It's easy to react to the latest book written about India by a foreigner with scepticism. More so the case, when we are talking about a man who famously called Mahatma Gandhi a "wily" politician and glorified Jinnah in his book about India's partition. But in all fairness to Patrick French, I have to say that his "India: A Portrait. An Intimate Biography of 1.2 Billion people" is one of the most readable and balanced books written about India at this point of time.
The title may be a bit misleading as the biographies are few and far between except in the final chapter but the book is well-researched and the author has travelled across several parts of India to give a very macro picture of the Indian psyche. French bravely treads the path of caste and religion with a neutral outsider's view but I think he can't hide his excessive admiration for Iyers and other Tamil Brahmins. He tends to fawn over them.
His look at the so-called Young Turks has probably annoyed the living daylights out of people like Sachin Pilot, who I met a week ago. In fact, the hard-hitting analyses on our princes is one of the best parts of the book. I would recommend this book to both those that want to know more about India and Indians, who want a fairly balanced look at our country from an outsider.
The title may be a bit misleading as the biographies are few and far between except in the final chapter but the book is well-researched and the author has travelled across several parts of India to give a very macro picture of the Indian psyche. French bravely treads the path of caste and religion with a neutral outsider's view but I think he can't hide his excessive admiration for Iyers and other Tamil Brahmins. He tends to fawn over them.
His look at the so-called Young Turks has probably annoyed the living daylights out of people like Sachin Pilot, who I met a week ago. In fact, the hard-hitting analyses on our princes is one of the best parts of the book. I would recommend this book to both those that want to know more about India and Indians, who want a fairly balanced look at our country from an outsider.
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