Review of The man who wanted to be God
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Zeref Nouzen
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- Latest Review: The man who wanted to be God by Ruchir Verma
Review of The man who wanted to be God
[Following is a volunteer review of "The man who wanted to be God" by Ruchir Verma.]
The Man Who Wanted to Be God is a thought-provoking novel by Ruchir Verma, gazing at the deep inner world of the main character, Daata Raam Srivastava, who is brutally torn between the conflicts inside and those outside in society. Having created this think-out-loud narrative, Verma's writing explains the feature of freedom and identity within a society that never lets go of the pressure from social decencies and traditional values. The writing is introspective and deep, with prose that will make it a page-turner in its entirety but will also slow down the pace in some parts of the story.
One of the strong suits of this novel must be the way Daata, the protagonist, is portrayed. Verma has been quite successful in putting into words the depth of his feelings, his struggles, and his search for meaning in such a way that the reader lives his experiences on a very personal level.
Daata is a well-developed character, concerned with the real problem and dreams which he works through in a life stuffed to the brim with obstacles toward self-discovery. His reflections and musings on freedom, identity, and self-worth form the core of the story and bring insightful commentary on how outside pressures could reduce one's drive to chase personal goals. Whereas Daata is an interesting and well-developed character, some of the secondary characters tend not to be developed as well. Family members and friends, those who should give more depth or contrast to the story of Daata himself, remain rather one-dimensional. This incompleteness in the secondary characters reduces the ability to add an emotional impact with which they interact with Daata. With more fleshed-out secondary characters, the story could have been taken even further, adding depth to Daata's relationships through various opinions on the themes that surround the axis of the novel.
What is more, apart from the characterization, the very structure of the novel poses some problems: the time jumps and storyline digressions do give a lot of added dimensions to the story but leave the plot somewhat disjointed. The constant time and perspective switches are really confusing and sometimes break the flow. This idea of telling may bring forth thoughts of Daata being very fragmented and complex. Still, for those who like following a straight story without any complications, this might turn them off. This is a very ambitious work dealing with great themes, such as the problem of freedom and identity, in a reflection-worthy way; it is deeply plunged into the struggle of an individual against the expectations which society places upon him. On the other side of the argument, the pace of the novel is slow, underdevelopment of supporting characters also plays its role, and sometimes confusing structure for readers. With great insight and such a memorable protagonist, these are narrative and structural issues that might make it less accessible to some readers. This novel would therefore get 3 out of 5 stars from me, recognizing its merits in depth of themes and characterization of the main character, with an exposition of those aspects which should be improved in order for this book to be more cohesive and engaging.
******
The man who wanted to be God
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Man Who Wanted to Be God is a thought-provoking novel by Ruchir Verma, gazing at the deep inner world of the main character, Daata Raam Srivastava, who is brutally torn between the conflicts inside and those outside in society. Having created this think-out-loud narrative, Verma's writing explains the feature of freedom and identity within a society that never lets go of the pressure from social decencies and traditional values. The writing is introspective and deep, with prose that will make it a page-turner in its entirety but will also slow down the pace in some parts of the story.
One of the strong suits of this novel must be the way Daata, the protagonist, is portrayed. Verma has been quite successful in putting into words the depth of his feelings, his struggles, and his search for meaning in such a way that the reader lives his experiences on a very personal level.
Daata is a well-developed character, concerned with the real problem and dreams which he works through in a life stuffed to the brim with obstacles toward self-discovery. His reflections and musings on freedom, identity, and self-worth form the core of the story and bring insightful commentary on how outside pressures could reduce one's drive to chase personal goals. Whereas Daata is an interesting and well-developed character, some of the secondary characters tend not to be developed as well. Family members and friends, those who should give more depth or contrast to the story of Daata himself, remain rather one-dimensional. This incompleteness in the secondary characters reduces the ability to add an emotional impact with which they interact with Daata. With more fleshed-out secondary characters, the story could have been taken even further, adding depth to Daata's relationships through various opinions on the themes that surround the axis of the novel.
What is more, apart from the characterization, the very structure of the novel poses some problems: the time jumps and storyline digressions do give a lot of added dimensions to the story but leave the plot somewhat disjointed. The constant time and perspective switches are really confusing and sometimes break the flow. This idea of telling may bring forth thoughts of Daata being very fragmented and complex. Still, for those who like following a straight story without any complications, this might turn them off. This is a very ambitious work dealing with great themes, such as the problem of freedom and identity, in a reflection-worthy way; it is deeply plunged into the struggle of an individual against the expectations which society places upon him. On the other side of the argument, the pace of the novel is slow, underdevelopment of supporting characters also plays its role, and sometimes confusing structure for readers. With great insight and such a memorable protagonist, these are narrative and structural issues that might make it less accessible to some readers. This novel would therefore get 3 out of 5 stars from me, recognizing its merits in depth of themes and characterization of the main character, with an exposition of those aspects which should be improved in order for this book to be more cohesive and engaging.
******
The man who wanted to be God
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The man who wanted to be God by Ruchir Verma
