Book Review: Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry

Title-Such a Long Journey

Author-Rohinton Mistry

Publisher-Faber

Genre-Fiction

Year-2003

Rating-4.5/5 

Such a Long Journey (1991) by Rohinton Mistry is set in Bombay against the backdrop of the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 and the emergence of Bangladesh as a separate independent nation. The title which has it’s genesis in T.S.Eliots ‘The Journey of Magi’ refers to a symbolic significance of individual’s struggle to servive with dignity. 

Here we find the character of Tehmul who is an intellectually disabled person. The fact that people with disability are denied of the basic human rights is well presented in the novel. Tehmul lives at the sympathy of the people around him. Unfortunately he lost his legs in an accident and that’s why people used to call him Tehmul Lungraa.  

Due to intellectual disability though he is a grown man in his mid-thirties but his brain is not fully developed like an able person. He loves to play with children but his habit of scratching of the groin and armpit creates a bad impression and the women complained against him for his behavior upon which he had no control. But among all these things the feature which draws our attention is his speech. He speaks so fast that it frustrates the listeners and nobody listen what he wants to say. He don’t get a chance to express his feelings, pain and emotions. It may suggest that the people who live in the margin, though they have their own distinct voice, their own way of expression, but the society never give them a chance to speak and quite obviously, they never get a chance to come to the center and be a part of the national discourse. 

 As a result, those suppressed emotions and anger find an outlet in his killing of the rats. He earns his living by catching rats in the apartment building for the local municipal office. What is worth noticing here is the way Tehmul kills the rats by pouring boiled water on it, give it a slow and painful death.

We can say that it is nothing but the externalization of his suppressed desire to control. Throughout his life society denied him of the basic human rights and debased him to the level of a rat.Now he is trying to get a masochistic pleasure by giving the rats a painful death.

Overall, it was an interesting read.I absolutely loved the novel and encourage you to go through it.I give this novel 4.5 stars.

Happy Reading