Narcopolis  (English, Paperback, Thayil Jeet)

Narcopolis is a novel by Jeet Thayil which is set in the Old Bombay of 1970s.

Summary of the Book

The story begins in the 1970s, in Shuklaji Street, Old Bombay. Here, in the opium room of a man known as Rashid, the air is heavy with intoxicating fumes. A voluptuous young woman holds a stemmed pipe over a flame, offering it to the men sprawled around her. The seduction of opium beckons even the most stalwart of men. In this world, stray dogs hunt in packs and street vendors hustle. Prostitutes call out to their quarry as their pimps wait outside their caged rooms, eager to collect their due. This dark and pitiful world is threatened by the news of a new terror, a stone killer known as Pathar Maar. This killer is after the nameless and invisible poor, an infinitely large tribe in this dark and shattered city. In a broad sweep, this novel covers the lives of people living in the Bombay of the 1970s. It is peopled by colourful yet dark characters such as whores, pushers, poets, gangsters and eunuchs, and is an odyssey into a large underworld of unimaginable depth.

About Jeet Thayil

Jeet Thayil is an Indian novelist and poet. He has also written several collections of poems, including These Errors Are Correct, English, Apocalypso and Gemini.

The above title was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2012, the Man Asian Literary Prize and The Hindu Literary Prize.