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| RESPONSE |
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"Never
been on such an emotional roller coaster. Thanks
for giving me such a great time. May your efforts
continue to be touched by magic."
Naseerudin Shah |
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Alchemy
is not a literary fiction. It is a force of
nature. It soars above all competition.
Mikel Dunham |
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“Just
finished reading Alchemy… what a masterpiece…
hope you live another story so you can write it.
Anuradha
Mahindra |
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I
just finished your book and think it’s absolutely
wonderful. Enjoyed every page. It will live with
me for a long, long time…
Prabuddha Dasgupta |
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Alchemy
has broken new ground without any doubt. The first
rankers of Indian writing Seth, Ghosh and Pankaj
will have to pause awhile
and ponder. Alchemy has pushed them all to the sides
I believe. In its vaulting ambition, in its turning
around of English usage, in the grand swathe that
it cuts, in its endearing candour, in its enthralling
prose, in its understanding of life, in the partaking
of larger philosophies, in going where angels feared
to tread, in all that it is a landmark work.
Binoo K John |
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“Just
finished reading your book. Brilliant. Original
and great writing. Lets meet when I get back from
Mumbai next week.”
Ramesh Sharma |
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The
Alchemy of Desire
Greek Edition
Paperback 2007 Edition |
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The
Alchemy of Desire
Spanish Edition
Paperback 2007 Edition |
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The
Alchemy of Desire
Polish Edition
Paperback 2007 Edition |
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The
Alchemy of Desire
U.S. Edition
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The
Alchemy of Desire
India Edition
Paperback 2006 Edition |
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The
Alchemy of Desire
Italian Edition
Garzanti (Italy) |
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The
Alchemy of Desire
India Edition
HarperCollins (India) |
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The
Alchemy of Desire
Picador (UK)
Paperback 2006 Edition |
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The
Alchemy of Desire
French Edition
Buchet/Chastel |
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The
Alchemy of Desire
International Edition
Picador (UK) |
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"A
bold, sensual novel about art, inspiration and the disintegration
of a relationship...Tejpal's writing is unpredictable yet
strikingly disciplined, and his explorations of matters physical
and spiritual point out often painful truths." |
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| WASHINGTON
POST |
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"Amid
the endless cascade of semi-genuine Indian novels by Indian
Americans comes the real thing, The Alchemy of Desire, a kaleidoscopic
first novel by a top Indian journalist, erotically rooted
in the country." |
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| PHILADELPHIA
INQUIRER |
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"Sizzling,
sultry ... all right, sexy: Tarun J. Tejpal's The Alchemy
of Desire has knocked 'em dead in the rest of the English-speaking
world and is now singeing eyebrows in the USA." |
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| SANDIEGO.COM
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"Tejpal
ties the reader into a sordid tale of murderous intrigue that
draws to an apt conclusion. The novel is, to use a cliche,
thrillerlike in its breathless pace. Tejpal's narrator is
the portrait of an artist as the solitary reaper of grim destinies
and difficult emotions. That alone ensures that the reader
will connect with him at a deeply personal level." |
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| PHILLY.COM
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"In
The Alchemy of Desire, New Delhi-based journalist Tarun J.
Tejpal has written a stunningly original novel."
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| THE
TENNESSEAN |
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"A
fascinating analysis of 20th century India, a painfully accurate
study of a writer in the writerly anguish of trying to write,
and an endless Scheherazadian weave of stories-within-stories-within-stories
— all in engaging and colorful prose, a literary crazy
quilt of love, family, culture, politics and history." |
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|
LA TIMES |
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‘Engaging
and astute: he turns a clear eye on the social and political
quirks, inequalities and contradictions of modern India…
a lively and persistently entertaining novel’ |
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| LITERARY
REVIEW |
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‘Tejpal
explores women’s desire with rare intelligence and sensitivity.
The reader, spellbound, is never turned into a voyeur, but
is caught up in this Indian magician’s stunning prose’ |
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| PSYCHOLOGIES
MAGAZINE
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‘He
has a compassionate eye and an instinctive understanding of
the underprivileged, the simple and the dispossessed. The
wretchedness of ordinary people’s is well caught, the
tragedies, the telling detail and the convulsive changes the
subcontinent has suffered over the past 60 years’ |
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| SPECTATOR |
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‘Throughout
the novel, Tejpal’s sensuous language produces moments
of breathtaking beauty, and he displays a poet’s joy
in catching the feel, odour and appearance of the living world’ |
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| BIG
ISSUE |
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‘A
startling work of Nabokovian fiction’ |
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| HINDU |
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‘One
of the most attractive Indian writers in English of his generation,
he writes with a great deal of raw energy, inventively employing
images which are at once sad, haunting, horrendously comic
and beautiful’ |
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| TIMES
LITERARY SUPPLEMENT |
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‘This
Indian masterpiece is like a voyage down the Ganges, long
and infinitely pleasurable; the only thing that worries you
is getting to the end too soon’ |
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| FIGARO |
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‘A
lyrical and highly erotic love story’ |
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| THE
MAIL ON SUNDAY |
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'At
last - a new and brilliantly original novel from India' |
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| V.S.
NAIPAUL
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"The
Alchemy of Desire puts Tarun Tejpal in the front rank of Indian
novelists... I am inclined to agree with Naipaul: Tejpal has
turned out a masterpiece. It is a novel that must be read." |
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| KHUSHWANT
SINGH |
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'Those
two journalists, Hemingway and Marquez, will be proud of their
tribesman Tarun Tejpal' |
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| PAUL
ZACHARIA |
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"Tarun
Tejpal is a hormonally-fuelled writer obsessed with the act
of creation in its widest sense,...avoiding cliché
or off-putting gynaecological detail, Tejpal beats an erotic
path through the depths of human desire: sexual, artistic,
political...
a memorable and impressive debut." |
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| THE
SUNDAY TIMES |
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The
Alchemy of Desire is anything but safe. One of its most soaring
notes is its exploration of passion... The novel details intimate
relationships with few missteps, without reducing them to
voyeuristic fodder. The passion in the novel is deeply organic
to the characters and the narrative. As an attempt to compel
readers to look at desire without the crippling impulse of
shame and hypocrisy, it works beautifully. In many ways, the
novel is like the man himself: gritty, unrestrained yet bound
by a personal code of honour. |
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| THE
INDEPENDENT |
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"It’s rich sexuality lifts this work way, way above
the ordinary. Rare is the Indian writer in English who has
ventured thus far with the language, force, imagery and originality...Tejpal
is audacious as would be those who venture to assault the
Himalayas...there are echoes of Nabokov, shades of Henry Miller
and Philip Roth; and, influences of Rushdie and Jim Corbett.
None of which diminish the originality of a novel that is,
paradoxically, as exciting as it is a pleasure." |
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| THE
TRIBUNE |
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INDIA TODAY |
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"The
Alchemy of Desire would have been significant even without
Naipaul's endorsement...it is an ambitious novel: it not only
attempts to encompass much of contemporary India, it also
forays into colonial territory... it has much that is admirable...In
the first half, the novel is at its strongest when it inscribes
the diurnal rhythms of the narrator's life: conversations
with an elderly servant over chai, spare bachelor flats in
Delhi, whiskey talk, highway vignettes, the tragic unraveling
of a (Sikh-Muslim) marriage. In the second half, it assumes
the urgency of a thriller ... Throughout, it reveals Tejpal's
eye for characterisation and description."
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THE GUARDIAN |
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The
Alchemy of Desire is a bold book..and at times when you least
expect it, a funny book. This is also a book about women.
Extremely strong women. Fiza, Bibi Lahori and Catherine are
the kind of characters you would want to meet in real life.
The kind of women you could promptly fall passionately in
love with. This is an immensely ambitious novel that manages
to stay afloat despite the many twists and turns that could
easily drag a lesser work down. Spread across five parts --
each capable of being a vibrant novella -- this is a story
about the spirit of desire implicit in each of us. In a little
over 200,000 words, Tejpal manages to encompass whole lives,
along with the galaxies of emotion contained therein. |
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| REDIFF.COM |
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