A River Sutra

Rating:
Summary: Communism Rules
Review: "A River Sutra" takes place on the Narmada River, the holiest river in India. It is a collection of short stories, traveling deep into the human mind and soul. Ranging from the Naga Baba searching for enlightenment and reentering the world to become a scientist, the son of the owner of a huge diamond firm renouncing the world to become an ascetic, and a music teacher who found an escape from his miserable life through teaching a talented singer, leading to only more and more misery. Despite the novel's stimulating psychological analysis, many of the views Mehta presents are very subjective, and I don't agree with them. One of these, for instance, is her view on materialism - many times throughout the novel, Mehta strives to prove materialistic wealth doesn't matter and one may be content as long as his spiritual life is fulfilling. Personally, I disagree with this statement, because, especially in modern society, most aspects of our lives revolve around money - education, medical care, and even people who surround us. Also present in the novel are the biased views of the narrator, as all the stories are filtered through him before they reach us. For instance when relating "The Teacher's Story," Tariq Mia says "Finally I was able to convince Master Mohan he was not responsible for the boy's death." This biased view makes it difficult to differentiate between the narrator's view and the actual story. In spite of these flaws, the novel is very captivating, and opens up new perspective for the reader to consider.