"Night Theatre" by Vikram Paralkar
A Review
In a run-down clinic at
the outskirts of a rural Indian village, a once-successful surgeon is bringing
what remains of his career to an unassuming end. Saheb, as the villagers respectfully call
him, tries to do his job decently, despite lack of facilities, a sorely limited
budget, stifling bureaucracy and institutionalised corruption. As for assistance, he must make do with an
untrained pharmacist and her handyman husband.
But he is soon to face his biggest challenge yet. One night, a young
family – father, pregnant mother and infant son – present themselves at the
clinic, suffering from horrific injuries inflicted by a band of bandits. It was
a savage attack and no one could possibly survive the wounds they show the
doctor. In fact, the would-be patients are dead, allowed to return to Earth by
a friendly official of the afterlife. There’s one problem though – at dawn,
blood will once again course through their veins. In the course of one long night, the doctor
must successfully complete three complex surgeries, not to save the living, but
to resurrect the dead.
The dead tend to haunt
ghost stories and horror fiction. Vikram
Paralkar’s Night Theatre (originally published in India as The Wounds of the
Dead) is neither of the two. Its horrors,
if any, lie in the detailed surgical descriptions (Paralkar is a hematologist-oncologist
and, presumably, speaks from experience) and in the quasi-existential sense of
futility instilled by the evident moral failure of society. If pressed to classify the novel, I would
describe it as a work of magical realism.
Indeed, despite its fantastical premise, it feels strangely plausible,
its plot driven forward by an inherent logic. The tale has a fable-like quality (none of the characters are referred to by name) but Paralkar manages to use his surreal story as a vehicle for social critique. At the same time, the
otherworldly elements provide a springboard for ruminations about death and the
meaning of life.
I must say that the
book’s blurb intrigued me, but little did I expect to discover a little
literary gem. By turns tragic, darkly
comic and ultimately moving, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and can’t
recommend it enough.
Expected publication: February 21st 2019 by Serpent's Tail
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