—Book Review— Title: Age of Vice Author: Deepti Kapoor Publisher: Riverhead Books @riverheadbooks Genre: Literary Crime Mystery
“Nothing is the same. There’s ringing in his ears. He tries to let it go. But he can’t clear the sound. He can’t shake the image. The cockroach a messenger, a portal. And now a chord connects him to the child he once was. Time and space folded over, as if to erase the life in between.”
Age of Vice was THEE book of January! And for good reason. Author Deepti Kapoor’s writing is brilliant. This book reads like a screenplay and I think it is going to translate well when FX produces it. BUT BUT . . . you knew that was coming. For me personally, I had a hard time looking past all the violence in this book. And, I think I got a little lost in the length of it too. Now, keep in mind this is a trilogy so I’m sure there is a method to the madness and every single nook and cranny was being set up for something in the future.
The other issue, I think, is the marketing of this book. I went into this thinking it was ‘Literary Fiction’ because that is what @bookofthemonth listed it as where I purchased it from. And I can see the literary aspects. Coupled with the authors beautiful writing, one of her main motivations she had in this story was to explore the Indian Caste System. And she does a great job with this through three characters POV (A servant, a rich mafia son and female journalist from a privileged family) and a non-linear timeline. But at the end of the day, I think at its core, this is more of a ‘Crime Noir’ with some mystery book.
“They want me to have a beautiful surface and be rotten to the core, like they are.”
@bookfriendsbookclub had a wonderful discussion 2 weeks ago and will be meeting with the author on the 15th of February to discuss the novel further. WE ARE SO EXCITED!
Rating: undecided. 🤷♀️ Like I said there is a lot to love in this novel, but I hated the violence and I’m a big baby about long books! Thank goodness I was able to listen a ALC copy through @librofm + @ The audio is narrated by Vidish Athavale who did an outstanding job. I felt immersed in the streets of Delhi. My only quibble is with this level of success I think it should be a full cast narration!
“No one ever gets it back. Life just runs away from you. It never comes back, however hard you try, however much you want it to. This is the less you should know. You have to adapt or die.”
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