Caroline Moore
Among the Members of a Quartet
Vikram Seth ought to have won the Booker Prize in 1993 - or so most of those who have read A Suitable Boy will surely agree. It gives a superb portrait of a whole nation in a time of political, social and cultural turmoil; but it is for the human portraits that it will be loved and remembered. Mrs Rupa Mehra, the lachrymose, exasperating, transparently manipulative and infinitely touching mother, who is seeking a suitable boy as a husband for her daughter Lata, is a glorious comic creation.
Readers who expect - or hope and long for – the same panoramic sweep in An Equal Music will be disappointed. Wisely, perhaps, Seth has avoided repetition. His new novel is set mainly in England: his hero is from unexotic Rochdale (which makes 'people in London smile, as if the
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'This is one of the most engaging cold-case novels I have read.'
@NJCooper_crime reviews novels by @sarah_hilary, @erskine_fiona, @aadhand, @claremackint0sh, @imranmahmood777, @NancyCNTucker, @josephknox__, @SlaughterKarin, @T_J_Newman & @Egan_Hughes.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/june-2021-crime-round-up
'Here Rogers’s focus is upon the protracted, often puerile fight between the hardened Grub Street professional and a thin-skinned, unforgiving writer.'
Freya Johnston on the time Alexander Pope took on Grub Street.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-writers-revenge
'If a Cuskian invention embarrasses herself, it is her own fault; Cusk has given her the rope and she has hung herself with it. And with this dignity comes a kind of freedom.'
@mmpopkey weighs up Rachel Cusk's 'Second Place'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/finding-freedom