Readers Book Review: The Death of Vishnu, written by Manil Suri

Book Review
The Death of Vishnu
Author: Manil Suri
Copyright 2002

Submitted by Andrea Lutz,
Director, Farmland Public Library


The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri.

I mulled over this book for weeks, waiting for someone to return it to the library with excited proclamations…but it was a sleeper, sitting on the new-book shelf for nearly a month without a reader.

Debut books by new authors such as Suri are often overlooked. Unbound by the restraints of audience expectation or critical reviews, The Death of Vishnu proved to be a worthy investigation built on a true childhood memory, and a deserving recipient of the PEN/Faulkner Award depicted on its cover.

The author was born in Bombay (presently, Mumbai), India. According to an online biography, Suri enjoys dedicating his professional life to the study of mathematics, although he is cited “writing has been a way for him to escape the horror of being a mathematician.” But later in that biography he also states, “Mathematics is my way to escape the horrors of being a writer.” Perhaps it is ownership of this innermost turmoil that propels this dark investigation of the human condition!

The story opens up with Vishnu, the odd-jobs man in a Bombay apartment building, dying on the lowest stairwell where he has resided for many years. In his fevered dreams, we relive intimate memories of his life, from the purity of his love for Mother, to the sultry love of the unattainable Padmini. In his confused state, his thought mingle with fragments of Hindu mythology, and he wonders if he is truly the embodiment of the God Vishnu, Guardian of the Universe.

Meanwhile the lives of the apartment dwellers are revealed, from the bickering housewives on the first floors, the bamboozled parents one flight up, the vivid epiphany of a faithless man, and the eternally grieving widower. Outwardly, each lives a life of privilege, while their innermost, selfish desires prevent the happiness they crave. Each rebukes social obligations as they deny responsibility to assist the destitute, dying servant, Vishnu.

As Vishnu’s soul ascends to the heavens, with the Hindu promise of a higher existence in the next life, the sins of the apartment dwellers plummet to depths from which there may be no absolution. It is this duality of motion that forms the moral highway for this novel of hope, resplendent in colorful mythology, modern day trials and tribulations.

With certainty, this is one of my recommendation for a compelling summer read.