Ode to Broken Things
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Colonel S--biomedical engineer, explosives expert, and the Malaysian government go-to hitman--has been doing the dirty work of the rich and corrupt for years now and is ready for his final job. One that will ensure the domination of the Muslims over the Malaysian state. The target? Kuala Lumpur International Airport. All he needs is a little help from his old friend and protégé, Dr. Jay Ghosh. Despite the dangerous circumstances and Jay's own tragic Malaysian history, which he has been running from for 30 years, he cannot refuse the man who once saved his life. But, when Jay contacts Agni, the daughter of his first love with dangerous secrets of her own and a hunch that Colonel S is not all he seems, Jay is torn between righting the wrongs of his past and remaining loyal to a blood oath he has finally been called on to repay.
Set in modern day Malaysia, divided by religions vying for control of the state with violence and manipulation, Ode to Broken Things rings true in an increasingly dangerous world fraught with warfare, conflicting cultures, dysfunctional governments, and terrorism. However, Dipika Mukherjee's focus on the characters' interwoven histories forms the story's overarching message that, despite race, ethnicity, or religion, the same blood runs in our veins.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Mukherjee's contemporary political novel, colonialism threatens a family. Jay Ghosh, professor of biotechnology and a Malaysian living in Boston, returns home after 30 years to pay back debts to his mentor, Colonel S, and to the family of his lost love, Shanti. His presence disturbs Shanti's daughter, Agni, and her grandmother, Shapna, as do the street protests of ethnic Indians, "immigrants" who have lived in Malaysia for decades. Worse, Colonel S, an expert in explosives, plans to take matters into his own hands. Mukherjee imbues her family drama with the crossbred history of intertwined communities who celebrate one another's holidays even as they carp about one another's failings. Jay and Agni, the "broken things," approach healing through their buried history "until the river floods and the silt uncovers what should remain hidden."
