Ghachar Ghochar
“Neil Shah gives voice to the existential crisis at the narrator’s core. Six family members live under one roof, tolerating each other. Shah describes their relational highs and lows in a sardonic tone. His narrative style delivers the story in precise, clipped sentences at steady pace. Shah’s experience shows in his well-rounded portrayal of female characters.”
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A Publishers Weekly Pick of Writers to Watch, Spring 2017 Debuts
A Kirkus Reviews Pick of Favorite Debuts of February 2017
A Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year selection
A New York Times Best Book of 2017
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
A New York Times Critics’ Top Books of 2017 selection
A London Guardian Best Book of the Year for 2017
Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
A Globe and Mail (Toronto) Best Books of 2017 selection
Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award
Longlisted for the 2018 Best Translated Book Award
Shortlisted for the American Literary Translators Association Award
A young man’s close-knit family is nearly destitute when his uncle founds a successful spice company, changing their fortunes overnight. As they move from a cramped, ant-infested shack to a larger house on the other side of Bangalore, and try to adjust to a new way of life, the family dynamic begins to shift. Allegiances realign; marriages are arranged and begin to falter; and conflict brews ominously in the background. Things become “ghachar ghochar”—a nonsense phrase uttered by one meaning something tangled beyond repair, a knot that can’t be untied.
Elegantly written and punctuated by moments of unexpected warmth and humor, Ghachar Ghochar is a quietly enthralling, deeply unsettling novel about the shifting meanings—and consequences—of financial gain in contemporary India.
Praise