By Abeer Hoque
“People are never as afraid as their rulers think they should be,” Vic said. “Every regime finds this out the hard way.”
Chaitali Sen’s debut novel The Pathless Sky is remarkable for its assured and intense politics and intimacy. John and Mariam meet and fall in love on a college campus in a nameless country, beset by the usual national follies of discrimination, separatism, violence, and oppressive rule. Their relationship is tested again and again by social strictures, regional unrest, academic pressures, family dynamics, and their country’s tyrannies and prejudices.
Miriam’s vulnerabilities, clear speech, and heart are unforgettable. This is not surprising since all of Sen’s characters are writ large and lambent from Mariam’s beautiful tortured mother to John’s awkward best friend: “…the weighted confidence, the lack of humor and self-doubt required of men in their thirties…” Despite this, I don’t know that characters are Sen’s greatest gift. The language is gorgeous, restrained, and lyrical, and the landscape exquisitely defined: “One red door punctured a curved white wall.” Of course, as a geologist’s daughter, I found the theme of geology that runs through the book a joy to read. Precambrian granite and schist, you say? Bring it on. Last but not least, the plot builds inexorably and addictively to an end that left my heart aching and racing.
Sen takes on all the challenges, from petty academic battles to deep and subtle relationship dynamics to large scale political strife, and she does it all masterfully. The Pathless Sky reminded me somewhat of Exit West, the 2017 Booker-long-listed novel by Mohsin Hamid. Though I loved Exit West, Sen offers the reader a more contained and compelling book with less conceit.
The Pathless Sky
Chaitali Sen
Europa Editions
ISBN: 978-1609452919