Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto
She was always Em to us. There may have been a time when we called her something ordinary like Mummy, or Ma, but I don't remember. She was Em, and our father, sometimes, was the Big Hoom. In a tiny flat in Bombay Imelda Mendes - Em to her children - holds her family in thrall with her flamboyance, her manic affection and her cruel candour.
The anger is a primal force, the sadness wild and rawAgainst this, the jokes are hilarious, reckless, free falling ... This is a rare, brilliant book, one that is wonderfully different from any other that I have read coming out of India -- Kiran Desai Extremely funny, and its pages are filled with endearing and eccentric characters. Em and The Big Hoom is a profoundly moving book -- Amitav Ghosh A delightful debut ... Written with genuine compassion and sincerity, while a sprinkling of black humour ensures it is never overly sentimental Financial Times A near-perfect account of a psychologically troubled mother and the shockwaves felt by her family. Rich and beguiling ... Within sentences of this touching, funny and calmly shocking narrative, their son makes it clear that he knows about the things that really matter Irish Times Jerry Pinto's prose is lively and incisive ... moments of great humour here as well as moments of tenderness and poignancy Herald Pinto's written a novel that perhaps uniquely breaks free from India's historic, cacophonous clamour Metro The book is moving because it is howlingly funny - Em has a kind of enchanted loghorrea - and wholly unsentimental in its handling of the "phenomenal expense of empathy". It's a memorable chamber work, with wide appeal Independent
Jerry Pinto lives and works in Mumbai. He has been a mathematics tutor, school librarian, journalist and columnist. He is now associated with MelJol, an NGO that works in the sphere of child rights. His published works include a book of poems, Asylum, and Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb, which won the National Award for the Best Book on Cinema in 2007. Em and The Big Hoom is his first novel.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780670923588 |
| ISBN 10 | 0670923583 |
| Title | Em and the Big Hoom |
| Author | Jerry Pinto |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2014-05-01 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |