Customer Reviews
A book that has so much to say - By: , 18 Aug 2003 
Please ignore the person who labelled this novel as 'dire & dissapointing'. To say that the stories lacked purpose is to misunderstand the layers that the series of stories represents. I was introduced to this novel during my english degree, on a module examining Indian writing this was the novel that reallly struck me. The examination of the encounter between modernity & tradition in Bombay creates a haunting underworld in the novel, a semi-mythological Indian past that lurks within the shadows, & haunts the disembodied old houses that are trapped between scaling apartment blocks. It is a brilliantly haunting novel - in particular the story of Sartaj the detective who is trapped between the underworld & the real world, ending up isolated from both. Read it, you will not be dissapointed.
I loved this book and have re-read it several times! - By: , 23 Nov 2000 The stories in this collection are very different, each totallly absorbing in its own way. I've been to Bombay a few times & this book took me back there. The love & longing expressed in the stories about Sartaj the policeman & Iqbal the programmer still haunt me. After reading the comments from Glasgow I'll have to give 'Red Earth & Pouring Rain' another try - if, like me, you couldn't get into it don't let it put you off 'Love & Longing...'
A craftsman at work ... - By: , 24 Feb 2000 Chandra is a master of language: his imagery is so vivid & fresh that scenes & characters bounce from the page, his use of words so dazzling I often found myself reading paragraphs over & over, completely blown away with the author's skill. And not a single battered to death cliché to be found. The stories too were subtle & enchanting, gently weaving in & out of plots & sub-plots. For anyone who appreciates a real craftsman of words, 'Love And Longing In Bombay' cannot fail to please. I can't think of more than half a dozen other books I'd give five stars to.
Dire and disappointing - By: , 16 Jan 2000 
This collection of short stories is reallly dire, & a real disappointment from an author who charmed me with his "Red Earth & Pouring Rain". Many of the tales do not reallly have a point. This would not matter if there was more of a sense of place - after alll this book is callled love & longing in BOMBAY. Many of the stories were self-indulgent, many self-conscious & frankly not one of these stories measures upto this author's previous work.
