Lead Review (Age of Vice)

• Book: Age of Vice
• Location: New Delhi
• Author: Deepti Kapoor

Review Author: Tina Hartas

Family ties are ultimately the ties that bind. This is a sweeping novel of India, set in the early part of the 21st Century. The novel opens first with the description of a car accident and then moves swiftly into the novella-length early story of Ajay, the driver, who seems to have been at the wheel of a Mercedes, a car which belonged to notorious Gautham Rathore. It then goes on to chart Ajay’s back story from 1991, a poor child who is sold into servitude after the violent death of his father, far away from his family in Delhi, up in the foothills of the Himalayas.

This introduction to Ajay had me beautifully hooked in and then the author changes gear to bring the reader forward into Ajay’s adult life, when he is working as a gofer and man servant for Sunny Wadia, another infamous man on the circuit, with a reputation for carelessness, moneyed ways and big ideas. And ruthlessness, it turns out. Ajay has certainly moved on in the world, but what kind of world has he entered?

It is a world, back in Delhi, where Ajay observes and keeps his counsel, although most of those around him are losing their heads – to drugs and alcohol, pleasure-seeking, retribution and family narratives. Just being in that kind of environment is affective, and, maintaining his poise, discretion and integrity becomes increasingly hard. It feels impossible to stand on the side lines for ever and not be affected by prolonged and entrenched machinations.

We understand the unfolding narrative not only through Ajay’s story but also through exploring Sunny and Neda’s worlds. It is often not a pretty picture but there is something about the pull of family that is clearly hard to withstand. Moral compasses are often skewed and what of the innocent party, sucked into twighlight nefarious machinations?

There is a lot of dialogue in the novel and it reminded me of the talking that went on with Lin and his group at Cafe Leopold in Bombay, in the novel Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It has also drawn inspiration from sweeping family narratives like Succession and The Sopranos, so it has been interesting how the shift from the USA – as a backdrop – has influenced the storyline.

A well written and very readable novel that will transport the reader to the non-touristy aspects of the country.

Back to book