English, August: An Indian Story (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781590171790)

Agastya Sen, known to friends by the English name August, is a child of the Indian elite. His friends go to Yale and Harvard. August himself has just landed a prize government job. The job takes him to Madna, "the hottest town in India," deep in the sticks. There he finds himself surrounded by incompetents and cranks, time wasters, bureaucrats, and crazies. What to do? Get stoned, shirk work, collapse in the heat, stare at the ceiling. Dealing with the locals turns out to be a lot easier for August than living with himself. English, August is a comic masterpiece from contemporary India. Like A Confederacy of Dunces and The Catcher in the Rye, it is both an inspired and hilarious satire and a timeless story of self-discovery.

Author: Upamanyu Chatterjee
ISBN-10: 1590171799
ISBN-13: 9781590171790
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Language: English
Published: 04/04/2006
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.76lbs
Size: 7.86h x 5.62w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/20/2006 pg. 133
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2006 pg. 197
Library Journal 04/01/2006 pg. 81
Entertainment Weekly 04/28/2006 pg. 139
New Yorker (The) 05/15/2006 pg. 83
New York Times 07/02/2006 pg. 12