Has the short-listing for Booker Prize changed your life? Also, considering the rushed way reviews are produced here, many reviewers read other reviews instead of actually reading the book, which is why you are left with a strange sense of déjà vu. I expected bad reviews from the Indian book reviewers. Initially, the book did not receive favorable reviews, especially from India. It’s the city I’ve lived the longest and I’ve lived in a few cities in my time. When people ask me where I’m from, I say Bombay. Though I no longer live there, I still consider it my city. The city of Mumbai appears to be an important element of the novel.

If you get to page seven, you might like the book. Is there any reason for choosing this particular style of writing?

The novel starts with a prologue that is a six-and-half-page single sentence. Those who get it are moved by it, but not everyone gets it. Not easily… in fact, with unease, not to mention dis-ease. “Narcopolis” is not an easy book to read. Heroin addiction is the central plot of the novel. Here are the excerpts from the interview: “Narcopolis,” whose main characters include Rashid - an opium dealer - and Dimple - a eunuch and prostitute, has been receiving rave reviews for its narrative style, which sounds melancholic, and for its depiction of the city of Mumbai which shifts between being realistic and dreamy. But in an exclusive interview with the International Business Times, Thayil categorically denies that the novel is a reflection of his life. “Narcopolis,” the debut novel by Jeet Thayil which has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is perceived to be a reflection of the life of the author since the experience of the protagonist, who is drawn to Mumbai’s underworld, is said to have some similarity with that of the novelist.

Narcopolis book review