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I 'write a little everyday, without hope, without despair' as per Isak Dinesen. I like to get the writing done quickly so I can go out to grow veg and play tennis.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

A Suitable Boy

by Vikram Seth

I'm re-reading it, and its magic is taking hold all over again. Deceptively simple language; the narrative voice seductively takes my hand and leads me through door after door in a maze opening into rooms filled with delectable treasures as acsessible as the touch and handle objects in a children's museum.

Reading his interviews, one learns that Seth spent the better part of a decade labouring on each sentence of his 1349 page saga, refining and refining till it flowed as easily as a merry brook.

He returned to his parents' home to write the book and spent most of his thirties there. Like a baby returning to its mother's womb to begin the process of labour all over again to be born anew. Kinda gross I know, but that's what it feels like. Can't wait to count ten fingers and ten toes and lie back with exhausted relief.