Cuando los dioses escriben el Libro del Destino

Por Alice Albinia

"Valiente, juguetona, deliciosa, vital; Secretos de familia, hermanos perdidos, nacimientos ocultos: Albinia teje con maestría su relato y los personajes cobran vida de un modo absolutamente tangible y glorioso."

Time Out

 

"Una historia en la que el glamour de la India urbana esconde los más oscuros secretos. Una deliciosa lectura."

People



Una cautivadora saga familiar ambientada en la India contemporánea, en la que dioses y hombres conspiran para liberarse de las ataduras de la tradición y el destino.



Lila, una bella mujer de misterioso pasado, vuelve a Delhi desde Nueva York, veinte años después, para asistir a la fastuosa boda de una sobrina de su marido. Su regreso desempolva hechos del pasado y vuelve a remover relaciones enfriadas por la falta de contacto y por la lejanía emocional;

Enredos de familia con desenlaces sorprendentes, un soberbio retrato de la sociedad india actual, con las luces y sombras generadas por las diferencias de casta y religión, y el contrapunto irónico del narrador que no es ni más ni menos que Ganesh, el dios con cabeza de elefante, que mueve los hilos del destino en un intento por salvar a Lila, su amada heroína, de su taimado enemigo Vyasa.

 

"Una novela atrevida y deliciosa, ejecutada con energía y talento... Albinia ha conseguido unir, de un modo sorprendente, una historia sobre los lazos fami­liares modernos con una historia ­atemporal sobre los dioses y sus avatares. Cuando los dioses escriben el Libro del Destino es a la vez una reflexión sobre las tensiones entre hermanos y hermanas, o entre padres e hijos, y una meditación sobre la naturaleza de la narración... El resultado es magnífico."      

The Financial Times

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Alevosía
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 17 may 2012
• ISBN: 9788415608011

Alice Albinia

Alice Albinia (Londres, 1976) estudió Literatura Inglesa en Cambridge e Historia del Sudeste Asiático en la Universidad de Londres. Trabajó durante dos años en Delhi como periodista y editora, y, fruto de aquella experiencia son sus obras Empires of the Indus, un libro de viajes por Pakistán, India, Afganistán y el Tíbet (Premio Somerset Maugham) y la novela Cuando los dioses escriben el Libro del Destino.

Comentarios para Cuando los dioses escriben el Libro del Destino

[big_bang_gorilla · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

Nominally a travel book, this book attempts to incorporate, very unsuccessfully in my view, dollops of history and anthropology into its sluggish course. It's a turgid book in which both the author and the locals fixate on mind-numbingly esoteric religious folklore, fanciful family genealogies which ("of course") extend back to Adam, and interminable discourses by shade-tree blowhards on the sources and solutions to Hindu-Moslem hostility. Although the portions of the book which present actual history are more succinct and marginally more interesting, the snippets thrown in are too scattershot and devoid of context to provide insight. Whatever the opposite of a "charmer" is, this book is it.

[bezoar44 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

This is a complex, beautiful book by a bright, young-at-the-time writer. Albinia structures this combined history / travel book as a trip up the Indus from its mouth to its headwaters, and through its history from the present back to geological time. She researched the river's history and prepared for her trip for a year before going, and that investment shows: she journeys to truly obscure places, and knows what to look for when she gets there, so the account is rich. Other reviewers have described her as fearless; she travels through parts of Pakistan where most Europeans would fear to tread, and with only one or two local contacts as an escort. On the other hand, her own personality is unobtrusive; her narrative keeps the spotlight on the people she meets, the land, and the history.Overall, it is a fascinating but not cheerful book (although you can sense the pleasure she takes in her travels). The Indus, most of which is now in Pakistan, has a rich, complex history, and one of the main themes of the book is the way different cultures and traditions have shaped each other over the years - and before modern times, co-existed. Another theme is the degree to which modernity, in the form of religious fundamentalism and economic pressures, are sweeping away many of the cultural, archeological, and ecological relics of the Indus' long past. Albinia's approach to her material is analytical, poised, and fiercely intelligent, but by the end of her travels she seems on the verge of an emotional crash. She speculates that this is in part a reaction to high elevation, but it also seems the result of simultaneously engaging with cultures on their own terms while maintaining a wry, critical eye that doesn't look away from the squalor and injustice she encounters. Overall, this is a fantastic book to deepen one's understanding and appreciation of Pakistan and the Indus valley, if not to give much hope for its future.

[rajivc_18 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I give this book a three star because it has been well written. Alice Albinia certainly seems to have been a brave woman, traveling up and down the Indus, and writing the history of the river around the various places in the river. The concept is interesting, and so is the history. I also like the concerns and issues that she has pointed out, with respect to the damming of the river. We, as a race of animal, seem to be really good at the task of killing our environment and our rivers. The book is terrible as a travelogue. There is almost nothing about the places that she has visited, nothing that gives you a sense of space. As a history book, this is very good indeed

[the_rock_6 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A wonderfully gifted writer. I was amazed at the sheer depth of preception from Alice Albinia. Its true the narritave is about mainly about the indus itself but the book reveals so much more about the land, history, society, economy, its people customs and the intricate relationship which weaves this fabric together.This is a very unbiased history of a comparatively small corner of the subcontinent from which its easy to extrapolate the essence of being in the sub continent.As mentioned in the previous reviews it also takes a lot of grit and determination to travel to all the places which are so rugged and lawless within pakistan and further afield. However what is more surprising is how much she is able to extract out of the local people about the land and its history & customs.

[mariamreza · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

This is a remarkable book in so many ways. The first thing that I loved was the structure; as Albinia moves geographically up the Indus valley, she goes back in history. Hence the first chapter describes Karachi and deals with Partition in 1947, and the last chapter is set in Tibet at the source of the Indus and explores the prehistory of the region five million years ago.The other aspect of this book that cannot fail to impress is Albinia's own part in the book. From her sheer guts (e.g. travelling to areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan where I would not dream of going even as a Pakistani woman), to the painstaking depth of her research, to her ability to expose the failings of the authorities while maintaining an impartial respect and fondness for the people on both sides of the Indus, this is an impressive book. But what makes it truly outstanding is the emotional connection she feels to the history and culture of this region and the indignation that she feels regarding their erosion:"The Atharva Veda calls the Indu 'saraansh': flowing for ever. One day, when there is nothing but dry riverbeds and dust, when this ancient name has been rendered obsolete, then the songs humans sing will be dirges of bitterness and regret. They will tell of how the Indus -- which once 'encircled Paradise', bringing forth civilizations and species, languages and religions -- was, through mankind's folly, entirely spent."If only we South Asians cared so much ourselves.

[adamvasco · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Every now and then a refreshingly different travel or history or combination of both comes along andthis is it. Informative, well written and timely; Alice Albina's debut describing her journey from mouth to source along the mighty Indus explaining the various histories of its hinterlands in some depth is a delight to read and I highly recommend it. Reminiscent of early Dalrymple. More please Alice.