A Book About Death
G.J.V. Prasad
THE ILLICIT HAPPINESS OF OTHER PEOPLE: A NOVEL by Manu Joseph Fourth Estate, 2013, 343 pp., 499
July 2013, volume 37, No 7

There are times, usually of media hype, when I don’t read a new novel that I would otherwise have read. Then there are novels I don’t read immediately because I am told by friends that I am certain to like them. Sometimes, the novels remain unread and I regret not having read some of them earlier when I do come across them again. I must confess that I didn’t read Manu Joseph’s first novel for this reason as also the fact that many reviewers wrote as if they had insider information on the man and his concerns. Not hype, but an irritating kind of shared knowledge—this is Manu Joseph and we have always known him. This is how he is, and he is brilliant.

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