The Book of Chocolate Saints
Jeet Thayil
Aleph
501 pages
Rs 799
Everything about poet Jeet Thayil’s latest novel is of monstrous proportions: Its scope and ambition, its canvas, and its subjects. A sort of follow-up on his previous, Booker-nominated Narcopolis, this one, deriving its name from the Bible, takes you back to Mr Thayil’s beloved Bombay (now Mumbai) and the seedy, soggy world of its poets, hustler, peddlers, artists, crazies, raconteurs, and provocateurs; the cacophony of their voices is accommodated between the beautifully designed covers of this thick volume. Some of the portraits in the book are real, including
