Book Review: Under A Monsoon Cloud
I picked this book up because I had seen the seriously hilarious movie The Perfect Murder based on a book of the same name by Keating. If you haven’t seen the movie, do go ahead and watch it… It is one of the lesser known gems of Indian Cinema.
However, this was the second time that a Merchant Ivory film led me to buy another book written by the author who had originally birthed the (Merchant Ivory) movie script and left me somewhat disappointed. (The other pair being a delightfully delicious movie called ‘The Householder’ and an incredibly underwhelming book called Heat & Dust by Ruth Praber Jhabwala, who had also written the book – The Householder.) Under a monsoon cloud is much better than “Heat & Dust” but it is still relatively underwhelming when you compare its material to the delightfully timeless movie (“The Perfect Murder”). Keating does describe the India of a generation ago and the scruples of the average Indian family man in Inspector Ghote beautifully but the plot never really takes off.
The only reason I liked the book even though the plot never really got interesting enough was for Keating’s writing style and his creation of the honest middle class police inspector, which made me nostalgic of the simpler times India had, decades ago.
Title: Under A Monsoon Cloud
Authors: H.R.F Keating
Publisher/ Imprint: Penguin India
Pages: 221
Genre: Fiction/ Mystery
Rating: 2.50 of 5
Reviewed for: Personal Copy
This review was first published on www.makingrain.blogspot.in.
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