Animal's People

• Unsentimental and free from any sensationalism, Sinha opens up an entirely new perspective through his young protagonist on a victim who vehemently refuses to accept that role, the reviewer praises. She is above all fascinated by the language, distinguished by streetwise slang, skewed syntax, and insertions of Hindustani and French.

• This is my kind of book, written from the heart. It makes me feel empathy towards the main character and narrator, Animal, but it does not make me think any less of him. He is honest, direct and hilarious at times. Very well written and highly entertaining, particularly when you start reading in to the second chapter. The author is talented and the language used is excellent and, at times, quite shocking.

• I loved the story telling of this book, Indra made the rimmagination of Bhopal as Khaufpur alive. It felt like the city itself was the protagonist. Animal's character was pf a grey protagonist and Zafar Bhai was inspiring to say the least.

• Animal’s voice—a mélange of grit, pointed social criticism, profanity and lust—brings to life what could have become a tendentious parable, and his struggles personalize the novel’s grand themes of secrecy, betrayal and unexpected acts of love and kindness. Sinha balances big issues with an intimate depiction of life at its bleakest.

• Animal's language draws on the Hindi-English patois of the basti and the cinema (the English is as mangled as his spinal cord); it is scabrous and pungently scatological, though never without humor, and utterly compelling. The lyricism, strange syntax, and urgency in Animal's sentences seem to translate themselves, and his voice, at once furious and spicy, flows forth in a cataract.

1 / 5