Animal's People - Couverture souple

Sinha, Indra

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1416526277 ISBN 13 : 9781416526278

Editeur : Simon & Schuster, 2008

Synopsis

Rare Book

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

‘Sinha’s Booker-shortlisted latest boasts a grabby premise and a colourful supporting cast’
Evening Standard 21/1
‘Animal's transformation from brutish beggar to human being is magnificently persuasive... Bitterly funny and fabulous in the strictest sense, Animal’s People uplifts’
Independent on Sunday 27/1
‘Taking its cue from the 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster; this accomplished novel muses on what makes us human, while painting a lusty portrait of contemporary India’
Daily Mail 1/2
‘A compellingly humane piece of story telling that keeps you gripped right through to its explosive ending’
Asiana Magazine Dec issue
‘The rank outsider on last year’s Man Booker shortlist, Indra Sinha’s novel may have missed out on the prize, but in terms of sheer originality it ought to have romped home...Sinah stirs up a gripping ethical drama...but it’s Animal who provides the book’s distinctive voice, pungently authentic, shockingly foul-mouthed and wickedly funny'
Guardian 2/2
'The tragic backcloth to Sinha’s Man Booker-shortlisted novel is unmistakable: the 1984 toxic-gas leak in Bhopal, India, that left a terrible legacy of death and deformity. The author measures the fictional disaster’s aftershock through the consciousness of one its victims, a quick-witted, potty-mouthed and likeably lustful young man whose hideously warped spine has forced him to go around on all fours...the action builds to a feverishly powerful finale’
Sunday Times 28/1
‘What Animal lacks in physical agility...he makes up for in verbal skill: his narrative is an acrobatic, anarchic and filthy delight... Indra Sinah’s novel amply deserved its place on last year’s Man Booker shortlist: both bristling and warm, it is an exhilarating read’
Telegraph 2/2
'The parallels with the infamous Bhopal tragedy could not be clearer and give an angry edge to the writing. But there is humour as well as pathos in this elegantly written parable, shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize. Indra Sinha has found a convincingly plangent voice in which to tell his unusual tale’
Seven, Sunday Telegraph 27/1
'An extraordinary acheivement ... Sinha fends off all condescension with the salty and scabrous urchin's voice - a virtuoso compound of Irvine Welsh and Salman Rushdie - that he crafts for the bitter hero ... Yet, for all its surface profanity, ANIMAL'S PEOPLE mingles sentiment with its savagery' Boyd Tonkin, INDEPENDENT
'This novel has qualities of its own: a glorious sense of humour and, in the second half, a shattering punch ... As calamity looms, Sinha's lyrical story touches on universal truths about suffering and resilience' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'At its best, Sinha's writing is a blade gleaming in the moonlight. And the novel, for all its pain, is a work of profound humanity' GUARDIAN
‘From the arresting opening line of Indra Sinha’s second novel (“I used to be human once”), the voice of Animal, the narrator, leaps out to grab you by the throat. Bawdy, irreverent and smart, Animal’s compelling vernacular, with its mangled, Yoda-like syntax, conjures up the colour, cruelty and camaraderie of life in the Indian city of Khaufpur... Animal’s People – part coming-of-age Bildungsroman, part vicious critique of corporate terrorism – is a bold and punchy tale’
New Statesman 26/2

'Every now and then you come across a novel so honest that it leaves you gasping for breath -- like a blow to the solar plexus. The emotion is raw, the story honest and the language simply that of the people. You know that once you start reading it will break your heart and yet you keep turning the pages because the story has to be told' INDIAN EXPRESS
'A dark and ambitious book. Like poisoned gas, it grabs you by the throat and sears your insides' OUTLOOK (New Delhi)
‘Dark, unsentimental work inspired by the stories of survivors of the Bhopal disaster, narrated by the bleakly humorous 19-year-old Animal’
Observer 12/8
‘[Sinha’s] conjuring of a shanty-town feels utterly authentic... Sinha’s lyrical story touches on universal truths about suffering and resilience'
Daily Telegraph 18/8
‘An extraordinary achievement... Sinha fends off all condescension with the salty and scabrous urchin’s voice – a virtuoso compound of Irvine Welsh and Salman Rushdie – that he crafts for the bitter hero’
Boyd Tonkin ‘A Week in Books’, Independent 17/8
‘Set in a thinly disguised Bhopal, 15 years after the Union Carbide plant explosion, which killed 3,000 people immediately and perhaps 20,000 over time. Sinha has in fact created a new city – Khaufpur, roughly translatable as “city of fear” – complete with its own highly plausible website at www.khaufpur.com...Sinha’s is a powerful fantasy. The plot is woven around the post-explosion court cases and attempts to hold the company to account’ Financial Times 22/8
‘It explores the really big issues – justice, equality, the nature of humanity – and does not once flinch from what it discovers’ Observer 2/9
‘The last 100 pages...have a gathering tension and power that are quite extraordinary. At its best, Sinha’s writing is a blade gleaming in the moonlight. And the novel, for all its pain, is a work of profound humanity’ Guardian 15/9
‘Clearly draws from real life events in Bhopal, but is a sustained imaginative creation in its own right’, The Times, 7/9
‘Move over Salman’, Two-page interview, Guardian 26/9
‘It is language that is the real hero of this Man Booker-shortlisted novel. The polyglot Animal communicates in an exhilarating torrent of words, a riddling rush of English, French, Hindi, poems, puns, scatologically inflected taunts and curses. His own uncanny ability to hear the thoughts of all creatures gives speech to insects, unborn foetuses and the dead. The effect is glorious. If the status of our humanity depends on our ability to communicate, then Animal’s tongue belies the name he bears. At once playful, pitiless and moving, Animals People stands as a testament to the courage and resilience of India’s poor’
TLS 19/10
'Another Man Booker-shortlisted novel trumped even Enright in the art of plucking literary pleasure out of human pain. Indra Sinha's astonishing Animal's People gave the Bhopal gas disaster of 1984 the artistic monument it has long deserved through the salty, scabrous monologue of the survivor-hero "Animal".'
Independent Christmas Books Special 30/11
‘Clever, sly and harrowing account of the Bhopal disaster told through the eyes of a crippled 19-year-old Hindu boy. Unbelievably verbally adept, this is one of the best contemporary Indian novels out there’
Tatler Magazine Dec issue
‘The nightmare of living in the aftermath of a chemical accident is brought vividly to life through the eyes of a boy in this powerful, original tale’
ABTA Magazine Nov issue
‘An interesting and moving read’
Readers’ books of the year, Guardian 29/12
“I was absolutely bowled over by [Animal’s People]. It is brilliant. In the narrator, Animal, Sinha's created a character who's as original and memorable in his own way as Holden Caulfield—funny, profane, witty, touching and immensely appealing. Not only is it a wonderful story, but it brings up the unresolved issue of the Bhopal disaster, which is extremely timely now, given renewed interest in ecological issues and the always compelling struggle between big corporations and helpless individuals.”
—John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
“Animal's People is raw, furious, and utterly compelling. Indra Sinha is a brave writer, and he's produced a novel of great power.”
—Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist
‘Sinha’s Booker-shortlisted latest boasts a grabby premise and a colourful supporting cast. It’s just a shame that our hero, though a cinch to pity, is quite so tough to like’ Evening Standard 21/1
‘Bitterly funny and fabulous in the strictest sense, Animal’s People uplifts even when it totters’ Independent on Sunday 27/1
‘Taking its cue from the 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster; this accomplished novel muses on what makes us human, while painting a lusty portrait of contemporary India’ Daily Mail 1/2
‘A compellingly humane piece of story telling that keeps you gripped right through to its explosive ending’ Asiana Magazine Dec issue
‘The rank outsider on last year’s Man Booker shortlist, Indra Sinha’s novel may have missed out on the prize, but in terms of sheer originality it ought to have romped home...Sinah stirs up a gripping ethical drama...but it’s Animal who provides the book’s distinctive voice, pungently authentic, shockingly foul-mouthed and wickedly funny: "Is it kind to remind me that I used to walk upright? No one leans down and tenderly reassures the turd lying in the dust, ‘you still resemble the kebab you once were"' Guardian 2/2
'The tragic backcloth to Sinha’s Man Booker-shortlisted novel is unmistakable: the 1984 toxic-gas leak in Bhopal, India, that left a terrible legacy of death and deformity. The author measures the fictional disaster’s aftershock through the consciousness of one its victims, a quick-witted, potty-mouthed and likeably lustful young man whose hideously warped spine has forced him to go around on all fours...the action builds to a feverishly powerful finale’ Sunday Times 28/1
‘What Animal lacks in physical agility...he makes up for in verbal skill: his narrative is an acrobatic, anarchic and filthy delight. Shunning pity he suffers chiefly due to his “lund”, an impressively-sized (and often humiliatingly upright) penis. Indra Sinah’s novel amply deserved its place on last year’s Man Booker shortlist: both bristling and warm, it is an exhilarating read’ Telegraph 2/2
'There is humour as well as pathos in this elegantly written parable, shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize’ Sunday Telegraph 27/1
‘A colourful supporting cast’ Evening Standard

Quatrième de couverture :

'I used to be human once. So I'm told. I don't remember it myself, but people who knew me when I was small say I walked on two feet just like a human being . . .'
Ever since he can remember, Animal has gone on all fours, the catastrophic result of what happened on That Night when, thanks to an American chemical company, the Apocalypse visited his slum. Now, not yet twenty, he leads a hand-to-mouth existence with his dog Jara and a crazy old nun called Ma Franci, and spends his nights wondering what it must be like to get laid.
When a young American doctor, Elli Barber, comes to town to open up a free clinic, Animal plunges into a web of intrigues, scams and plots with the unabashed aim of turning events to his own advantage. Compellingly honest and entirely without self-pity, Animal lights up our journey into his dark world with flashes of pure joy.
Animal's People is a stunningly humane work of storytelling that takes us right to the heart of contemporary India.
'Part coming of age Bildungsroman, part vicious critique of corporate terrorism, Animal's People is a bold and punchy tale' New Statesman
'Every now and then, you come across a novel so honest that it leaves you gasping for breath' Indian Express

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Simon & Schuster
• Date d'édition: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1416526277
• ISBN 13: 9781416526278
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 384