| "Shashi Tharoor is a rising star in the international
fiction universe.... An effervescent and thoroughly satisfying
rendition of the human comedy." |
|
- Booklist
|
"A witty, ironic novel in which Indian film - and India
itself - is seen from any number of revealing angles....A splendid
novel." |
|
- Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post
and The International Herald Tribune
|
"Shashi Tharoor is one of those rare writers who felicitously
combines gentle satire with an urgent concern for society's
ills. Another eloquent - and entertaining - commentary on contemporary
India." |
|
- Kirkus Reviews
|
"Hugely entertaining... Shashi Tharoor educates us while
wielding a needle-sharp satirical rapier....A delightful portrait
of India's popular silver screen... Fresh, witty and highly
accessible... a rollicking, first-rate novel." |
|
- The Seattle Times/ The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
|
"An immensely clever, wickedly satirical novel ... [told]
with tremendous verve. A satire of Swiftian aspirations about
the grand illusion of story and history." |
|
- Srinivas Krishna, The Toronto Globe
& Mail
|
"Tharoor has a terrific ear... His wit is peppery and alert....
This highly coloured, entertaining, faintly monstrous book takes
its risks with panache and triumphs spectacularly." |
|
- Candia McWilliam, The Independent on
Sunday, London
|
"A wacky, satirical tale of hits and misses in the worlds
of politics and cinema..., engagingly presented by Shashi Tharoor.
Through a montage of shooting scripts, narrative and monologues,
he invents a fictional world that is a metaphor for deeper concerns." |
|
- Emily Mitchell, Time
|
"Show Business is Shashi Tharoor's witty connection between
the world of filmmaking and of politics: success in either,
he says, involves the finding of effective ways of duping the
masses. Except that Bollywood business also makes them laugh." |
|
- Prita Maitra, Sunday, Calcutta
|
"Tharoor obviously knows Bollywood and its zany habits
well. Much of what he writes is funny.... But with all its comic
aspects, Show Business is a serious book.... Tharoor achieves
just the right combination of cynicism and sorrow; moreover,
he leaves the reader with something to think about, a notable
accomplishment in itself." |
|
- The Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong
Kong
|
"In Show Business, Shashi Tharoor successfully captures
the corrupt milieu of contemporary India..., satirizing it mercilessly....
Shashi Tharoor is a deft narrator who very cleverly weaves his
story, interspersing it with film gossip columns and Hindi film
songs.... Show Business is not just an entertaining novel. It
portrays the social, political and cultural realities of India
[with] insight." |
|
- The Earth Times, New York
|
"Tharoor allows the complexity of India's social fabric
- economic realities, the political exigencies of an enormous
entrenched system built equally of corruption and necessity
- to arrange itself around [his protagonist].... The overarching
drama concerns nothing less than free will, and Tharoor handles
the Big Topic - the role of dharma, the belief in predestination
that he suggests might also be a cosmic cop-out - without crushing
his fragile characters.... Tharoor asks whether a society that
has such deep affection for fantasy will not ultimately suffer
for it; he also makes you eager to find out what happens in
the end....Arriving at its apex of irony is one of the book's
great joys. Even as it hurts. As in the larger-than-life movies
it both lampoons and celebrates, pain and pleasure mix until
the final fade." |
|
- Melissa Pierson, The Village Voice,
New York
|
"A splendid satirical view of India through the ails of
Bollywood." |
|
- The Reader's Catalog
|
"Funny and sometimes moving". |
|
- The Times Literary Supplement, London
|
"Shashi Tharoor's clever book ... is a withering satire
on Bombay's film industry... raised to a new and more universal
pitch by showing what is common between films and politics....
Tharoor undoubtedly has some of Molière's comic gift;
he also has a profound understanding of human falsity and the
incongruities that constitute life.... Show Business has in
it the genesis of The Great Indian Movie." |
|
- Saros Cowasjee, The Toronto Star
|
"A fast, fresh and funny read." |
|
- Arena, London
|
"A writer of top class talent." |
|
- India Today
|
"A multilayered work which can be read on many levels.
While many readers may read it just as an entertaining story,
there are deeper meanings embedded in this satirical work about
India's social and political reality." |
|
- India West
|
"Shashi Tharoor's involvement with the political culture
of our country filters into his novel. For its title is a metaphor
for both cinema and politics....The novel abounds with short
and pithy remarks about Indian institutions.... Tharoor has
a sense of humour and writes with verve and enthusiasm."
|
|
- T. N. Dhar, The Hindustan Times
|
"One of the finest writers of satirical novels currently
operating in English." |
|
- Charles Nevin, The Independent on Sunday,
London (profile)
|
"An author of world stature." |
|
- The World & I, Washington, D.C.
|
