The Illicit Happiness of Other People - Manu Joseph

This is a book that I started reading upon being introduced it by another reading group I am in. By now I have a lot of respect for authors of Indian origin, writing in English - from Salman Rushdie, to Arundathy Roy, to Aravind Adiga. The tile of the book itself, made me notice the book, and reading reviews made me realise that it is a different kind of book.

The Book - Meet Unni Chako, the main character - oops, you can't meet him. He's already dead by page one itself.  Why did he commit suicide ?  That is the only question that matters, and that carries the whole weight of the book. Note, am stating all this, and still stating quite honestly that am not spoiling the book for you. Why ? This is just the base of the story. What we have is a drunkard father, a troubled mother and an insecure brother all trying to figure out why he committed suicide.  His father has made this his sole occupation, three years after his son's death, for the circumstances warranted that he find out the truth. The dysfunctional family is bound by their grief for their lost family member. During , Ousep Chako's (the father), escapades to get to the root of this issue, us, the reader is taken on a thought provoking journey in 1990s Madras. We see protests (in passing ) against Sri Lanka stating that the Government is hunting down Thamils; we see the late actor turned chief minister and his mistress turned politician, Amma; we see Madras' obsession with Mathematics, Engineering Colleges and finding a job in America; we see proselytizing as happened in South India ; we see abuse of women and shame-faced homo-sexuality . All these decorate the  way  as Joseph paints a politically conscious, critical review of 90s Madras.

But that commentary, however much vivid it is, is  not our author's main intent. We see the author's intent through Ousep Chako. He discovers his son's traits,  of philosophical inquiry, social experiments and  dispensing  justice - Unni style. At another level it is a wonderful portrayal of adolescent doubt, overconfidence and psyche. What can be the result when one has some notion about the existential crisis at a relatively young age ?

I will leave with a few, witty, insightful extracts from the book as tempters, with the hope that some of you will enjoy the exhilaration that this book brought me.

Extract 1:

"It is true anywhere in the world, but the fear of the adolescent boys on Balaji Lane is exceptional. They are terrified of everything, of life, of their future, of friends doing better than them, of falling off their cycles, of big trucks and large men, and of beautiful women. The only thing that does not scare them is calculus."
Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Location 102-04). Kindle Edition.

Extract 2:

All this will go one day, this animal poverty, it will vanish. And future generations will not know, will not even guess, the true nature of poverty, which is the longest heritage of man. Shouldn’t this be preserved somehow, like old colonial buildings, shouldn’t abject poverty be preserved as historical evidence? That is what socialists are trying to do in this country. Everybody misunderstands their intentions. They are noble conservationists, working hard to preserve a way of the world.

Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Locations 927-930). Kindle Edition.

 Extract 3:

 The happiest men in the world are the men who swore that they would never become their fathers. That is how the alpha males became endangered. Their sons decided that they would not become their fathers, they would be decent men, they would not sleep with strangers through the night, they would instead wipe baby shit, they would know at all times the ages of their children and the names of their teachers, they would buy curtains, they would transfer food from large bowls into smaller bowls and put them in the fridge, they would not be their fathers. In a world full of new men who did not want to be their fathers, what chance did the alpha males have?

Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Locations 1410-1414). Kindle Edition. 

Extract 4:

The society of neuroscientists does not recognize mass delusion as a psychiatric condition. What does this mean? This means, the society of neuroscientists would admit that all evidence points to the fact that God is a figment of man’s delusion, yet believers in God, who form most of humanity, cannot be considered delusional. This is a ridiculous position. From the point of view of neuroscience, sanity is a majority condition, and a mass delusion is not a delusion but merely human nature.

Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Locations 3780-3783). Kindle Edition.

 Extract 5:

         He finds it funny, and strangely satisfying, that the pursuit of truth is in all likelihood a path left behind by ancient schizophrenics.

Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Locations 3843-3844). Kindle Edition. 

After Warlight, this is easily the best book of fiction book I've read so far this year. Joseph has written a book,  rich with pain, existentialism, sarcasm, neuroscience and contemporary politics. The irony of our times are, that under all the bleakness that these bring us, there is an undeniable humour in how these characters go about their lives.

Please Read this ! I implore !