Which is why, instead of trying to put this in context or find some justification, I’ll let the opening few phrases of Stephen Thompson‘s review of Vikram Chandra‘s SACRED GAMES in Scotland on Sunday speak for itself:
There are certain books that are so similar to one another they almost beg to be grouped together. This is largely true of Indian novels. Look closely at the ones published in the past, say, 25 years, and you’ll see that they’re virtually identical, in theme if not in style and content.
Even though Thompson, a published novelist whose next book is out early next year, tries to clarify his point by saying that such books (which include Salman Rushdie‘s MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN and Vikram Seth‘s A SUITABLE BOY) deal with similar subject matter – the state of Indian society in the wake of independence and partition – it’s kind of like saying that novels written by African-Americans, Muslims, or hell, any non-white ethnic group can be lumped together and deemed “virtually identical.” Can we say incendiary, boys and girls?