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Snake Charmer
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780140278910
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0140278915
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 223
Publication Date: 1999-10
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Editorial Review:
"Some lifetimes seem to hinge on a single day, and for Sonalal today was that day."
A middle-aged snake charmer wakes up one morning in Delhi, little knowing that by evening his whole world will have been turned upside down, his life irrevocably changed. Married to an embittered wife, the father of two indifferent sons, Sonalal's closest relationship is with his elderly snake, Raju--a defanged cobra with whom he has worked for 15 years. On this day, Sonalal and Raju set up shop in front of a popular tourist destination and for nine straight hours the charmer plays while the snake dances. At the end of the evening, just as he is about to stop for the day, Sonalal is tempted to perform one last time by the arrival of a busload of foreign journalists. At first, Raju refuses to cooperate and Sonalal is embarrassed. Then he begins to play "variations on Raju's favorite tune, such beautiful variations that, had they been recorded, might have guaranteed Sonalal's immortality. It was as if the finest music of his ancestors--seven generations of charmers--had condensed into the enchanting combination of notes now coming from his new been." Raju dances, the journalists shower the charmer with money and in his excitement, Sonalal begins to play wrong notes. Raju becomes enraged and bites; Sonalal, in a moment of madness bites back, severing the snake in two.
And therein lies the tale.
The Snake Charmer is Sanjay Nigam's deceptively simple novel about a deceptively simple man. Not for Nigam the verbal pyrotechnics of Salman Rushdie or Arundhati Roy; he tells his tale from just behind Sonalal's ear, opening up his character's heart and mind as well as his world in prose that is both simple and lyrical. Sonalal's moment of madness in front of the foreign journalists leads to his 15 minutes of fame: for a few days, his face and story are splashed across newspapers around the world, and for a few brief moments he has the admiration of his family, friends, and neighbors. But fame is no antidote to the tremendous guilt that gnaws at him; in fact, the greater his fame, the angrier Sonalal becomes at the world's incomprehension of the gravity of his crime. As his character seeks desperately for solace first in medicine, then in magic, and eventually in the arms of his favorite prostitute, Nigam limns a compassionate portrait of one man's crisis of faith and despair against a backdrop of modern-day India. By turns tough and tender, The Snake Charmer marks an impressive debut by one of India's most promising new storytellers. --Alix Wilber
Hailed as an important new voice in fiction, Sanjay Nigam's debut is the story of a luckless snake charmer in an India both real and utterly magicalNamed "The Year's Best Fiction" by A. Magazine, The Snake Charmer tells the story of Sonalal, a middle-age snake charmer making a living with his been pipe and his beloved cobra, Raju. Despite his great skills, Sonalal's drinking and womanizing seem to have marked him for a life of insignificance. But that all changes one remarkable afternoon when he produces music so beautiful he is certain the gods must be listening. In a moment that will change his life forever, Raju bites Sonalal, and Sonalal bites back, destroying the one creature who loves him. The Snake Charmer traces Sonalal's bumpy journey through brief celebrity, profound remorse, and a quest for answers to unanswerable questions of love, life, and art. Sparely and beautifully written, this "novel of enchantments" (Oscar Hijuelos) is an unforgettable debut, confirming the Washington Post's comparison of Nigam to Arundhati Roy and Vikram Chandra.* Penguin Readers Guide Bound into Every Book"An engaging, light as a feather tale . . . Sonalal is, in short, a marvelous creation." --Richard Bernstein, The New York Times"The opening qualifies as the season's best." --USA Today"An exceptional novel."--The Washington Post* A selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Quality Paperback Book Club* A Quality Paperback New Voices Fiction Award nominee* The Utne Reader recently honored Nigam as one of the ten important writers who comprise "The New Face of Fiction"
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - DONT READ!
What a pathetic waste of time! All those people who are giving this book high ratings should go to any public school in India and pick up any essay from a 6th grade kid, and you'll realise he/she would have done a better job. Forget about litrary pyrotechnics and all, the plot is listless and dulling. The story goes nowhere. It was a real pain to finish reading this book, as I was foolish enough to keep on persisting, hoping the book would redeem itself at the end.
Nope. Nada. Zip. The ending ... Read More
Rating:  - Simple Cover, Slightly More Complex Book
A first glance at this book's cover can lead one to think of it as a rather simple story of a sterotypical snake charmer. However, the old adage of "never judge a book by its cover" is very true here. Instead of being a simple tale of a classic Indian archetype, "The Snake Charmer" presents many interesting questions and ideas to the reader. The book is set in modern-day, post-independence India. It takes place after "The Emergency" and after the death of Sanjay ... Read More
Rating:  - A wonderful discovery of modern fiction
The title character of "The Snake Charmer" is a middle-aged man named Sonalal who makes his living in the vicinity of a Delhi tourist attraction playing his "been" pipe while his cobra, Raju, dances to the heavenly music. Sonalal's personal life is sad: he is simple and uneducated, his marriage to his wife Sarita is loveless but tolerable, his two young sons hardly respect his profession, and he spends much of his free time drinking and visiting his favorite prostitute, Reena.
One ... Read More
Rating:  - Wonderful in its simplicity
A simple tale but one that almost brings Sonalal and all the characters of the novel to life. I picked the book up because of the cover and ended up buying it after reading 40 pages. Magnificent first effort.
Rating: - Difficult to put down -- a great read!
I loved this book. Simply written with the simplest of plots, this book captivated me from the first page.
The story of a snake charmer who surprisingly finds fame but at the price of deep personal loss, this story had me reexamining priorities in light of the charmer's fates. Is fame more important than love? More important than being able to continue work you love? Success at what cost? Is it more important than family? And the charmer's less-than-stellar morality leads to questions of spousal ... Read More
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