Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/563633
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 30 AUGUST 2015 39 ROBERT PISANI IT'S Man Booker season again! For two months I go through the shortlisted six books, however this year I decided to attempt reading all thirteen books on the longlist. The reason being that this year's selection is strong. The Man Book- er selection, obviously, is a reflec- tion of the judges' personal tastes, whereas in previous year's titles were quick reads, it seems that the 2015 batch have intertwining plot- lines which require rereading to appreciate them fully. That aside, a good number of the 13 books focus on the importance of the family. Roy's novel is one of the longlisted titles and fits the overall themes perfectly. In the first few pages of Anuradha Roy's Sleeping on Jupiter, a child's father is brutally murdered, after escaping with her child into the jungle, the mother leaves her child for a few minutes and then never returns. The child then is discov- ered, taken to the town of Jarmuli and adopted by a guru. This rather exhilarating opening is crucial to the plot of the whole novel. Afterwards we jump to the present and the reader finds out that Nomi revisits Jarmuli in order to uncover her roots. In the proc- ess her search affects the destinies of six other characters, who all have personal problems. Through- out Sleeping on Jupiter these char- acters' personal lives mingle and cross each other, the end result is that the protagonists' future changes. The six characters consist of: three old women who are travel- ling together for one last vacation, one has the beginning stages of de- mentia, a temple guide who suffers from unrequited love, an obsessive cameraman and a tea seller who sings sad songs while serving cus- tomers. All these people are con- nected to each other in some way or another. Sleeping on Jupiter is an angry novel. Roy exposes the hypocrisy of her country. For Roy India is a place where holy men have abusive tendencies, temple guides are open to bribes, people appear gentle but turn violent when their interests are trodden upon. Despite the ugliness Roy also pic- tures India (or at least Bengal) as beautiful; filled with exotic smells, pristine beaches and majestic tem- ples which dominate the land. Roy's pen overflows with elegance and each page is a fully immersive experience. All the characters are realistic which, despite their over- powering flaws, never seem to be cartoonish. Sleeping on Jupiter is a rare novel. It has the ability to seduce the reader with its language and at the same time is capable of cre- ating moments that shock. This constant dichotomy makes very addictive reading. It's not unlike a horror film, where the scares crop up they are not expected, in this case they appear when the reader is lulled by the prose. Within the brief 250 pages there's enough punch to fracture your nose. Could a term such as quietly con- troversial exist? Anuradha Roy's novel, Sleeping on Jupiter manages that. It's a pure joy to read… but tread carefully. This Week WEEE REFORM ARE YOU A MANUFACTURER/IMPORTER OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT? By the you are requested to send an email on weee@mepa.org.mt to register or renew your registration with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA), and to also notify MEPA whether you intend to be self compliant or be joining a collective compliance scheme. Enquiries about this registration process may be made by calling +356 2290 7240 or by sending an email on weee@mepa.org.mt. Further information is also available on www.mepa.org.mt, and on www.environment.gov.mt Enough punch to fracture your nose Anuradha Roy – Sleeping on Jupiter "The book has the ability to seduce the reader with its language and at the same time is capable of creating moments that shock" Anuradha Roy