Fresh Air, Manil Suri and Peter Hessler

Writers Manil Suri and Peter Hessler on this edition of Fresh Air. Manil Suri's just published his first novel The Death of Vishnu. The book follows the lives of the many inhabitants of a Bombay apartment building - including Vishnu, the homeless man who lives in the building's stairwell. Based on the writer's childhood in Bombay, the book has met praise from critics for its inclusion of Hindu mythology and cinema. When not writing, Mr. Suri is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Maryland. Peter Hessler is the author of River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. It's about his two years in Fuling, China as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English and American literature at a local college. The book was serialized in The New Yorker. (Broadcast Date: February 5, 2001)