose career takes a turn after an accident causes her to question the choices available to her. In Part III, Shaheen Khan narrates with escalating anger and confusion as a cow gifted to a mother in rural India (a donation meant to generate wealth for her family) forces her to make drastic accommodations. The economic experiment relates back to a colleague of Ayush's husband, a pointed critique of free-market altruism and global connectedness. VERDICT Poignant, thoughtful, and tough, this literary novel makes an impact.--Lauren Kage

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