The Assassin's Song

An epic and a history, this story of Karsan Dargawalla fills all the senses with rural India. Karsan's father is the avatar of a Sufi shrine, and it will fall to Karsan as oldest son to follow in his ancestors' footsteps as a minor god. He chooses, however, the road to the modern world and leaves India to study in America. Firdous Bamji is a better pronouncer than deft reader. He is careful with these tales filled with exotic events and details, but there's no characterization or inflection in his narrative. The lushness of India is laid before us in delightful, magical, and sometimes-humorous detail. But the inevitable religious riots and retaliations magnify the challenges facing this complicated nation. B.H.B. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine