JOIN USTashan Mehta’s debut novel mirrors its intriguing title, The Liar’s Weave. Its plot is centred around a boy who creates real worlds out of just lies. The novel is constructed on the genre of magic realism that calls for a huge suspension of both belief as well as disbelief. But by the end of the book, the reader, who gives the story a large margin, is taken by surprise when the threads of half-truths and half-lies interwoven into the tale make for a cosmic narrative.
The book follows the conception, journey, death and rebirth of the protagonist, Zahan Merchant, who is a child without an astrological future. This is a “cosmic mistake” that has also given him a strange gift — the ability to change reality with his network of lies. That is a truth that only his brother Sorab knows. But from a remote corner of the fantasy world, Narayan Tarachand, described as “the greatest astrologer who ever lived,” is not able to decipher Zahan’s fate. The 10-year-old weaver of lies had the strange destiny of a lack of destiny. He posed a baffling challenge to the fates, as his life was not mapped out on a chart. He was thus an aberration, who fell through the cracks of a carefully constructed journey and succumbed to his own deceits.
Even though it sounds complex, The Liar’s Weave would be attractive to amateur astrologers, as it is based on the intricate webs and beliefs in fate, fortune and destiny that are so much a part of lives today. Giving a nod to the veracity of fate, the tale sets out to subvert assumptions by exploring the amazing story of the boy who lived, died and was reborn as a reproof to the entire ‘truth’ of fate. Even while a fantasy is woven into his story, it is built on the contemporary readers’ beliefs in astrology and fatalistic journeys.
The main plot points unfold in the years around the non-cooperation movement of the early 1920s. However, the novel is not about the freedom movement — although that worldly reality is mentioned. But it is not clear why those years form the background of the narrative. There is no connect, except perhaps to make a tenuous link with the forest of Vidroha, meaning the ‘rebellion’. Leaving out the freedom movement events confuses the reader, who has to make a leap back in time and place, but cannot identify the purpose of doing it.
While there is a fleeting similarity with Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, this novel is not a commentary on the era, place and situation. It is more about a boy who could have been born anytime.
The story also does not follow the ‘good vs bad’ or ‘innocent vs guilty’ lines. It is much more about truthful lies and lying truths, challenging the twists and grand tricks of fortune. There are some secrets and disguises about his own fate that even Zahan is not aware of. He learns about them only when he goes with his friend Porthos to the ill-fated forest of Vidroha, and encounters the hatadaiva. He discovers a few truths about himself that are baffling to the divine weavers of fate and even to himself.
However, there is a bit of overkill in the intricate descriptions of the fantasy world. It is a struggle to follow, remember and connect with the number of ideas, philosophies, descriptions and characters that are added to the central storyline. Hence, there are a number of fantasy elements that are not clear — the ‘in-betweens’, the hatadaivas, dagdhavasta, Vidroha, upaga… the reader needs to exercise extraordinary patience to decipher, interpret and follow the tale, the flashpoints and their relevance. There are too many subplots, strange explanations and fantastical characters who make the craft look rather baroque. Many do not even seem too relevant. Hence, some of the passages drag and weigh the book down, especially the descriptions about reflections and strange philosophies: “I have liked this idea as much as any other — the blot becoming the corners of our birth charts, the lines the connections between the planets.”
However, it is not the abstruse prose that is the dam to understanding, but too many facts. It does help that the prose is straightforward and lucid, so the narrative moves forward smoothly until there are some tough, new ideas. Still, the book is worth a read if you like the idea of exploring alternative worlds and their relevance to reality.
The Liar’s Weave
Tashan Mehta
Juggernaut
2017, pp 344 , Rs 389