Man on Fire

October 19, 2015
In his second novel, Kelman (Pigeon English) focuses on the spiritual crisis of an Englishman who travels to the village of Navi Mumbai, in India, in order to kick-start his sputtering life. Desperately seeking meaning, John Lock decides to leave his ailing wife behind for a short time to go to India and join acclaimed pioneer of extreme sports Bibhuti Nayak, who is attempting to end his career with a final world record—breaking 50 baseball bats over his body. Interwoven flashbacks reveal that Bibhuti already endured a record 43 kicks to his unprotected groin in 1998 and claimed another record in 1999 for 1,448 sit-ups in one hour, but when John sees three slabs of concrete broken over Bibhuti’s groin in a television performance, it incites his “sense of the magnificent,” leaving him with pure desire: “I wanted what he had. He shimmered and crackled and the world bent to his will.” Lock weathers a deluge of surprising revelations and eventually must contend with his own spiritual beliefs. The kinship between these two different men is endearing, and Kelman’s novel is a joyful offering.

November 15, 2015
Two men pursuing different paths in their searches for redemption come together in Mumbai in a strange East-meets-West collision. John Lock is 60 and ill when he leaves England and a life marked by disappointment to seek out a martial arts teacher in India named Bibhuti Nayak, who is 41. Hoping to inspire India's poor to strive for a better life, Bibhuti engages in extreme feats of strength and pain endurance that also qualify him for entries in Guinness World Records. He has concrete slabs smashed on his groin with a sledgehammer. He performs 1,448 sit-ups in an hour and has 31 watermelons dropped on his stomach from a height of 10 meters in one minute. John has made his pilgrimage to help with Bibhuti's ultimate display of masochism or stoicism: breaking the most baseball bats on the Indian's body. Cruelty and humor cohabited comfortably in Kelman's well-received debut, Pigeon English (2011), and this sophomore outing seems ripe for a similar coupling. There are glimpses of that in a brief, delightful visit with monks who "believe in table tennis as the ideal way to practise their religion" and in a scene in which John rescues a shipment of snow globes during a monsoon. But Bibhuti's feats are recorded in chapters from his book in progress and feature an earnest sermonizing style rendered in needlessly broken English, given that he is also a respected writer for the English-language Times of India. John comes to a grudging acceptance of God after several one-sided chats with the deity. Neither pilgrim's progress is very convincing. While the book offers some fine prose and observations of Indian life, it's also marked by clunky stretches and an awkward seriousness that suggests a writer still trying to sort out his thoughts.

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Starred review from December 1, 2015
When John Lock receives life-altering news, he can no longer face the prison of his everyday life. He leaves behind his beleaguered marriage and heads to India with the goal of assisting Guinness World Record holder Bibhuti Nayak in pursuit of his most outrageous accomplishment yet. Bibhuti, already the champion for most number of times hit in the groin, now aims to have the greatest number of bats broken over his body. Bibhuti is hampered by a lack of funding and support, so Lock's willingness and ready cash are an answer to his prayers. Bibhuti promises to cure John of his ills, while John pledges his loyalty to Bibhuti's unconventional record. But just as things seem to be going well, both John and Bibhuti find themselves more vulnerable than they had imagined. Many readers will be unfamiliar with Bibhuti Bhutan Nayak, the real-life martial artist, but his inspirational personality and larger-than-life presence in India is given center stage in this fictional biography. Written with the blend of humor and compassion that Kelman demonstrated in his first novel, Pigeon English (2011), this is a deeply introspective and entertaining story of the hopes and dreams of two men and the country captivated by them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

Starred review from December 1, 2015

Bibhuti Bhushan (BB) Nayak has never met an extreme sports challenge that he could resist, the more extreme the better. From his first attempt at a Guinness Book record--43 kicks to his unprotected groin--BB lusts after sports immortality. To the consternation of his increasingly fretful wife, BB continually puts himself in harm's way, believing that a strict training regime, along with proper diet, correct breathing, meditation, and prayer will help him achieve his goals. His exploits eventually attract the interest of John Lock, an Englishman disappointed in life and lately diagnosed with cancer. Faking his death to spare his wife the worry and care of his illness, Lock travels to Mumbai, determined to assist BB in his quest for a new record: to withstand 50 baseball bats smashed against his body. With the book narrated alternately by Lock from BB's hospital bedside and by BB himself, it's hard to know whether BB is a true sportsman or an insane masochist. VERDICT With its unlikely subject for such an emotionally rich and imaginatively told tale, this second novel easily fulfills the promise of Kelman's much-admired and Man Booker short-listed Pigeon English. Astonishingly, most of this "fictional biography" is true.--Barbara Love, formerly with Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2015

How would you like to have three 40-pound slabs of concrete smashed over your groin or 31 watermelons dropped nearly simultaneously on your stomach from a height of more than 30 feet? That's what Bibhuti Nayak does as a specialist in feats of extreme (and, need we add, crazy) endurance, and John Lock has left England and his miserable job, failing marriage, and a secret he cannot share to offer himself as an assistant to Bibhuti. Kelman's debut, Pigeon English, was short-listed for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, and the Guardian First Book Award.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2015

Bibhuti Bhushan (BB) Nayak has never met an extreme sports challenge that he could resist, the more extreme the better. From his first attempt at a Guinness Book record--43 kicks to his unprotected groin--BB lusts after sports immortality. To the consternation of his increasingly fretful wife, BB continually puts himself in harm's way, believing that a strict training regime, along with proper diet, correct breathing, meditation, and prayer will help him achieve his goals. His exploits eventually attract the interest of John Lock, an Englishman disappointed in life and lately diagnosed with cancer. Faking his death to spare his wife the worry and care of his illness, Lock travels to Mumbai, determined to assist BB in his quest for a new record: to withstand 50 baseball bats smashed against his body. With the book narrated alternately by Lock from BB's hospital bedside and by BB himself, it's hard to know whether BB is a true sportsman or an insane masochist. VERDICT With its unlikely subject for such an emotionally rich and imaginatively told tale, this second novel easily fulfills the promise of Kelman's much-admired and Man Booker short-listed Pigeon English. Astonishingly, most of this "fictional biography" is true.--Barbara Love, formerly with Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.