Book Review: "A Malgudi Omnibus" by R.K Narayan

It is difficult for me to judge this writer as I do not think I have read enough by him. Prior to this, I have only read his short story collection entitled Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories. Otherwise, I think his writing, though somewhat simplistic and not as flowery as I normally like, is somewhat readable. When it comes to Indian Literature though, there are writers who I do prefer, these include but are not limited to: Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, Mulk Raj Anand, Rohinton Mistry and Kunwar Narain (if you haven't read The Play of Dolls, you must do so soon). I find RK Narayan's efforts in the Malgudi Omnibus to be a good attempt at drama, but suited to a time when some behaviours was more socially accepted than our own.

The first book is called Swami and Friends and is set during the age of the British Raj coming to an end. I liked this because of the ideas and themes surrounding chilchood innocence. There was everything that young Indian children seem to enjoy from having their own freedoms all the way down to cricket and the idea of liberation both through the self and politically seems to rumble through this volume of the book quite loudly. It really does set a standard that I do not think gets beaten by any of the other volumes in the book.

The next book is called The Bachelor of Arts and this book started off with some amount of promise. We get a boy's routine in preparing for his final examinations which include things like taking a cold bath and studying before he even goes to college. Unfortunately, his family don't seem to respect his wishes to become more liberated by travelling after his degree etc. I think the real strange thing here is that he sees a fourteen-year-old girl and falls absolutely in love with her. At this time, he is probably twenty-one at the youngest if he has just finished a college degree and I don't know about you, but those are all the wrong vibes - it grossed me out entirely and completely.

The third part is called The English Teacher which is often referred to as the most autobiographical part of the book and the most intense. Moving away from the creepy age factor, this one is about the death of the protagonist's wife and the mode of self-discovery. I know it sounds like a bit of a shoddy storyline, but I assure you that out of the trilogy, this one is the most intense in terms of emotion. However, the first part is still the best written and has the most explored themes in the book. The second part is kind of just there and I would rather not talk about it.

The writing style is good with its simplistic language and explores concepts well in its somewhat descriptive action-to-action style. However, the depth really isn't there. It isn't like The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy where you feel like you're drowning in a sea of emotions and it isn't like The Play of Dolls by Kunwar Narain which is simply fantastically written. I feel like RK Narayan's language is somewhat simplistic but outdated. It isn't as timeless as some make it out to be with the overtly descriptive movement of every action put into the text becoming somewhat tedious over a lengthy scene in which we see the protagonist carrying out a morning routine.

In conclusion, I think I will continue to read RK Narayan simply to discover more of his writing and have a more informed opinion about him. But I cannot say that I will read him again in the next few days or weeks. I simply don't know when.