The Revised Kama Sutra: A Novel

Vijay Prabhu is so innocent that, at 14, he thinks that breasts are extended lungs that enable women to breathe longer in case of a fight. In this widely acclaimed comic novel, which Kurt Vonnegut described as “very funny”, Vijay Prabhu comes of age in a sexually repressed India. Despite narrow-minded nuns and strict Jesuits, he manages to find liberation and the knowledge he seeks from Bertrand Russell and Western sex manuals, which he must borrow and read on the sly.It is a journey that has charmed thousands of readers (the best pages come in the middle and latter parts), making it an Indian bestseller, published by twelve publishers (including Viking Penguin and Fourth Estate) in ten countries and seven languages.

Originally subtitled "A Novel of Colonialism and Desire," "The Revised Kama Sutra" is a mulltifaceted novel: comic, subversive, political, a social history and a coming of age story, one that uncompromisingly portrays the sex life (or lack of it) of young Indians in a colonized society, one in which "Kama Sutra" is a dirty word.

The result is "David Copperfield" meeting "Catcher in the Rye" and "Portnoy's Complaint." Described as "humorous and manic" (The Independent, London), the novel has also been adapted for the stage and played to many standing room only audiences.

"Hilarious."--Time Out, London.
"Indefatigable good humor, charm"--Publishers Weekly, USA.
"A comic timing never seen in any Indian novel to date."--The Indian Express
"Absolutely spectacular . . .a hilarious novel, full of wit and glib language, with a whole lot of compassion thrown in. Irreverent, moving.”-Afternoon Dispatch and Courier
"A Dickensian tale of a young boy's travails, a comic-sexual odyssey,and a modern Joycean anti-novel. Peppery wit, no-holds-barred,desanitised, Rabelaisian. Real and genuine ... remarkable perceptivity"-Times of India