The City of Good Death

by Priyanka Champaneri Narrated by Manish Dongardive

Overview

Winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, Priyanka Champaneri's transcendent debut novel brings us inside India's holy city of Banaras, where the manager of a death hostel shepherds the dying who seek the release of a good death, while his own past refuses to let him go.

Banaras, Varanasi, Kashi: India's holy city on the banks of the Ganges has many names but holds one ultimate promise for Hindus. It is the place where pilgrims come for a good death, to be released from the cycle of reincarnation by purifying fire. As the dutiful manager of a death hostel in Kashi, Pramesh welcomes the dying and assists families bound for the funeral pyres that burn constantly on the ghats. The soul is gone, the body is burnt, the time is past, he tells them. Detach.

After ten years in the timeless city, Pramesh can nearly persuade himself that here, there is no past or future. He lives contentedly at the death hostel with his wife, Shobha, their young daughter, Rani, the hostel priests, his hapless but winning assistant, and the constant flow of families with their dying. But one day the past arrives in the lifeless form of a man pulled from the river-a man with an uncanny resemblance to Pramesh.

Called “twins” in their childhood village, he and his cousin Sagar are inseparable until Pramesh leaves to see the outside world and Sagar stays to tend the land. After Pramesh marries Shobha, defying his family's wishes, a rift opens up between the cousins that he has long since tried to forget. Do not look back. Detach. But for Shobha, Sagar's reemergence casts a shadow over the life she's built for her family. Soon, an unwelcome guest takes up residence in the death hostel, the dying mysteriously continue to live, and Pramesh is forced to confront his own ideas about death, rebirth, and redemption.

Told in lush, vivid detail and with an unforgettable cast of characters, The City of Good Death is a remarkable debut novel of family and love, memory and ritual, and the ways in which we honor the living and the dead.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for The City of Good Death:

“In Champaneri’s ambitious, vivid debut, the dying come to the holy city of Kashi to die a good death that frees them from the burden of reincarnation…. In sharp prose, Champaneri explores the power of stories—those the characters tell themselves, those told about them, and those they believe…. This epic, magical story of death teems with life.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Throughout this epic, Champaneri remains attuned to ... atmospheric details, both physical and emotional…. The novel pays particular attention to the topographies of mourning…. [It] remains an intimate portrait of Pramesh, and yet the other characters allow Champaneri to articulate how grief and healing are social processes…. Just as grief descends, sudden and sweeping, so too can wonder and joy.”

—Spencer Quong, The New York Times Book Review

“Brimming with characters whose lives overlap and whose stories interweave, Champaneri’s exquisite debut delves into the consequences of the past, and how stories that are told can become reality even when they contain barely a shred of truth. As Pramesh discovers, the bitterness of past wounds can bring hope for redemption and life.”

—Bridget Thoreson, Booklist

“The City of Good Death, winner of the 2018 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing … displays an earnest attempt at vividly capturing the life of the characters and of Kashi through the author’s lush and evocative prose…. [O]ne starts reading The City of Good Death, diving into its wonderful descriptive passages that bring to life the ancient city of Kashi and its age-old customs and rituals, the conglomeration of devotees, the constantly bustling streets, and the holy river Ganga. Within this landscape, Champaneri weaves the threads of her story about the living and the dead, love and mourning…. Through these interconnected threads, Champaneri’s sprawling novel delicately navigates the relations of life and death, childhood and memory, love, hate, friendship, human bonding, and relationships that are beyond human understanding…. Wonderful images — languid mornings over Ganga, bustling bazaars, the awkward seriousness of the death hostel, the green fields of Pramesh’s village, crowded railway carriages — pervade this voluminous work.”

—Suparno Banerjee, Los Angeles Review of Books

“The City of Good Death is the debut novel of Priyanka Champaneri but it has the confidence of a master storyteller. Drawing on the rich literary traditions of Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy, Champaneri’s epic saga will satisfy armchair travelers thirsty for adventure, and sick of looking out their windows.”

—Chicago Review of Books

“What follows is an astounding mystery in which nothing cooperates as it should—not even the dead…. As the city stirs with gossip and intrigue, Pramesh and Shobha deal with hauntings of all kinds, their stories weaving around one another to reveal the intersection of love and grief, and perhaps even illuminating some of the mysteries of the Land of the Dead.”

—The Arkansas International

“In her award-winning debut, Priyanka Champaneri examines this kind of “good death” through stories crammed within stories. Characters share folklore, myth, reminiscences or dreams, and all of these deeply alter their existence and relationships. Making full use of the mysticism and magnetism of Kashi, Champaneri’s precise and evocative prose immerses us in a city teeming with as much life as death.”

— Jenny Bhatt, NPR Best Books of 2021

"In intricate detail and with remarkable skill, Champaneri writes a powerful tale about the pull of the past and our aching need to understand the mysteries and misunderstandings that thwart our relationships. An atmospheric and immersive debut with a rich cast of characters you won’t soon forget."

—Marjan Kamali, author of The Stationery Shop

“Priyanka Champaneri beautifully explores the sacred and the afterlife in this cinematic and emotionally gripping work about living and dying with dignity…. The City of Good Death confronts family, religion, and belonging in ways that reflect Champaneri’s cultural dualities. It’s a novel full of compassion as Champaneri deftly navigates Pramesh’s relationships with his dying patrons as he himself struggles to understand the ramifications of his cousin’s death…. This ambitious novel offers readers a unique insight into the Hindu concepts of the afterlife and the sacred, and the universally recognizable desire for empathy and understanding.”

—Téa Obreht and Ilan Stavans, from the Judges’ Citation for the 2018 Restless Books Prize in New Immigrant Writing

Chicago Review of Books

The City of Good Death is the debut novel of Priyanka Champaneri but it has the confidence of a master storyteller. Drawing on the rich literary traditions of Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy, Champaneri’s epic saga will satisfy armchair travelers thirsty for adventure, and sick of looking out their windows.”

Booklist - Bridget Thoreson

Brimming with characters whose lives overlap and whose stories interweave, Champaneri’s exquisite debut delves into the consequences of the past, and how stories that are told can become reality even when they contain barely a shred of truth. As Pramesh discovers, the bitterness of past wounds can bring hope for redemption and life.”

The Arkansas International

What follows is an astounding mystery in which nothing cooperates as it should—not even the dead…. As the city stirs with gossip and intrigue, Pramesh and Shobha deal with hauntings of all kinds, their stories weaving around one another to reveal the intersection of love and grief, and perhaps even illuminating some of the mysteries of the Land of the Dead.”

Foreword Reviews, Starred Review - Eileen Gonzalez

Lush prose evokes the thick, close atmosphere of Kashi and the intricate religious practices upon which life and death depend. Rumor and superstition hold sway over even the most level-headed people, twisting what’s explainable into something extraordinary—with tragic consequences…. The City of Good Death is a breathtaking, unforgettable novel about how remembering the past is just as important as moving on.”

The New York Times Book Review

Throughout this epic, Champaneri remains attuned to such atmospheric details, both physical and emotional…. The novel pays particular attention to the topographies of mourning…. [It] remains an intimate portrait of Pramesh, and yet the other characters allow Champaneri to articulate how grief and healing are social processes…. Just as grief descends, sudden and sweeping, so too can wonder and joy.”

Auntie's Bookstore - Linda Bond

This is an insightful look at the Hindu traditions surrounding death and ‘funerals’ in the Holy City of Kashi. We go inside the hostel and see the life of Pramesh and his family, as they faithfully attend to the families coming with the bodies of their loved ones. But when a corpse shows up after being found in the river, it is not easy to ‘…Not look back. Detach,’ as they always tell the family members. There is a history here and their own family is soon embroiled in an emotional turmoil that changes everything. This is a remarkable cultural story but also one of common humanity. Book clubs will want to give it a look.

Kirkus Reviews

2020-04-13
Ghosts haunt the living in a holy Hindu city.

This debut novel is set in Kashi, on the banks of the Ganges. Believers say that those who die in Kashi experience a “good death,” meaning they die once and for all, with no reincarnation. Pilgrims come from far and wide hoping to spend their last days in one of Kashi’s designated death hostels, one of which is managed by a man named Pramesh. Pramesh grew up outside of Kashi with an alcoholic and abusive father and uncle and a cousin who resembled him so closely they passed as twins. As Champaneri’s novel begins, Pramesh’s cousin, Sagar, suddenly shows up in Kashi, having died under mysterious circumstances. Then his ghost begins to haunt Pramesh’s hostel—the washroom, specifically—with an earth-shattering racket, and nothing that anyone does seems to have any effect. What Sagar’s ghost wants is just one of the mysteries of this somewhat overstuffed book. Champaneri’s Kashi is teeming and vivid, but her prose can sometimes feel overdone. The story sags in places. Most interesting are the flashbacks to Pramesh and Sagar’s childhood, but these moments often feel rushed. It’s possible that Champaneri is trying to fit in too much. A subplot involving yet another ghost—this one a young woman’s—is compelling but never quite coheres with the novel’s main action. Still, the book frequently charms, and it's as full of humor, warmth, and mystery as Kashi’s own marketplace.

Uneven but charming, Champaneri’s debut intrigues even as the writing occasionally sags.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178876527
Publisher:	Restless Books
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

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