Nobody Does the Right Thing

August 1, 2010
Kumars latest, distinctive novel looks at the multifaceted, interconnected lives of two cousins within the blurry terrain of personal ambition, class, and contemporary life. Following the murder of a young poet by her politician lover, a journalist, Binod, is hired by a Bollywood director to write a screenplay based on the events surrounding the controversial affair. Binods research brings him to Bihar, India, near the village where he was raised. This is also where his cousin, the larger-than-life Rabinder, is imprisoned after distributing pornography through his Internet caf'. While Binod struggles to begin writing the script, the past and present lives of other relatives become intertwined with his own, particularly those of his perceptive, dying father and Bua, Binods aunt and Rabinders mother, who breaks societal and political norms after her husband becomes mentally unstable. In the meantime, Rabinder concocts various get-rich-quick schemes and finally decides on filmmaking to pursue the commercial success he so desires. The shifts between rural communities and the urban sprawl of Delhi and Bombay heighten the contrasting perspectives in Kumars intelligent tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)