Selection Day: A NovelAN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES and WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK From Aravind Adiga, the bestselling, Booker Prize–winning author of The White Tiger, a dazzling new novel about two brothers in a Mumbai slum who are raised by their obsessive father to become cricket stars, and whose coming-of-age threatens their relationship, future, and sense of themselves. Manjunath Kumar is fourteen and living in a slum in Mumbai. He knows he is good at cricket—if not as good as his older brother, Radha. He knows that he fears and resents his domineering and cricket-obsessed father, admires his brilliantly talented sibling, and is fascinated by curious scientific facts and the world of CSI. But there are many things, about himself and about the world, that he doesn’t know. Sometimes it even seems as though everyone has a clear idea of who Manju should be, except Manju himself. When Manju meets Radha’s great rival, a mysterious Muslim boy privileged and confident in all the ways Manju is not, everything in Manju’s world begins to change, and he is faced by decisions that will challenge his understanding of it, as well as his own self. Filled with unforgettable characters from across India’s social strata—the old scout everyone calls Tommy Sir; Anand Mehta, the big-dreaming investor; Sofia, a wealthy, beautiful girl and the boys’ biggest fan—this book combines the best of The Art of Fielding and Slumdog Millionaire for a compulsive, moving story of adolescence and ambition, fathers, sons, and brothers. Selection Day is Adiga’s most absorbing, big-hearted novel to date, and proves why “with his gripping, amusing glimpse into the contradictions and perils of modern India, Aravind Adiga has cemented his reputation as the preeminent chronicler of his country’s messy present” (Newsweek). |
Contents
Section 1 | 1 |
Section 2 | 5 |
Section 3 | 52 |
Section 4 | 70 |
Section 5 | 103 |
Section 6 | 146 |
Section 7 | 155 |
Section 8 | 187 |
Section 9 | 208 |
Section 10 | 232 |
Section 11 | 269 |
Section 12 | 287 |
Section 13 | 289 |
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Common terms and phrases
Anand Mehta Azad Maidan ball Bandra batsman blue Bombay bowlers boy’s brother called cell phone Chembur chutney club cricket bat Dahisar dark door eyes face father finger forehead fuck girls glass grinned Gymkhana hair hand Harsha Bhogle head helmet India inside Javed Ansari Javed’s knew laughed lips man’s Manju Manju asked Manju felt Manju looked Manju saw Manju thought Manju turned Manjunath Kumar Mohan Kumar morning mother Navi Mumbai neck once palm play cricket police Radha Krishna Radha Kumar Ranji Ranji Trophy Ranjith rupees Sachin Sachin Tendulkar Selection Day Shah Rukh Khan shirt Shivaji Park shoulder shouted side Sir’s slum smelled smiled Sofia sons stood stopped Subramanya talk tell Tendulkar thing told Tommy Sir touched U-ha Vashi waited walked watched Young Lion