Soliloquy

Pico Iyer’s depictions of some of the loneliest places in the world, made relatable with the humour that one normally associates with his work, is what draws one inexplicably to The Half Known Life. Aptly subtitled In Search of Paradise, Iyer tries to placate, and even persuade the child in one that utopia, after all, is a state of mind. 

It is often easy to discover Shangri-La in the most exotic locales in the world, forgetting that it is the here and the now that most of us have to struggle, negotiate and ultimately come to terms with. Iyer’s choice of verbiage is often profound, and he hits the bulls-eye with this collection of essays. 

This book takes one on voyages that only an artist extremely capable of painting images with his words can deliver, and it is not surprising to find that one begins to miss it soon after turning the last page. 

The reader journeys with Iyer from Australia to North Korea and from Sri Lanka to Jerusalem and leaves feeling fulfilled in a rather holistic sense. It is, not inexplicably, Varanasi that leaves Iyer, and the reader, the most spellbound. This is one of Iyer’s most delicate works, and needs to be treated as such. 

Rating: 4/5

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