New Delhi: Kiran Desai looks younger than you'd expect. She's also been writing for longer than you'd expect.
Daughter of renowned author Anita Desai, she has put seven years into her latest book The Inheritance of Loss.
When asked about how she felt on release of her novel, Kiran says, "Great relief, after seven years, that's the major emotion I'm feeling."
Kiran started working on The Inheritance of Loss soon after she published her first novel, Hullabaloo in a Guava Orchard.
Her writing is clever, pacey and topical. Her book deals with insurgency at the foot of the Himalayas and also class wars in the Big Apple.
"She writes a quiet, humorous, beautiful prose, she creates these interesting characters in the kitchens of New York or Harlem, on the streets. It'll be interesting to see what she does with it," says author Rana Dasgupta.
"It's a challenge that she's set herself to talk about huge issues of violence and migration through a number of small characters," Dasgupta adds.
And it's also a challenge to prove herself.
Author Anurag Mathur agrees: "It's good that a young person like this has the confidence to write. You know we shouldn't have expectations that are too high, but nonetheless, it's a good thing she has the confidence to do it."
We caught up with Kiran Desai before the launch and while she laughs off the most obvious question on her mother's legacy, she admits that mommy dear plays the critic.
"It had been six or seven years of work and she was my first reader. And I was terrified, of course, for seven years no one had seen it. And I think she was terrified as well, imagine having to break the news that this doesn't work. I think we spent a week in complete terror. She was really wonderful," she reminisces.
And while it may have been years in the making, it certainly looks like Kiran has created quite a buzz with her latest book.
Comments
0 comment