Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: A really wonderful book about the city of Delhi. Dalrymple and his wife go to spend a year living in Delhi (how did they afford this?), and he uses this arrangement as a way of chronicling the present day status of the city and delving deep into its history. He's done a very nice job of moving back and forth between present and past, managing to keep all his meetings and interviews with various experts quite interesting. The only part which lost my interest was an extended look into Sufi mysticism, but I just skimmed it and moved along. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in India, and especially to anyone planning a trip to Delhi.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading!
Review: A truly marvelous book for anyone who loves India, whether they have been there in the flesh or in spirit. Dalrymple is simply one of the best writers around when it comes to creating a tapestry that has inner and outer journey so beautifully interwoven.
Rating: 
Summary: A brilliant and funny book
Review: After Dalrymple's amazing first book "In Xanadu", "City of Djinns" is a very worthy follow-up. It deals not with a journey but with the author living in Delhi for and extended period of time. William and his wife Olivia live in an apartment in Delhi with a Sikh lady and her crazy husband. Together and separately, they explore the various strands of the city.Like "In Xanadu", Dalrymple combines erudite historical investigation with a humorous account of life today. The historical aspect of the book is very complicated. Delhi has an ancient Hindu history, a Muslim Mughal one, a Punjabi/Urdu one, the Partition phase and its modern story. In this book, Dalrymple tries his hand at digging through a bit of them all. From the violence of the Gandhi assasination riots to the extravagances of the Mughal court, he leaves nothing unturned. His warm and clever perspective shines light on a city where so many cultures and ways of life come side by side, from the modern secularised Sikhs (like Balvinder, their taxi driver) to the huge hermaphrodite community in the city. A highly informative and entertaining book.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant and funny book
Review: After Dalrymple's amazing first book "In Xanadu", "City of Djinns" is a very worthy follow-up. It deals not with a journey but with the author living in Delhi for and extended period of time. William and his wife Olivia live in an apartment in Delhi with a Sikh lady and her crazy husband. Together and separately, they explore the various strands of the city. Like "In Xanadu", Dalrymple combines erudite historical investigation with a humorous account of life today. The historical aspect of the book is very complicated. Delhi has an ancient Hindu history, a Muslim Mughal one, a Punjabi/Urdu one, the Partition phase and its modern story. In this book, Dalrymple tries his hand at digging through a bit of them all. From the violence of the Gandhi assasination riots to the extravagances of the Mughal court, he leaves nothing unturned. His warm and clever perspective shines light on a city where so many cultures and ways of life come side by side, from the modern secularised Sikhs (like Balvinder, their taxi driver) to the huge hermaphrodite community in the city. A highly informative and entertaining book.
Rating:
Summary: For the history buff.
Review: As an Indian and a history buff it was really satisfying to read this book.Being a resident of Delhi it is a great thrill to be living in a city which has a glorious past and the evidence is there in all the monuments that dot the city.To read a book that incorporates all these elements in the narrative juxtaposing the past and the present is a treat.The author's non judgmental stance on an alien culture is really refeshing.
Rating:
Summary: An refreshing view of a vibrant city
Review: Dalrymple and his wife decided to spend a year in Delhi.
A year that was dedicated by both of them towards understanding
the city, it's culture, and it's vibrancy. Unlike Bombay,
or Calcutta, Delhi is not a city of throbbing activity.
In fact, it can be downright boring at times. Yet Dalrymple
goes beyond the obvious attractions (and pitfalls) and brings out the colourful nature of a city which has been
a centre of political and social activity for thousands of
years.
In his little tales, Dalrymple takes on the responsibilty
of giving a hue and fabric to the nature of the city
not necessarily through it's numerous monuments and ruins,
but through it's people. From his curmudgeonly landlady,
her geriatiric and libidinous husband, a wild and deliciously irresponsible Sikh taxi driver, and even a brand of ostracized eunachs, Dalrymple weaves the story
of a city through their eyes. This is really a refreshing
way of approaching a narrative about a city. Compare
this to say, Paul Theroux, who, with his instinct for
observation, paints a city through his eyes. Well, that's
fine, but the fact it sometime peoples eyes can get
jaundiced. Compliment with soft flowing sketches and watercolour
prints by his wife, Dalrymple does a wonderful job of
establishing his love for a city with gentle ease.
Rating:
Summary: A very honest and funny look at Delhi
Review: Dalrymple is fast becoming a superstar in travel writing. Read City of Djinns and you will understand why. His style is authorative, yet not pompous. His anecdotes are funny without being offensive to local sensitivities. Everything he writes will bring back images and feelings amongst those who have travelled around the old decaying Mughal city. What a beautiful place it must have been in its heyday some 300 years ago. He doesn't come at you from any pre-disposed angle. He just tells you what happened during the Moghul, British and then the India days from the view point of every day people. And unlike many a British writer, he doesn't shy away from taking the arrogant colonialists to task for their blatant mistreatment of one of history's richest cultures. The decline of the Moghul empire comes across as equally pathetic. The racial hatred that has followed partition is also laid bare in the most frightening detail - a sea of Muslims and Sikhs sent to inhabit each other's territory with no chance of ever going home. This is travel writing that is frustratingly good - and often very, very funny to those who grew up in either India or the UK. If only I could tell stories as good as this. Five Stars.
Rating:
Summary: A very honest and funny look at Delhi
Review: Dalrymple is fast becoming a superstar in travel writing. Read City of Djinns and you will understand why. His style is authorative, yet not pompous. His anecdotes are funny without being offensive to local sensitivities. Everything he writes will bring back images and feelings amongst those who have travelled around the old decaying Mughal city. What a beautiful place it must have been in its heyday some 300 years ago. He doesn't come at you from any pre-disposed angle. He just tells you what happened during the Moghul, British and then the India days from the view point of every day people. And unlike many a British writer, he doesn't shy away from taking the arrogant colonialists to task for their blatant mistreatment of one of history's richest cultures. The decline of the Moghul empire comes across as equally pathetic. The racial hatred that has followed partition is also laid bare in the most frightening detail - a sea of Muslims and Sikhs sent to inhabit each other's territory with no chance of ever going home. This is travel writing that is frustratingly good - and often very, very funny to those who grew up in either India or the UK. If only I could tell stories as good as this. Five Stars.
Rating:
Summary: one of the best travelogues in a long time.
Review: dalrymple is simply one of the best travelogue writers today as he lives, breathes, imbibes the culture & history of the places he travels to. in this book, he takes you to the delhi (india) of old, a once beautiful and cultured city and revisits the historical, political and cultural forces that shaped it. dalrymple does all this with a keen eye and a sympathetic ear for the inhabitants of the new delhi. he shows an unusual understanding for the people who once lived there and who live there now, their aspirations & fears. even more remarkable is the fact that, the empathy dalrymple feels comes through while he successfully avoids sounding patronizing in his depiction of old & new delhi. all in all a fabulous and very enjoyable travelogue, historical account and sympathetic tale from a man who truly belongs without having been born or raised there.....
Rating:
Summary: one of the best travelogues in a long time.
Review: dalrymple is simply one of the best travelogue writers today as he lives, breathes, imbibes the culture & history of the places he travels to. in this book, he takes you to the delhi (india) of old, a once beautiful and cultured city and revisits the historical, political and cultural forces that shaped it. dalrymple does all this with a keen eye and a sympathetic ear for the inhabitants of the new delhi. he shows an unusual understanding for the people who once lived there and who live there now, their aspirations & fears. even more remarkable is the fact that, the empathy dalrymple feels comes through while he successfully avoids sounding patronizing in his depiction of old & new delhi. all in all a fabulous and very enjoyable travelogue, historical account and sympathetic tale from a man who truly belongs without having been born or raised there.....
| 
