Monday, December 8, 2008

The Assassin's Song



Some Americans considered the offerings of cable TV indispensable to their daily lives, however I have abandoned my old friend since my departure from Thailand. I had no TV in Palm Beach and none at my present digs on Graham Avenue in Brooklyn. I don't watch ENTOURAGE, THE SIMPSONS, or sporting events. I do surf the Internet for porno, however my main form of diversion comes from books, both fiction and non-fiction, and my most recent conquest was THE ASSASSIN'S SONG by M.G. Vassanji.

Random House acclaims their in-house writer as a profound genius and I have to admit his tale about a semi-divine Indian's rejection of his birthright. To be the high priest of a temple dedicated to a long-dead Sufi wanderer with a murderous past. Peace, love, and understanding in times of turmoil set in Gujarat explain the most recent madness in Bombay in that killers kill because they are called to the killing by an ancient song.

Basically it's a novel about a young boy, then a man who decides he doesn't want to be his father and in the end surrenders to the inevitable.

I got the book from the library. It cost nothing. The only energy consumed was that of the subway taking me back and forth from the library. I supposed if I had walked, then my ecological footprint would have been nothing. Still reading THE ASSASSIN'S SONG was a better waste of time than watching TV.

I love reading.

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