Much Madness is Divinest Sense | Book Shelf

An Inventive story and a profound narration, Sanjeev Upreti's first novel, Ghanchakkar moves away from the convention. A Nepali book with an exceptionally detailed description of the characters and a differently dealt plot, the book lacks unnecessarily discursive language making it very refreshing.

The book takes you into the psyche of a psychologically unstable but not necessarily an insane human being. Referred only to in the first person, Ghanchakkar's protagonist is explicitly termed a lunatic. But the implicit sanity that his actions and thoughts carry should appeal to most readers as otherwise. There can be no second opinion that the protagonist's character is the most detailed character in the book. Nevertheless, it doesn't overshadow the portrayal of important characters like student Ranganath and an ascetic Dilbarnath.

The protagonist is a teacher at a university and he murmurs and talks to himself in between his lectures and often moves out to places that are less frequented by the so called sane people. Even his wife and colleagues are sceptical of his nature and are thinking of sending him to an asylum. But he continuously tries to prove that he isn't actually insane. In doing this he visits the ascetic Dilbarnath and spiritualist Freinz Reiner. Both have their own set of predictions for him. Surprisingly, as their predictions start turning into reality, his madness intensifies to heights. The story moves ahead when he leaves his house to prove his sanity.

Incidents like the tower of achievement, his view of a politician as an onion and the transformation of characters into aquatic creatures- gives the story a comical farce. But apart from just being a humorous novel the book is also a political satire, for it has a lot of symbolical and metaphorical meaning of madness attached to it. The book in parts reflects not only the madness of an individual but also that of the society and our way of thinking.

Ultimately, the central character in Upreti's book is neither completely sane nor insane in the understood sense of these terms. His voice is simply that of a person who can shed every bit of his way of analysis and thoughts in a manner that is just a little different. You could also say that the protagonist's account challenges the so called intellectuals and various self appointed sane humans.

The writing style of the book is particularly impressive; it's not dry academic narration of most conventional fictions. However, at times the first person contemplation does get a little lengthy. Probably that is the only kink in the book. It is obvious that the book has not been written at the force of one breath. It expresses the writer's personal viewpoint on madness but definitely is not autobiographical in nature.

For a different perspective of the world around us and the world inside of us, the book is a worth read.