Harbart
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
This beloved cult novel—about a young man who makes a business of relaying messages from the dead—is now in a sparkling English translation
Poor, poor, hard-luck Herbert Sarkar: born into a fancy Calcutta family but cursed from birth (his philandering movie director father is killed in a car crash and his mother dies soon after, when he’s still just a baby), he is taken as an orphan into his uncle’s house, only to fall further and further down the family totem pole. Despite good looks (“Hollywood-ish, Leslie Howard-ish)” and native talents, he is scorned by all but his kind aunt. Poor Herbert: so lovable but so little loved. Cheated of his inheritance, living on the roof in cast-off clothing, he pines for love, but all is woe: his own nephews beat him up.
At twenty, however, he suddenly seems to possess the gift of speaking with the dead. Herbert is bathed in glory. From less than zero to starry heights—what an apotheosis. The wheel of fortune turns again, all too soon...
Legendary, scathingly satiric, wildly energetic, deeply tender, Herbert is an Indian masterwork.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This nimble novel from Bhattacharya (1948 2014), his first translated into English, follows a young man in Calcutta who claims he can communicate with the dead. Readers know in the first chapter that Harbart has killed himself, and the reasons why unfold over the course of the book. Harbart, whose parents died when he was young and who has been largely ignored by his other family members, becomes close with his cousin Binu until Binu is shot and killed by the police. Soon after, Harbart has a vivid dream in which Binu speaks to him and reveals the location of his secret diary. This moment convinces Harbart of his ability to channel the dead, and soon others from around the world are visiting Harbart to communicate with deceased loved ones. Eventually, Harbart receives a letter that leads to his downfall, but the narrative has one final surprise up its sleeve in its closing pages. Bhattacharya's slippery narrative slithers forward and sideways through time, and is complemented by the clever, often coarse prose ("Harbart saw that he was kneeling before ten enormous toenails growing out of someone's two enormous feet"), resulting in an acute, idiosyncratic reading experience.
