The Strange Case of Billy Biswas [Review]
by Arun Joshi.
A man gets tired of society in The Strange Case of Billy Biswas.
This book is a fascinating dive into the human mind, a common trope in almost every book, but this especially was fascinating to me.
Billy is our protagonist, who grew up in a rich aristocratic lifestyle. It's all to easy for him but, that's the lifestyle he's not completely comfortable with. On a trip with his valet, he gets to witness a tribal dance that connects with him on a spiritual level, so much so that he goes into depression during the following days, and sometimes has vivid hallucinations of it.
Cut to New York years later where Billy is studying Anthropology, while his parents think he's studying Engineering. This spotlights how society favors certain educations and occupations rather than letting people carve their own path. Here, he also meets two people, his only friends, and the only people who truly understand him; Tuula, a Swedish psychologist and Romi, our narrator. Romi discovers that Billy is a very educated man, by the number of books he reads, the lengthy conversations on societies he holds with Tuula or in numerous articles he writes on anthropology. It's in New York where Romi gets a glimpse inside Billy. It occurs during a party, where Billy plays the drums. It awakens something inside him that will never again rest.
Cut back to India, Delhi to be precise. Romi has returned after his father passed, and shortly afterward Billy comes home too.
Here, Billy pursues a career as a teacher in Anthropology. He also falls in love with Meena Chatterjee, who he later marries. However, their marriage does not work, with constant fights and endless verbal abuse. They both have a son, which makes it worse for them. Never once does it occur to them that a divorce is an option, hoping desperately that they might one day work it out. A fool's hope, especially when Billy, out of frustration, has extramarital affairs with her wife's friend, Rima. It highlights again how maintaining social standards include shunning divorces.
Billy can't adapt to this modern life he is in. He finds it meaningless and his frustrations know no bounds. This may be another factor determining the sinking ship that is his marriage. The only thing that does seem to interest him in this pointless life is the tribal life that hides in the vast jungles. He takes his students on a trip to visit them each regularly. And one day, he escapes to that world, living his family and everything he had behind. The police start a manhunt but that turns out fruitless, and they close the case concluding he was attacked and mailed by a man-eater (there were reports of a tiger roaming said jungle). Billy lives the next ten years peacefully in the tribe.
Ten years later, Romi comes in contact with Billy on trip to the tribal villages suffering from drought. They resume their friendship after Romi promises to keep it a secret.
But Romi lets it slips to his wife, who just got over a terrible migraine thanks to Billy, who healed her with his mystical tribal medical practice. His wife tells it to Meena, and she to Billy's father, who with his influence reopens the investigation regarding Billy. The manhunt ends with Billy spearing a fellow officer, and being shot by a shotgun himself. He utters his last words "You bastards.." leaving his new family of the tribe behind in the realm of the left.
It's a story on how man-made societies are built on selfish and futile systems where the reward isn't worth the effort, and no matter how far you run and how deep you hide, it will reach its corrupting hand and find you.
My rating:4/5.
by Arun Joshi.
A man gets tired of society in The Strange Case of Billy Biswas.
This book is a fascinating dive into the human mind, a common trope in almost every book, but this especially was fascinating to me.
Billy is our protagonist, who grew up in a rich aristocratic lifestyle. It's all to easy for him but, that's the lifestyle he's not completely comfortable with. On a trip with his valet, he gets to witness a tribal dance that connects with him on a spiritual level, so much so that he goes into depression during the following days, and sometimes has vivid hallucinations of it.
Cut to New York years later where Billy is studying Anthropology, while his parents think he's studying Engineering. This spotlights how society favors certain educations and occupations rather than letting people carve their own path. Here, he also meets two people, his only friends, and the only people who truly understand him; Tuula, a Swedish psychologist and Romi, our narrator. Romi discovers that Billy is a very educated man, by the number of books he reads, the lengthy conversations on societies he holds with Tuula or in numerous articles he writes on anthropology. It's in New York where Romi gets a glimpse inside Billy. It occurs during a party, where Billy plays the drums. It awakens something inside him that will never again rest.
Cut back to India, Delhi to be precise. Romi has returned after his father passed, and shortly afterward Billy comes home too.
Here, Billy pursues a career as a teacher in Anthropology. He also falls in love with Meena Chatterjee, who he later marries. However, their marriage does not work, with constant fights and endless verbal abuse. They both have a son, which makes it worse for them. Never once does it occur to them that a divorce is an option, hoping desperately that they might one day work it out. A fool's hope, especially when Billy, out of frustration, has extramarital affairs with her wife's friend, Rima. It highlights again how maintaining social standards include shunning divorces.
Billy can't adapt to this modern life he is in. He finds it meaningless and his frustrations know no bounds. This may be another factor determining the sinking ship that is his marriage. The only thing that does seem to interest him in this pointless life is the tribal life that hides in the vast jungles. He takes his students on a trip to visit them each regularly. And one day, he escapes to that world, living his family and everything he had behind. The police start a manhunt but that turns out fruitless, and they close the case concluding he was attacked and mailed by a man-eater (there were reports of a tiger roaming said jungle). Billy lives the next ten years peacefully in the tribe.
Ten years later, Romi comes in contact with Billy on trip to the tribal villages suffering from drought. They resume their friendship after Romi promises to keep it a secret.
But Romi lets it slips to his wife, who just got over a terrible migraine thanks to Billy, who healed her with his mystical tribal medical practice. His wife tells it to Meena, and she to Billy's father, who with his influence reopens the investigation regarding Billy. The manhunt ends with Billy spearing a fellow officer, and being shot by a shotgun himself. He utters his last words "You bastards.." leaving his new family of the tribe behind in the realm of the left.
It's a story on how man-made societies are built on selfish and futile systems where the reward isn't worth the effort, and no matter how far you run and how deep you hide, it will reach its corrupting hand and find you.
My rating:4/5.
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