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Title: A State of Freedom

Author: Neel Mukherjee

Narrator: Sartaj Garewal

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-06-17

Publisher: Random House Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Random House presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of A State of Freedom by Neel Mukherjee.

What happens when we attempt to exchange the life we are given for something better? Can we transform the possibilities we are born into?

A State of Freedom prises open the central, defining events of our century - displacement and migration - but not as you imagine them. Five characters in very different circumstances, from a domestic cook in Mumbai to a vagrant and his dancing bear, and a girl who escapes terror in her home village for a new life in the city, find out the meanings of dislocation and the desire for more.

Set in contemporary India and moving between the reality of this world and the shadow of another, this novel of multiple narratives - formally daring, fierce but full of pity - delivers a devastating and haunting exploration of the unquenchable human urge to strive for a different life.

Members Reviews:

Excellent stories about today's India...

Indian-born author Neel Mukherjee's newest novel, "A State of Freedom", is actually five stories of various lengths, all set in today's India. Several of the stories clearly impact on each other, and I have the feeling that if I knew more about what Mukherjee is writing about, the stories - their plot and characters - would be even more aligned.

I haven't read Neel Mukherjee's previous two novels, but I was intrigued by the description of "A State of Freedom". I've never been to India but have had an abiding interest in the country, its history, culture, and society. Mukherjee's stories all seem to center around food. Either the preparing and eating of food or the politics behind those who have either not enough or too much. The stories are set in Kolkata, Mumbai, and small villages in the hinterlands, and the characters travel between them as their positions in society change. And as society changes, the gap between wealthy and poor gets a bit smaller as the idea of both education and revolution gain importance to the poor.

I enjoyed the five stories but I skimmed the third one because of the cruelty and violence. Neither was gratuitous but I wasn't comfortable reading it. Mukherjee is a great writer and I'm looking forward to reading his backlist!

Offers insights into India and its different socioeconomic classes

This is a collection of short stories (really two very short stories, and three quite long), all told from the perspective of people within different social classes in India. The first story is about an Indian man who has moved to the United States and has brought back his American-born son to visit the Taj Mahal, to see his native country. The second is told from the perspective of a man who came from wealth, who has now living a very successful life in London and has come home to visit his parents for a long holiday. The third story tells of a very poor villager who captures a young bear and trains him to dance for money. The fourth tells the story of Milly, a girl who came from a village suffering poverty and living in constant fear of the guerrilla groups who wreak havoc all around them. In truth, the fifth story was so short that I can't even recall what it was about.

It would be inaccurate to say that I enjoyed this book. It really isn't the kind of book one enjoys, so to speak. Neither did I love it or hate it.