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September 16, 2005
The Cambridge Curry Club by Saumya Balsari
I actually read this a couple of weeks ago when we were in Dorset and have been meaning to write about it ever since. Last week I went to a lecture by Saumya Balsari, an event put on by Cambridge Writers. I am glad I went because it reinforced some of the views I had on the book as well as writing in general.
The Cambridge Curry Club takes place in IndiaNeed a fictional charity shop on the Mill Road in Cambridge, as four female volunteers deal with a snowballing of extraordinarily bizarre events which build up to a chaotic denouement. Balsari’s characters are intricately portrayed by their speech and their actions which makes them natural and instantly believable. Take for example the mildly neurotic Swarnakumari and her charming but slightly seedy husband Mr Chatterjee; or the over educated Durga who speaks in needlessly long sentences using words those around her fail to understand.
Being a bit of a word snob, it is not often that I read a book and actually hope to see it on the screen but Balsari’s talent for strong characterisation, fast pace and comic timing mean that I could easily picture The Cambridge Curry Club as a short film or if expanded, a sit-com. I’m thinking of a charity shop Open All Hours - with women.
Go on, it would make me laugh.
It came as no surprise then to learn that The Cambridge Curry Club started life as a play which was successfully performed by the Kali Theatre Company. Balsari was then offered an advance to extend it into a novel and (take heed all ye NaNo-ers) she completed this mammoth task in eight weeks, needing only one draft!
If I’m brutally honest this is where the novel falls down, I was left feeling that a little more attention to the structure of the work wouldn’t have gone amiss. Eileen appears to be the fourth charity shop worker and certainly in the first few chapters she is given as much potential as the others, yet somewhere half way through she fizzles out almost as if the author lost interest and couldn’t decide whether to drop her or not. In addition the explosive ending is deadened somewhat by an over-long Epilogue (27 pages) in which the details failed to convince me of their relevance. It surprises me that an editor didn’t pick up on these two points.
The Mill Road is one of the places in Cambridge in which I feel quite at home and Balsari sums up its unique spirit persuasively. Last week she spoke of tying to captivate a part of the city that normally gets pushed aside by gown and mortarboards. She certainly succeeds in this respect and I think it is a crying shame that her agent dissuaded her from setting her next novel in our home town.
The blurb refers to The Cambridge Curry Club as ‘an ironic postcolonial romp’ and certainly it would be difficult to mention the novel without making at least a passing reference to race and immigration. Balsari explores complex issues such as traditionalism, multiculturalism, alienation and integration without being didactic or over simplistic. Nor does she hold up the ‘arranged marriage - yay or nay?’ debate as if it would answer the world’s problems in a flash, something I find immensely irritating in lesser authors.
Apparently Blackamber books have gone under so unless you are lucky you might find it difficult to get hold of a copy. I got mine from Brownes which is, yes you’ve guessed it, on the Mill Road! Last time I checked they still had a few copies left, failing that it’s always worth checking your local library and seeing if they can order you a copy.
You never know, if you are ultra nice to me and ply me with whiskey I might even lend you mine!
Posted by purple elephant at September 16, 2005 09:27 PM