The Prevalence of Witches

I read this 45 years ago. At the time I thought it was one of the funniest books I ever read. If you like Christopher Fry, you will like this book. Unfortunately, my copy went missing. So I cannot say whether I would like it as much now as I did then. I know I am not as fond of Fry...

I am so glad I found out about this gem of a book. It is subtle and clever and was a pleasure to read. This is a satire, so Menen has some wonderful philosophy that I feel requires several readings of the book for a true understanding of his ideas and what he was trying to tell us. It is also very funny indeed. I read it the first time and it was a slow, dreamy book about good, honest people in a remote village. The second time, it became an important social satire with deeper meaning for me. One of my favorite books of all time and highly recommended; no matter what your reading preference, you should enjoy this one.

It is worth going to any effort to get a copy of this book. Menen may have been the first of the new wave of Indian authors in English (Indoanglian) after independence, and remains one of the absolute best. This book is superbly intelligent and hysterically funny, and if you like Rushdie you'll love it. I won't spoil the story.