Indra Sinha: Animal's People

[Stewart]

Novels from India are something that seem to make their way to my shelves but never get read (a few examples being Arundhati Roy’s The God Of Small Things, Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy, and last year’s Booker winner, The Inheritance Of Loss by Kiran Desai). So, going ahead with my intent to read all thirteen books longlisted for the Booker last year, Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People was one Indian novel that wasn’t destined for indefinite shelving.

And for that happy I’m, as its narrator may say. Yes, such contortions are normal in Animal’s speech. They are a fitting parallel, for Animal’s body is physically twisted, forcing him to walk on all fours after “That Night” when the local factory exploded, its toxins killing thousands, harming many more, and polluting the elements. Although the novel is set in a fictional city called Khaufpur, it’s plain to see that it’s basis is in Bhopal, the explosion being a riff on the 1984 disaster.

Telling his story into a “tape mashin” left by an Australian reporter, Animal describes his life in Khaufpur. When he’s not scamming or drinking chai, he’s fancying himself a bit of a James Bond (”namispond jamispond”) in the spying stakes, which typically involves climbing up trees and perving on Nisha, his friend. It’s the delivery that makes Animal’s People special. For, aforementioned syntax aside, Animal is crude, comic, and at ease with his disability. His narrative practically sings off the page as he tells of his life, trades insults with his friends, and makes observations, passes judgement:

The world of humans is meant to be viewed from eye level. Your eyes. Lift my head I’m staring into someones crotch. Whole nother world it’s, below the waist. Believe me, I know which one hasn’t washed his balls, I can smell pissy gussets and shitty backsides whose faint stenches don’t carry to your nose, farts smell extra bad. In my mad times I’d shout at people in the street, “Listen, however fucking miserable you are, and no one’s as happy as they’ve a right to be, at least you stand on two feet!”

In the poverty stricken community where Animal lives, everyone has been affected by the negligence of the “Kampani”, and the main reason for living is to see it brought to justice, to see compensation paid to all affected. Of course, life here is unstructured, politicians are corrupt - the same old sorry story drags from one day to the next. And then, into the community comes Elli Barber, an “Amrikan doctress”, who opens a clinic offering free healthcare to all who need it. But the people are suspicious, for she may just be working for the Kampani, here to prove that they are not to blame.

Given the length of Animal’s People it’s testament to Sinha’s ability that he was able to maintain the unique voice although I did perhaps feel there were a few slips where, after being charmed by Animal, the story would briefly lose his likeable style. Toward the end, after following Animal for so long I felt myself wanting it all to be over; the closing chapters almost read as evidence Sinha was thinking the same, tying up the loose ends.

But overall, Animal’s People is a real achievement. While on the surface it follows one man’s journey in understanding his humanity, its concerns are greater in scope, using Animal to focus on issues such as poverty, religion, and corruption without being didactic. Given that not a peep was heard in the British press at the time of publication, its Booker longlisting brought Animal’s People the attention it deserves. And, more importantly than literature, its content can serve to bring about an awareness of the real disaster in 1984, the effects of which are still felt today amongst the real Animal’s people.

[Beth]

Originally Posted by Stewart

In the poverty stricken community where Animal lives, everyone has been affected by the negligence of the “Kampani”, and the main reason for living is to see it brought to justice, to see compensation paid to all affected.

I really liked the way this was done, and would have put it down had it been mishandled to beat the reader over the head. As it were, I've found myself looking into the facts of the Bhopal tragedy for some awareness. I remember when it happened, but didn't realize that the legal wranglings are ongoing. The photos of the site make desperately clear how skimpy the operation was for such dangerous materials in such dense population. Sadly, I'm surprised that it wasn't a modern, safe plant.

I also really enjoyed that almost hallucinogenic section near the end. Structured differently enough it's to give his raw emotions a unique outlet, after his brush with easing them by violence. Remember Fatlu and the ear?

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by Beth

I also really enjoyed that almost hallucinogenic section near the end.

Those were the bits I was referring to in my penultimate paragraph as, to put it bluntly, I got a bit lost there. I kept hold of the thread, but I was reading the pages and Animal was off telling a story and ne'er the twain were meeting.

[Funhouse]

I've read a lot of Indian novels (including your still unread works by Roy, Seth and Desai) and this really wasn't one that grabbed me. It was one of my least favourites from last year's Booker shortlist. I think the main thing for me was that the narrative conceit (talking into the tape recorder) just didn't work. For my money Sinha doesn't come anywhere near the likes of Seth or Mistry or Ghosh (let alone Rushdie) when talking about Indian writers in English.

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by Funhouse

For my money Sinha doesn't come anywhere near the likes of Seth or Mistry or Ghosh (let alone Rushdie) when talking about Indian writers in English.

He's still a relatively new writer on the scene compared to those others. But, regardless of the tape recorder device, I thought Animal's voice was one of sheer unbridled energy and humour, which was a breath of fresh air as, down on his luck, he managed to get past all that and still embrace life, unlike Veronica in Anne Enright's The Gathering, which was just a depressing oh-woe-is-me-for-no-real-reason dirge. Animal's People wasn't my favourite to take the Booker, until the shortlist was announced because, despite its tradtional storytelling style, I really liked Peter Ho Davies' The Welsh Girl.

[Stewart]

I noticed on Indra Sinha's Facebook page that he's working on a screenplay of Animal's People.