THE COMPLEX

The saga of an Indian family constantly at odds with one another.

The titular complex in Mahajan’s third novel, set in the 1980s and early ’90s, is A-19 Modern Colony, a cluster of apartments in Delhi built shortly after the Indian partition of 1947 by SP Chopra, a late politician who had seven sons and two daughters; his sons’ descendants now populate the dwellings. Among SP’s sons is Laxman, who has strived to live up to his father’s sterling reputation, but fails over and over again. Still, in the words of his great-nephew Mohit, “Say what you would about Laxman Chacha, but he had been exactly what he appeared to be. There was no artifice. He saw the world and he took and took. He never apologized.” That Laxman is a monster is made clear early in the novel, when he rapes Gita, the wife of one of his nephews, Sachin, when she visits Delhi; Gita keeps the assault a secret from her husband, who is at the time in their home in Midland, Michigan. The attack alters the course of Gita’s life; she’s ambivalent about staying in America, and despite Laxman, wants to return to Delhi, to Sachin’s consternation: “If India drew her back, it also repelled her. India was her spouse. What was he?” Meanwhile, Laxman begins an affair with Karishma, the wife of his nephew Brij, and becomes, despite his general incompetence, a political kingmaker. While Mahajan’s novel focuses heavily on Laxman, Gita, and Sachin, other scions of the Chopra family make appearances, and each one is beautifully drawn. He clearly understands the psychology of family, messy as it always is. Mahajan evokes the clashing landscapes of India and Michigan with a sure hand, and displays a keen understanding of Indian society and politics. Though the reader learns in the opening pages that one main character will be murdered by a relative, the novel’s final chapters still manage to be shocking, which is a testament to Mahajan’s genius. This novel is beautiful and unforgettable.

A masterly novel, seemingly influenced by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, by a talented and self-assured writer.