A Cut-like Wound by Anita Nair
It’s the first day of Ramadan in heat-soaked Bangalore. A young man begins to dress: makeup, a sari, and expensive pearl earrings. Before the mirror he is transformed into Bhuvana. She is a hijra, a transgender seeking love in the bazaars of the city. What Bhuvana wants, she nearly gets: a passing man is attracted to this elusive young woman-but someone points out that Bhuvana is no woman. For that, the interloper’s throat is cut.
A case for Inspector Borei Gowda, going to seed, and at odds with those around him including his wife, his colleagues, even the informers he must deal with. More corpses and Urmila, Gowda’s ex-flame, are added to this spicy concoction of a mystery novel.
“Nair writes big, brave descriptions of one brutal murder after the next, relentlessly describing each death even as sub-inspector Santosh loses his breakfast over them.” Time Out
“A confirmed detective fiction junkie, you hope the author hurries up with the next installment. It’s torture to wait two years for any man; it’s even worse if he’s as interesting as Inspector Borei Gowda.” Hindustan Times
The Author
Anita Nair lives in Bangalore and is a prize winning, internationally acclaimed author, playwright, essayist, lecturer and literary personality. Her novel Ladies Coupe, first published ten years ago, is a feminist classic published in thirty languages all over the world. The Daily Telegraph called it ‘one of the most important feminist novels to come out of India’.
The movie adaptation of her previous book, Lessons in Forgetting, has just won the Indian national award for the best feature film in English language. The Lilac House, another novel was critically acclaimed.
Review
I adored this book - so much so that I have already bought the next one in the series as I just need to find out what happens to the characters! For me it invokes a modern India since it is set in the tech hub of Bangalore but it also has that je nai se quois that gives India its charm. I swear I could smell the spices, the incense, the jasmine and sandalwood. Also more importantly the story was captivating, fast paced, funny at times, with characters that shone off the page. I am a Inspector Gowda convert.
The story in this book was sublime, complex and showed great empathy to a section of the Indian population which suffers from prejudice and violence. It must be so hard being transgender / hijra in any country but especially so in India. At times they are called upon to complete pujas and blessings but yet society keeps them on the edges, vilify and harm them. A good literary take on this is Arundhati Roy’s ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ which shows their situation. However, Anita kept me guessing right till the end about whether this was even going to be a factor or if it was all just misdirection. I knew it was one of two people, as I’m sure the author was wanting you to think, but I just didn’t know which one it was! Anita impressed me by showing that there is corruption throughout the Indian system but also showing that not everyone agrees with it. Gowda strikes me as someone who would rather die than take a bribe!
I liked how we also got two of the most honest Indian policemen ever! Gowda was a great character. There was layers to him but although he drank and was lonely it was a cliche somehow. It hadn’t got to the level in which some lead detectives are depicted and I love how we have maybe seen him either just before he falls or just before he regroups and recoups! I adored Santosh. I can just picture him as not having a hair or button out of place, being able to recite all the laws and wanting to absorb all the experience he is getting under Gowda’s tutelage. I think this is a relationship that I am going to love.
So basically in a nutshell you NEED to buy this book and then spread the word about this series to all your bookish friends! So go on… wait are you waiting for!
