CHOICE

Intractable dilemmas challenge the very existence of several principal characters in Mukherjee’s new novel.

Divided into three connected parts, the book contrasts the consciences of socially aware European professionals with the survival struggles of African refugees and the very poorest of Indian villagers. Part 1 focuses on a London-based gay couple, Ayush and Luke, parents to Masha and Sasha. Luke, the higher earner of the pair, is an economist with the credo: “Economics is life, life is economics.” When not doing the lion’s share of parenting, Ayush works in publishing, editing books on diversity issues. A new author has recently joined his list but refuses to divulge more than the teasing name M.N. Opie. Tortured by capitalism’s distortion of everything, from farming to the climate, Ayush becomes increasingly unhinged. Part 2 features one of Opie’s stories, another clash between literature and economics. Emily, a middle-class English academic, is concussed after her taxi is involved in a hit-and-run. Confused and nauseated, Emily reaches out to the driver, Salim, and finds herself pulled into his world. And finally, Part 3, perhaps the work of one of Luke’s economist colleagues, sees a shift to India, where an impoverished family struggles to take advantage of the gift of a cow, only to discover this supposed opportunity to improve their finances brings additional, impossible burdens. Mukherjee puts his piercing intelligence and fine technique to the service of urgent issues and gargantuan choices, in a world where simple solutions are rarely available. This novel is more directly confrontational than his earlier books, and a challenge to the reader.

A determinedly provocative work of fiction—passionate, graphic, and uncomfortable.