Ghachar Ghochar Audiobook By Vivek Shanbhag, Srinath Perur - translation cover art

Ghachar Ghochar

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Ghachar Ghochar

By: Vivek Shanbhag, Srinath Perur - translation
Narrated by: Neil Shah
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $10.47

Buy for $10.47

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Bangalore, present day. 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 and try to adjust to a new way of life, 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 of the characters that comes to mean 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.

©2017 Vivek Shanbhag (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological South Asian Creators Witty Funny
Darkly Comic Story • Nuanced Middle-class Representation • Soothing Narration • Unexpected Twist Ending • Suspenseful Tone
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Ghachar Ghochar is a very short and darkly comic novel that explores the problems a family encounters when making the socioeconomic leap from scraping by to being well off. The unnamed narrator lives in a small house in Bangalore with his parents, sister, and uncle. When his father loses his job, he decides to risk it all and start his own spice company with his younger brother. They purchase large amounts of spices wholesale and repackage them in smaller, more convenient packets. The business is successful, the family moves to a larger home, and the son collects a comfortable monthly salary for doing nothing at all.

But the change in status is not totally positive. The family members that struggled together are now more often at one another's throats, and they seem to have more ties to the objects they purchase than to one another. When the narrator marries the girl of his dreams, trouble rears its ugly head. Anita is appalled to learn that her husband doesn't really work; how can a man have any pride or sense of identity if all he does is sit around and rely on his family's money and a future inheritance? She questions the ethics of his shady uncle and the family's cruel rejection of a woman with apparent ties to him.

The framework here is that the narrator is telling his story to Vincent, a waiter in a cafe that he frequents and who he seems to believe has special insights. There's an unexpected twist at the end--one that came a bit too abruptly for this reader. I would have liked the author to have fleshed out the story a bit; there's definitely room for some deeper characterization. It's a quick read, good for an evening's entertainment.

Short, with Room for Development

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This novella shows what a talented fiction writer can do. The family drama that plays out within this six member South Indian will stick with me for a long time. It's left for the reader to decide whether an actual murder takes place or is purely aspirational. You decide.

Wonderfully Engaging Family Drama From South India

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The nuances of a middle class family from Bangalore is very nicely represented in this book, it is nostalgic. But why does Suhasini show up at their house, what's the deal between her and Chikappa, why does the protagonist think about Anita so negatively even though he occasionally admits that she's right. I don't know if the author meant to show a contrast between the protagonist's character in the beginning and the end, I couldn't see it. It kind of felt like this was a loser, who couldn't stand up to even for himself (much less, his wife). Not sure if this is really the kind of books we should be reading at such precarious times.

Good but feels incomplete and heavily patriarchal

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I didn't expect to like this, to worry and fret and calculate along with the family. To be disappointed and proud. I didn't expect the narrators voice to soothe and ease me into this story. I guess I didn't expect much but I got a pretty penny.

impressive

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great story with wonderful narration! Easy to listen, lots to contemplate. I highly Recommend!

Really Really good!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Perfect drama and awesome narration.
But Is there a sequel?
I liked the story but it felt incomplete.

Felt Incomplete.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In under 3 hours, the author distilled so much of Indian socio-cultural contradictions and maladies, in the face of its slowly modernizing world. Well said.

Great snapshot

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed the characters and story very much, but it felt too short. I wanted there to be more to the story. Is there a sequel?

where's the rest?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book had no clear conclusion. You are left to assume. I hate that. I did appreciate learning about Indian culture.

I don’t like loose ends

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You start thinking you’re reading a sweet story till it becomes a suspense - while still maintaining a tone

The casual building of thrill

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews