Delhi will lose the literary war

What’s the point of writing a book without a compelling story? It is depressing that this high-brow claptrap is as bad, or worse, than the low-brow claptrap by Chetan Bhagat et al put out by Indian publishing, says Aditya Sinha in this review of Raj Kamal Jha’s novel, She will Build Him a City

There is only one word to describe Raj Kamal Jha’s latest novel: pretentious. It ought to have been titled “He Will Write Us a Shitty”. It is 339 pages of three intertwined stories called “Man”, “Woman” and “Child”; Man has sexual fantasies in his empty home, Woman returns home to her mother after a long gap of years, and Child needs a home. Yes, the three are obviously linked and though you see this linkage coming a mile away, the connection appears only towards the end of this tedious story. (Sorry, this novel does not deserve a spoiler alert.) Here is a list of what is wrong with She Will Build Him a City.