Artist Of Disappearance, The

The trilogy....beautiful novel...all the three stories are woven beautifully:)

This is the first work of the author I have read and perhaps I made a poor choice. The best metaphor that strikes me is the description of western cakes, (by one of my more travelled friends), namely: light, fluffy and mildly flavoured; unlike Indian cakes which tend to be heavier (mostly) and relatively strongly flavoured as well as much sweeter. This book strikes me as being like a western cake, i.e. not much plot or even progression from beginning to end. On the other hand, the language is distinct and the author does make some pointed observations.There are what appear to be a couple of false notes too – in the first story there is a marriage (arranged apparently), but from the family names given, (Sinha & Mukherjee, and based on my admittedly limited knowedge), these appear to be two different castes in Bengal; also a bride of 13 and a groom of 60?Then in the second story it is implied (by the description of the journey) that oriya is spoken only in some obscure region, whereas it is actually the language of the state of Orissa which has a population of over 33 million. (Added on 02/09/2016: The second story apparently has some similarity to an incident in Isabel Allende's life, when she worked as a translator.)However, IMO, the third story, while also slightly outlandish, appears to hang together a little better.

It was a nice reading... Out of three stories two end up in some or the other kind of guilt or disappointment whereas the title story is A celebration of solitude which is disturbed by the intrusion of a documentary making group but in the end it is restored to its original seat.

Seems a used product was sent even though the payment was for a brand new book.

Often quite difficult to begin with, these three stories somehow manage to get right inside your imagination.Potent, lucid, detailed, deeply human. Each left me feeling deeply satisfied, and sometimes a bit sad.The world of the stories seemed all too real.

Love Anita Desai

Anita Desai is a born artist and she paints every scene with many delicate touches with the underlying humour which has me rolling on the floor with laughter. I don't think the book cover did justice to the novellas.

A terrible book, no story line badly written even for a short story, Anita you have done better on your previous books.

As I ordered this book as a present, I cannot say anything about it except that my friend was happy to receive it.