Malgudi Days (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)

R. K. Narayan is one of those authors who conveys a lot of expressions with a few words, and that is clearly displayed in Malgudi days. Each short story is unique and each character given space. A good book, to say the least.

Few people will contest the contention that R.K. Narayan is the best Indian writer in English. Malgudi Days is a collection of short stories centered around the fabled town of Malgudi, which is the author's own creation.
Once when he was in New York, Narayan was asked where Malgudi was. To which the reply was "Malgudi is everywhere. I find Malgudi right here in New York. The doorkeeper at one of the restaurants reminds me of persons I have come across elsewhere."
This book will make you live the Malgudi experience that has captivated so many readers. Enchanting, the short stories are too good that you will relaize that their greatness lies in their extraordinary simplicity. As someone said, the only thing that makes Narayan's books extraordinary is that they are extraordinarily ordinary! I bet you can relate to each of these characters. The stories are so close to real life that it will be tough not to experience a hangover.
Narayan is dead, but the legend of Malgudi will live on. Narayan is definitely one of the greatest authors English literature has ever seen. And nothing can quite match Malgudi...

Beautifully written. It's hard to find a writer who conveys so much without ever raising his voice!

When I was working in India, I had the good fortune to watch some TV serials based on this book. The book contains down to earth folklore. Read it to understand the simple lives in the villages in India.

I had heard a lot of good things about this book. The book is collection of several short stories by the author. True, the stories are very close to life, settings are very real, but so what? My dissappointment comes from several stories that dont have climax or essence. Maybe I missed it all! After reading first few stories, I could more or less predict the flow of remining stories. However, Mr. Narayanan is highly skillful in chracterization. One can see solid character developments even in two page stories. Mr. Narayanan also beautifully succeeds in bringing the whole setting alive with his simplicty in writing and style. Most of these stories are day-to-day happenings and that makes this book enriching at times.