Books › Delhi
Delhi
First published 1983 · 404 pages
A bawdy, sprawling love letter to a chaotic metropolis, told through the intertwined histories of emperors, poets, and outcasts.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like wandering through a crowded, centuries-old bazaar where the scent of jasmine mingles with the stench of decay. It is a sprawling, unapologetic love letter to a city, experienced through a lens that is simultaneously deeply cynical and profoundly affectionate. The narrative meanders through time, pulling you into the intimate, often crude lives of emperors, poets, and outcasts alike. The prose is earthy and vibrant, refusing to sanitize history or human desire, instead reveling in the sacred and the profane with equal delight. It will captivate readers who love immersive, chaotic historical epics that prioritize the messy, erotic, and enduring spirit of a place over a traditional, linear plot.
- Mood
- sensual
- chaotic
- nostalgic
- earthy
- vibrant
- Tone
- bawdy
- irreverent
- satirical
- affectionate
- cynical
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- the soul of a city · passage of time · sacred and profane · sexual fluidity · historical memory · decay and rebirth
- The writing
- Earthy, unapologetic, and richly descriptive, seamlessly blending historical grandeur with crude, intimate vulgarity.
- The arc
- Begins with cynical, lustful detachment and deepens into a profound, melancholic reverence for a city that has endured centuries of triumph and trauma.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave sprawling, unapologetic historical fiction that embraces the gritty, erotic, and morally ambiguous realities of human nature.
Content notes
- explicit sexual content
- historical violence
- sexual violence
- slurs and derogatory language
About the book
'I return to Delhi as I return to my mistress Bhagmati when I have had my fill of whoring in foreign lands...' Thus begins Khushwant Singh's vast, erotic, irrelevant magnum opus on the city of Delhi. The principal narrator of the saga, which extends over six hundred years, is a bawdy, ageing reprobate who loves Delhi as much as he does the hijda whore Bhagmati-half man, half woman with sexual inventiveness and energy of both the sexes. Travelling through time, space and history to 'discover' his beloved city, the narrator meets a myriad of people-poets and princes, saints and sultans, temptresses and traitors, emperors and eunuchs-who have shaped and endowed Delhi with its very special mystique... And as we accompany the narrator on his epic journey we find the city of emperors transformed and immortalized in our minds for ever.
Description from Open Library.
Books like Delhi
See why they match
City of DjinnsWilliam DalrympleA witty, time-traveling stroll through the bustling streets and hidden histories of an eternal, chaotic metropolis.
A Suitable BoyVikram SethA sprawling, deeply affectionate immersion into the bustling heart of a newly independent nation and the quiet pragmatism of the human heart.
The Golden GateVikram SethA sparkling, bittersweet portrait of young professionals navigating love and loneliness in 1980s San Francisco, told entirely in infectious, rhyming verse.
Maximum CitySuketu MehtaA visceral, kaleidoscopic plunge into the beautiful, brutal, and relentless heart of a modern megacity.
The Enchantress of FlorenceSalman RushdieA lush, bawdy, and philosophical fever dream that bridges two magnificent empires through the sheer power of storytelling.
The death of VishnuManil SuriA vibrant, tragicomic exploration of a single apartment building where mundane neighborly dramas elevate into a cosmic meditation on the soul.