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The Light at the End of the World

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The Light at the End of the World

By: Siddhartha Deb
Narrated by: Neil Shah, Sneha Mathan
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About this listen

Connecting India’s tumultuous 19th and 20th centuries to its potentially apocalyptic future, this sweeping tale of rebellion, courage, and brutality reinvents historical fiction for our time: a magisterial work of shifting forms reminiscent of Cloud Atlas and Underworld.

Delhi, the near future: a former journalist goes in search of answers after she finds herself stripped of identity and citizenship and thrust into a vast conspiracy involving secret detention centers, government sanctioned murders, online rage, nationalist violence, and a figure of shifting identifies known as the “New Delhi Monkey Man.” Bhopal, 1984: an assassin hunts a whistleblower through a central Indian city that will shortly be the site of the worst industrial disaster in history. Calcutta, 1947: a veterinary student’s life and work connect him to an ancient Vedic aircraft. And in 1859, a detachment of British soldiers rides toward the Himalayas in search of the last surviving leader of an anti-colonial rebellion.

These timelines interweave to form a kaleidoscopic epic novel in which each section is a pursuit, centered around a character who must find or recover crucial but hidden truths in their respective time. Mirroring the future and the past, these narratives illuminate and reimagine Indian identity and history. The Light at the End of the World, Siddhartha Deb’s first novel in a decade and a half, is an astonishing work that brilliantly reimagines the structure of one of the world’s oldest civilizations.

©2023 Siddhartha Deb (P)2023 Recorded Books
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Political
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I had trouble with the first 25 pages tracking the characters, after that it was an engaging novel (or series of novellas). The narrators performed well with wonderful range of voices. The book immersed me in the history and culture of India.

worth taking the time for the plot to develop

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Woof. This was a slog. Dense with symbolism that mostly felt inaccessible to a western audience. I wanted to find substance instead I listened to 17 hours of a metaphor I could not decipher.

Rambling and Dense with Symbolism

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The book is eerily atmospheric, and always hinting at a massive conspiracy. But it gets weirder and weirder, and the conclusion was not fully satisfying, at least not to me. The narration, by 2 separate narrators (different sections), is excellent and adds to the atmosphere.

eerily atmospheric

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4 totally separate stories. None of which are very good. This book tries to to be like cloud atlas. Don’t waste your time.

This book makes no sense

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