chapters.indigo.ca: Silent Raga: Ameen Merchant: Books

About this Book

Format:Hardcover

Dimensions:400 Pages, 6 x 9 x 1.37 in

Published:August 23, 2007

Publisher:Douglas & McIntyre

The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10:1553653092
ISBN - 13:9781553653097

From the Publisher

In the literary tradition of Rohinton Mistry and Arundhati Roy, this ambitious debut novel is a moving tale of family, tradition, loss and reconciliation.

Meet Janaki and Mallika, two sisters from a middle-class Brahmin family in Madras, India. Janaki is a musical prodigy, sublimely gifted on the veena, but will soon be eighteen and dreads her aunt's schemes for an arranged marriage. Eschewing tradition, she runs off with a Muslim Bollywood star. Years later, Mallika receives a letter from Janaki, who is returning to Madras.

In confident prose that resembles the rhythms and progression of an Indian raga, Ameen Merchant captures in rich detail the world of these Brahmin women, a world restricted by caste and cultural rules but also teeming with colour, music and food. It is a story about the traditions that bind us and the sacrifices we must make along the road to our own Individual destinies.

About the Author

Ameen Merchant was born in Bombay and raised in Madras, India. The Silent Raga is his first novel. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he is working on his next novel and programming a new Bollywood audio channel called Chowpatty Beach for the CBC.

From the Critics

"In crafting his epic-from Madras to Bombay-Ameen Merchant draws on countless aspects of South Asia's impossibly rich culture: consumerism, fashion, Bollywood, Hinduism, Islam and especially music and cooking, both seen through the recurring image of a roaring fire, both creator and destroyer. Middle-class Brahmin life of the 1970s and '80s, with all of its celebrations, joy, drudgery and death, is depicted exquisitely; you'll laugh, cry, your mouth will water and you'll clench your fists with rage, but most importantly you'll become intimately acquainted with the sisters Janaki and Mallika Venkatakrishnan, two heroines of quiet dignity and enduring love. Through them, The Silent Raga resonates to the heavens."
- Adam Lewis Schroeder, author of Empress of Asia

"Atmospheric panache, sharply rendered and memorable… strange and Powerful… present to all the senses." - Jim Brantley, The Globe and Mail "This is a gem of a novel… a richly painted tale… "Can the film be far behind? - The Toronto Star "Merchant's words verge on pure poetry… richly textured and satisfying read (The Silent Raga) would do Charles Dickens proud." - The Canadian Immigrant Magazine "Everything is delicious in this lively first novel." - More Magazine

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Reviews from the Community5 Reviews

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Shemina
- 1 person found this helpful
Absolutely Amazing!

8 months ago

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book – it is an amazing story that revolves around the relationship of 2 sisters. The author uses an incredible amount of detail to create vivid images in the mind of the reader. I had a hard time putting it down.
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Tandi Stone
- 2 people found this helpful
Excellent!

2 years ago

I was thoroughly absorbed and involved in the story right from the beginning. Intricate character development, easy to imagine and empathize with the various lives, their personalities, plights, joys, and relationships-both the obvious and hidden sides. With the author's ability to bring to life the settings vividly and in depth (without becoming too lengthy), it enhanced greatly the visual sense and overall enjoyment of the book...to feel the time of day, the sounds, lighting, tastes, smells… + read more
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Anil Patadé
- 3 people found this helpful
A most satisfying reading experience...

2 years ago

There is a musicality that permeates Ameen Merchant’s exquisite debut novel. Right from the name, The Silent Raga, (the Tamil Mounaragam is more eloquent, but would be meaningless to Western readers), to the way its chapters are structured after the various stages of a raga’s performance in recital, and the mellifluous prose they contain, and in the way certain sentences or words are repeated as a refrain, there is an inherent musicianship about the enterprise. Two skeins of intricately… + read more
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Steve D. B.
- 3 people found this helpful
Sensual and Intelligent

2 years ago

Two great qualities of this novel: one, the vitality of the characters, smart and passionate, and ensnared in a plot that is full of the play of fate and reality, feeling as familiar as one’s own life, however removed that life may be from theirs. Two, the sheer physical allure of the places and scenes. The description is never overdone, but this seems to be a book which can’t resist the sensuality of India itself. There is something about books about India…. It is as if images and… + read more
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- Chapters Employee
- 4 people found this helpful
What Happened to Janaki?

2 years ago

Apparently this is the question that inspired Merchant to write this book. But he leaves us to figure out whether or not Janaki (ie/ daughter of King Janak) refers to Sita the banished heroine of the Ramayana or some other Janaki he has encountered in his life. I for one can see many parallels between the story of Sita and that of Janaki in this novel. Both are 'defiled' by a mlecca or demon, both give birth to twins in their exile and both go on to live lives that are a mystery to those… + read more
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