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Shop nowGhachar Ghochar
Narrator
Neil Shah
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Translator
Srinath Perur
Length
2 hours 41 minutes
Language
English
A young man’s close-knit family is nearly destitute when his uncle founds a successful spice company, changing their fortunes overnight. As they move from a cramped, ant-infested shack to a larger house on the other side of Bangalore, and try to adjust to a new way of life, the family dynamic begins to shift. Allegiances realign; marriages are arranged and begin to falter; and conflict brews ominously in the background. Things become “ghachar ghochar”—a nonsense phrase uttered by one meaning something tangled beyond repair, a knot that can’t be untied.
Elegantly written and punctuated by moments of unexpected warmth and humor, Ghachar Ghochar is a quietly enthralling, deeply unsettling novel about the shifting meanings—and consequences—of financial gain in contemporary India.
Vivek Shanbhag is the author of several works of fiction and two plays, all of which have been published to wide acclaim in the South Indian language Kannada. The first of his books to appear in English, Ghachar Ghochar was excerpted in Granta’s 2015 India issue.
Neil Shah is an Audie-nominated narrator and winner of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards who has recorded over 150 audiobooks. AudioFile magazine has commended him for “an absolutely mesmerizing listening experience” and as “an outstanding narrator who adds a healthy dose of personality to each of the characters.” As a classically trained actor with an MFA from the Old Globe/University of San Diego, he has appeared off Broadway and on regional stages, as well as in film and television. He records from his home studio in Portland, Oregon.
Srinath Perur is a writer and translator whose work has appeared in n+1, Granta, and the Guardian. He is the author of If It’s Monday It Must Be Madurai, published by Penguin India.
Reviews
“Neil Shah gives voice to the existential crisis at the narrator’s core. Six family members live under one roof, tolerating each other. Shah describes their relational highs and lows in a sardonic tone. His narrative style delivers the story in precise, clipped sentences at steady pace. Shah’s experience shows in his well-rounded portrayal of female characters.”
“A classic tale of wealth and moral ruin.”
“A great Indian novel.”
“Ghachar Ghochar introduces us to a master.”
“There’s a whole universe folded into this slender, spiny novel. It’s a parable of rising India and of violence against women, and a sly commentary on translation…This story of a family’s moral unraveling and descent into cruelty after it comes into sudden wealth—capped by a hair-raising ending—already feels like a modern-day classic.”
“The tense fun of reading this vivid, fretful story lies in watching the main characters grab hold of what they think will be rescue ropes but instead turn out to be slip knots…Ghachar Ghochar is filled with wry poetic lines.”
“One of the most striking novels you’ll read this decade…In Shanbhag’s hands, the Indian family is revealed in layers; as one layer peels away, what lies beneath is left raw and exposed.”
“Absorbing, insightful, and altogether a wonderful read.”
“Shanbhag excels at capturing nuanced moments…Evocative, one-of-a-kind snapshots linger in the mind long after the novel’s completion.”
“A compact novel that crackles with tension, tracing the tangled path of a family’s dissolution in their sudden rise to wealth.”
“Mesmerizing, distressing—and altogether brilliant.”
“Exquisitely observed, wry, and moving…Vivek Shanbhag is a writer of rare and wonderful gifts.”
“One of the best novels to have come out of India in recent decades.”
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