The Blind Lady's Descendants Hardcover – June 15, 2014

This is a gripping tale of a boy, a family, an old home and a place. There is not an extraneous word or a moment in the novel when I could take my mind off the narrative.

Anees Salim`s book, “The Blind Lady`s Descendants” won the Raymond Crossword award in 2014 in fiction category. One of the three judges said this one wasn`t included even in the long list of ninety books that they were initially provided. It`s because of Anjum Hasan, one of the three judges, that Salim`s book got listed at the last moment and finally made it to the top spot.When I began to read the book in my kindle after discovering the above mentioned incident, I was curious to know what was it that made Anjum Hasan to include it. A few paragraph down, I knew why.Written like an autobiographical style, it`s the story of Amar, a young Muslim boy who turned atheist when he turned thirteen. The reason why he became an atheist is one the funniest anecdote of the story which spans about two decades. The writer never mentions the geographical location of the little town, but from the descriptions it seems to be somewhere in coastal provinces of Kerala or Karnataka. A derelict bungalow with lots of trees around in the front yard, a century old railway tunnel made by British, four siblings, their grumpy father who had stopped talking to his wife for some sixteen years set the mood of a funny, dark as well as gripping tale that will not let you keep it closed until finished.Having grown up in similar small town, a railway township of eastern India, I found a queer similarity of Amar`s story with my own; and maybe this was the reason why I loved it so much.The blind lady in question is Amar`s maternal grandmother, who ultimately gets killed by her own daughter Asma, the mother of the four children. Hamsa, the father of the four children, is one archetypal male, perpetually disgruntled for being a loser he was all along his life, who secretly married another woman at Malabar where he allegedly went to buy spices. We know in the end those were his routine visits to his second wife in guise of work.Sophiya, the third child dies in a boat mishap and Akmal, the second one disappears following his transition from a religious boy to radical terrorist. Jasira, the eldest, gets married to a local professor while Amar, who is the alter ego of Javi, his maternal uncle who killed himself at a young age remains till the end to tell us the story.Nothing extraordinary happens, but all the small incidents that a common man experiences are there in the book in vivid colours. I liked the way he writes and before this one finished, I got another Anees Salim book downloaded. But that`s for another occasion.

Excellent book. A very good read. hilarious at certain parts. very well written. Enjoyed reading it.

This book is a suicide note of the protagonist, Amar Hamsa. A note filled with dark humor and cruelreality.The narration begins with the Amar telling about her mother driving tiny nails into the front door toward off bad luck. “Bad luck, then, must have come in through the back door, because by the time Iconsidered myself grown up, I had started to regard it as a family member”, Amar says. Yes, this badluck, which didn’t care about the tiny nails in the front door, becomes a member of his family and finallydrives him to commit suicide. Being a reader, we feel the pain Amar goes through. When Amar decidesto end his life, we don’t feel bad, we just pity, because we already know there was no other way out!Many might argue that instead of suicide, Amar should have faced the difficulties, and the climax shouldhave ended in hope, but somehow, I don’t feel this was what it was meant to be. The premise of thiswas laid by his uncle Javi, who killed himself on the same day the protagonist was born. In real life, noteverybody is born to fight!It’s a sad story mixed with lot of dark humor and lewd fantacies (Which doesn’t seem unreal!). Thecharacters seem so real - blind lady who has opinions on everything, Asma and Hamsa two people whoshould never had been married (As said by the author himself), Jasira who is bent on getting her shareno matter what, Akmal an intelligent boy who turns extremist, Sophiya who dies in an accident, Javi whowrites his name on every book he has read and Protagonist (Amar), an atheist who is haunted by hisuncle Javi who died on the same day protagonist was born.None of the characters are neither good nor bad. Their actions are the reactions to the situations. Evenwhen the mother feeds sleeping pills to her own mother to kill her, you don’t blame the mother, butinstead you blame the situations which lead the lady to this desperate action. You don’t blame theprotagonist when he decides to kill himself, but you pity him, because by then you know that he didn’thave any other option to free himself from the pain he is going through. Death comes here as aliberator!

The story follows the life of Amar, the protagonist (for want of a better word), discontinuously, and his family as seen through his eyes. Someone used the word ‘dysfunctional’ in one of the reviews (elsewhere), but his family really doesn’t seem that different from a lot of families and relationships in real life: husbands and wives who don’t get along, grasping, property minded children (or relatives in general), infidelity, tiffs between siblings, etc can all be quite commonly observed, (though maybe not all at the same time). The realism, lightened with humour (sometimes gross, sometimes black), along with the use of the language is what appealed.

Once you start the characters engulf you. Hard to put down.

Really fascinating story with good narrative

One of the very best I've read. Quite realistic and poignant too. Tears may well up in the eyes of the readers. Many of the characters will haunt us longer. A gifted writer, Anees Salim, has made a crowning achievement by blending humour with sentimentalism