The Man-eater of Malgudi

Nov 10, 2025 11:28 PM

Author:R. K. Narayan

This is the story of Nataraj, who earns his living as a printer in the little world of Malgudi, an imaginary town in South India. Nataraj and his close friends, a poet and a journalist, find their congenia l days disturbed when Vasu, a powerful taxidermist, moves in with his stuffed hyenas and pythons, and brings his dancing-women up the printer's private stairs. When Vasu, in search of larger game, threatens the life of a temple elephant that Natara j has befriended, complications ensue that are both laughable and tragic.

Reviews

At once a satire of post-1989 politics and a love story, it shows two sides of the author: firebrand and mellowed, humane observer... The Call of The Toad shows Grass as one of our greatest living storytellers

—— Financial Times

Mr Grass has a more lyrical, a more glorious sense of locality than any other novelist today

—— New York Times

With The Call of the Toad, Grass brings the fable landscape of the Europe of his lifetime up to date

—— Financial Times

A funny, wise, hugely enjoyable fantasy

—— Financial Times

Impressive . . . Rutherfurd has indeed embraced all of Russia

—— The Washington Post

Russka succeeds where [other books] of trendy Soviet-watching have failed ... Rutherfurd can take his place among an elite cadre of chroniclers such as Harold Lamb, Maurice Hindus and Henri Troyat

—— San Francisco Chronicle

Fast moving ... Rutherfurd believes in adding color and adventure to facts that are exhaustively researched, making history palatable if not delicious

—— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Sprawling ... Rutherfurd's close observation of Russia's religious and ethnic diversity gives this epic a distinctive flavor

—— Publishers Weekly

Rutherfurd literally personifies history

—— New York Daily News

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