cover image When the Rain Falls

When the Rain Falls

Subhakar Das. Roman (Pathway, dist.), $25.95 (246p) ISBN 978-93-80905-31-0

Set in the late-19th-century Indian state of Assam, Das’s earnest debut novel paints an exceedingly grim picture of rural poverty and the desire for independence. For the farmers in Das’s unnamed village, “Birth meant an invitation to a life of suffering and never ending work, and of the inevitable sickness and death of which there was no escape.” Oppressed by the virtually faceless government and its paramilitary police, the impoverished Assamese fall into two camps: the older generation, embodied in a farmer and teacher named Bibhuti Barua, still enthralled by the vision of freedom and independence espoused by Gandhi in South Africa; and the younger generation that believes only violent revolution can free their state. Barua’s son, Manav, emphatically rejects Gandhi’s nonviolence and becomes an assassin in the mysterious Sangathon brotherhood. Caught between these ideological poles lies Ai, Bibhuti’s wife and Manav’s mother; her primary function is the function of mothers everywhere: to worry. She’s a useful device, a lens through which we see both sides, but her perspective is more confused than insightful. Das’s writing lacks nuance and characterization; it’s easy to sympathize with the villagers, but it’s hard to feel too much for any character in this overly sincere novel. (Dec. 11)