A Lovesong for India

December 19, 2011
There’s a cinematic quality to many of these short stories, not surprising given Jhabvala’s illustrious film career: she has written more than 20 screenplays for Merchant-Ivory films and won Academy Awards for A Room with a View and Howards End. In “Bombay,” young Munni escapes an unwanted arranged marriage and flees to the U.S., where she meets and marries the son of a famous Indian film actor. The couple returns to the ancestral home of the aging celebrity, who takes a particular interest in his son’s new bride. The opulent setting and plot twists are noteworthy, but eclipse the characters. Other stories, set in New York and London, echo with a similar resonance; unlikely brushes with fame or fortune create intriguing situations, but Jhabvala fails to fill out characters. In “The New Messiah,” orphaned siblings Rita and Kris (short for Krishna) meet a filmmaker in London, who is struggling after a string of flops, and follow him to New York so that Rita can assist him. It’s Kris, however, who becomes the apple of the man’s eye, apparently inspiring everyone in his wake as well as an elaborate new film. Though the story builds around Kris’s magnetism, accounts of his appearance, idiosyncrasies, or appeal remain absent. Jhabvala’s exquisite sensibilities promise a more satisfying engagement. Agent: Debbie Gill, Maia Publishing Services.

February 1, 2012

Long a celebrated author of screenplays, novels, and short stories (e.g., Heat and Dust), 84-year-old Jhabvala presents a story collection marked by the diversity of the characters and settings. Both "The New Messiah" and "Talent," set in New York, focus on a younger crowd trying to manage success while navigating the arts and entertainment world. In these stories, as in "School of Oriental Studies," two people contend for the attention and/or affection of the same person. Situated in India, "Innocence" and "A Lovesong for India" feature older couples struggling with scandal as well as changing social and cultural mores. Throughout, Jhabvala populates her tales with characters whose eccentricities inject tension and emotional intrigue as well as humor into the plots. VERDICT Jhabvala here demonstrates the concise and detached writing style for which she is known and praised. Her reputation alone ought to be enough to recommend this collection, but its energy, subtlety, and beauty legitimize its place in all fiction collections.--Faye A. Chadwell, Oregon State Univ. Libs., Corvallis

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