Granta 57: India by Ian Jack

Granta 57: India Reviews

• 
  Celina

  This book is number 57 in the Granta series of quarterly collections of themed essays, stories, photography, and other pieces. I got this as an extra in a book swap last year and read it for this year’s library reading challenge (a book set in South Asia). From its publication in 1997 it looks back 50 years to India’s independence. Highlights: the poem Sampati, a dazzling sonnet of one-syllable lines from Vikram Seth; photos by Dayanita Singh of well-off urban families, particularly women, in opulent private spaces; an excerpt from Arundhati Roy’s novel The God of Small Things, published that year, which really makes me want to dig it up from Mt. TBR and read it finally; and a journalistic report on Kashmir by James Buchan which still feels informative more than two decades after its publication. I also enjoyed the photo essay of witnesses to India’s independence from all walks of life. This book feels itself like a part of history now.
• 
  Jim

  I used to subscribe to Granta, but last year I donated all but the travel issues to charity. The volume entitled
  Granta 57: India contained an interesting selection of essays, stories, and even a couple of poems. I liked most of the selections, especially the piece on tigers by Edward Hoagland, a story by Anita Desai about a nightmarish motor trip to Simla, and an essay on Mumbai with photographs, an excellent essay by William Dalrymple on the lawless State of Bihar. I even liked Arundhati Roy's story "Things Can Change in a Day" ven though I generally don't like her work.
  
  All evidences point to a great job of editing by
  Ian Jack. Of the three Granta travel volumes I have read, this one was the most consistently good.
• 
  Lyn

  I truly enjoy the many different authors and their stories about their culture and life experiences
  
• 
  Subhashani Dewada

  Given to me by an American friend and I am glad that he decided to bring the book for me. Thank you, Harry. It is an interesting compilation of stories and chapters from various authors who somehow or the other are deeply connected with India. Every chapter is a revelation. Get into the Kashmir most of would never know, the secret CIA and KGB conflict and how one man could have been made an "Accidental Spy" had he not been smart enough, what Independence meant to people like Viramma who was born and lived an outcast, pages from Naipaul's personal diary, Nirad Chaudhri's "...apology for his writings" in his 100th year, Ved Mehta's internal conflict, and the fact that just reading a chapter out of Arundhati Roy's "God of Small Things" has motivated me to read the book (which is next on the list) and more. There are also a series of images in B&W by Dayanita Singh.
  Now I have to pass on this book to another traveler. Let's see who comes my way. Thank you, Granta
• 
  Moushumi Ghosh

  There are many things about this Granta that doesn't make sense and some that do. I felt it was a bit dated only because it was a true historical product of its time. The major emphasis was on "Indianness" and "Indian identity" through the lens of Indian independence. Some of the big names of Indian Writing in English appear here. Read it to know how India was perceived back then. Then, contrast it with all those "India Shining" books that have peppered our reading landscape the past few years.