The Talkative Man

[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

19)R.K. Narayan's The Talkative Man, like The Vendor of Sweets which I previously reviewed, is a short portrait of Indian life, a comedy which thankfully doesn't end in a wedding. They feel similar in a sort of whimsical love of the people he's telling tales of, flaws and all. But they're very different books in character.

The Talkative Man's hero is T.M., a rich and idle ne'er-do-well who occupies himself telling other peoples' stories as both a journalist and a gossip until he gets sucked into participating in someone else's story. What struck me most about the story is how the most significant moments in the story are the moments when the Talkative Man is tongue-tied, whether when he is so cowed by the Commandant that he listens to her whole story or when he is so intent on avoiding injury that he refuses to tell the librarian of his granddaughter's plan to elope.

Without ever calling attention to it, Narayan steers the reader to a powerful conclusion about the significance of being talkative, and how to find the time and place for it. The more I read Narayan, the more I want to read more. He has so much to share with the reader.

When I finished this, I picked up Delany's Dhalgren. It scares the crap out of me. Wish me luck.