A State of Freedom

The five emotionally draining, loosely connected tales of Mukherjee's compelling novel brutally depict inequality in modern India. Born in Calcutta and now living in London, Mukherjee, a Man Booker finalist for The Lives of Others, unflinchingly shows the effects of Indian classism. For instance, in one narrative, middle-class Indians endlessly fret about what they will have their servants prepare for their meals, while in another narrative, a mother in a rural village tells her hungry daughter, "God gave us stomachs to punish us." A versatile narrator, Sartaj Gerewal masterfully gives voice to diverse plotlines and a varied cast of characters that include an Indian American professor on holiday, a London writer who spends a month each year with his Indian family, an abusive bear trainer trying to support his very large family, and a housemaid who escaped a terrible childhood.