This book has an interesting premise, young Indian man who has avenged the death of his family and escaped from India by pretending to a young English officer that he is a reformed Thugee. The young man is also interested in phrenology and we learn of a resurrection man (steals newly dead bodies from cemeteries to supply demand for dissection) has been supplying interesting skulls to a rival advocate of the art who collects such skulls to support his theories. But, inconveniently, the possessors of interesting skulls do not die when needed. However, for unrelated reasons I just couldn't get into the story, despite the premise and the interesting presentation, so did not finish it.

Tabish Khair's The Thing About Thugs is a fast-moving tale set predominantly in Victorian England. The novel's protaganist is a young Indian man, Amir Ali, who spins tales of his involvement with India's notorious Thugee cult to a British scientist, Captain Meadows, who is recovering from illness in Amir's village. Fascinated by both Amir's tale and his claim to now being reformed, Captain Meadows invites Amir back to England so he can write about his experiences. While in England, Amir becomes engaged not only in Captain Meadows' world, but also those of the English working class and various other colonials who find themselves in England. When a wave of grisly beheadings grips London, suspicion quickly falls on Amir, whose supposed involvement with the Thugee cult has citizens - who don't believe he is reformed - assuming he is capable of committing horrific crimes. Can Amir and his friends convince London that, contrary to popular belief, he is not responsible for the murders?

I have mixed feelings about this novel. While I found both the story and the characters fascinating, the narrative technique employed by Khair to tell this tale did not work for me and had a significant impact on my rating. Told from several different perspectives, including that of a man in the modern day, the constant shifts in perspective interrupted the story's flow and were often times, especially early in the novel, confusing. Nevertheless, Khair has created some memorable characters in this novel and, through his often eloquent prose, he vividly brings to life some of the seedier aspects of Victorian London. In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed how Khair wove the 'science' of phrenology, which was quite popular during the Victorian era, into the narrative. Despite my difficulty with the style in which this novel is written, it will not deter me from reading other novels by this author.

Note: I received a copy of The Thing About Thugs from the publisher as part of the novel's TLC book tour. This in no way influenced my views on the novel. ( )

Thank you Goodreads First Reads for the advanced readers copy of The Thing about Thugs.

Thugs was a great read. Sure, there isn't much of a mystery; we know who is doing what and why. The fascinating aspect of Thugs is the life of the street riffraff and immigrants in London, the mix of cultures and languages in the bustling city, and the historical backdrop. I felt like I was reading a subdued Rushdie, except the events were taking place in London, though part of the narration originates in India. The letters written to the lover are perhaps a bit cheesy, though this is intended and well-placed. The font of these letters did not bother me; I found them to be perfectly legible.

Khair is a good writer. Language flows, and each narrator seems to have a distinct voice, and often even a distinct accent. The plot was well done, as well. Unlike some other readers, I did not have trouble following the different lines of narration. Khair does a good job with the narrative voices to lead the reader through the stories, past and present.

I don't recommend the book to people who expect a murder mystery. Historical fiction fans should enjoy it. ( )

If you are an Anglophile, this book will set you straight about the former British Empire. History is written by the conquerors, so it was a pleasure to encounter a retelling in the alternative voice of the "conquered."

With understated irony (although also a tiny bit of overwrought prose) the writer paints a vivid picture of the squalor of Victorian London. Inequity and iniquity are everywhere--it made me wonder what was worse, the colonies or the capital at that point in time.

Favorite line:
"There is something about barmen that makes you want to open up to them, thinks John May. Perhaps is it because they are good at echoing your words, sometimes even your thoughts. It is a little like going through a tunnel: one feels tempted to shout into it and hear one's voice echoing, changing shape and sound, and still remaining identifiable. John May resists the temptation.
"He knows his soul is oppressed by the need to shout into some tunnel. But he also knows that there are always people listening at the other end of a tunnel." ( )

A young man sits in an old house in an ancient town in Phansa, India. It is his grandfather's house and, though it is no longer anyone's home, it is alive with memories and stories. In one of his grandfather's books, he finds sheets of letters, written over a hundred years earlier, by a man named Amir Ali. The young man, our principal narrator, tells us what Amir Ali wrote, and tries to fill in the gaps to provide the rest of the story.

Amir Ali is a young man in India when he meets Captain William Meadows, an enthusiast of phrenology (the notion that skull shapes and measurements reveal intelligence and even character). Because of certain events affecting his family, Amir Ali spins a yarn for Meadows, telling Meadows that Amir was a member of the notorious Thuggee Cult, a band of cutthroat murderers, but has now seen the light of the reason and morality brought by the British to the lowly Indians. Meadows is persuaded to take Amir back to London with him, where Meadows exhibits Amir to various scientific society meetings and takes down Amir's long Thug story for the book Meadows is writing, titled Notes on a Thug.* Meadows is anxious to use Amir as a weapon in his war against his chief phrenological rival, Lord Batterstone, whose ideas are far more extreme.

Amir is a keen observer of Victorian London, with its teeming streets, strict class differentiation and racist attitudes toward the many people of color coming to London from Britain's far-flung empire. Amir expresses his thoughts in the letters that the young man finds in Phansa. The letters--never sent, since they are written in Farsi--are to Jenny, the servant girl Amir has fallen love with. Amir's Thug story is presented in the book's excerpts from Meadows's Notes on a Thug. We also read a narrative about a trio of grave-robbing criminals and other members of London's underclass of opium addicts, street performers, prostitutes, and even sewer dwellers called Mole People. On top of those multiple story threads, with their different styles, the book includes excerpts from newspaper articles written by a hack journalist named Oates. It was a little confusing at times, as I moved from one storyline to another but, after awhile, I got into the rhythm and style and went along for the ride. And what a ride it was.

After a deliberate start, the pace accelerates when a series of gruesome killings--complete with beheadings--rocks the city. The sensationalist press proclaims that no Christian could be responsible for the killings; they must be attributed to the riff-raff slipping into the country from Hindoostan and other parts of the empire, with their "strange rites and heathen customs," "extreme political views" and "devilish practices." Oates theorizes in his newspaper that the killer must be an "Oriental cannibal," and Amir Ali soon finds himself the key suspect in the murders. Of course, his story about being a Thug is the prime piece of evidence against him. It seems all of London is out for blood, and the police are happy to assume, with no investigation, that he must be the killer. Amir and his underclass friends must crack the case on their own, before Amir finds himself dangling at the end of a rope or torn to shreds by a mob.

Tabish Khair's book is a kaleidoscope of styles: florid Victorian novel, musty pseudoscientific article, tabloid-style sensationalism, historical mystery and police procedural. But that's just part of the story. Khair uses all of these styles to point a finger at the British imperialist attitudes of the Victorian era. Complaining of the burdens of empire, one clubman says, "We ship them civilization and they ship us problems." Enthusiasts like Batterstone and Meadows use junk science like phrenology to justify notions of their racial and class superiority, which underpin the era's colonialism. These attitudes are so pervasive and unexamined throughout British society that Meadows's cook proclaims that the members of the working class, of which she is obviously a member, are all untrustworthy.

Khair's lesson about colonialism could have been dull and didactic but, instead, he has fun with it. Amir Ali's story about his supposed life as a Thug and his recognition of the superior wisdom, morals and reason of the English are comically over the top but, of course, it's taken as gospel by Meadows and his self-satisfied ilk. The grave-robbing criminals bamboozle their betters, and Amir and his friends run rings around the professionals put in charge of the serial killer/beheader case.

Amir is a thoughtful and appealing hero, and the depiction of his love story with Jenny and friendship with his motley crew of compatriots is heartfelt and memorable.

Congratulations to Tabish Khair on this genre-bending, colorful novel.

* Presumably, Captain Meadows and his book--as well as Amir Ali in his fictional Thug persona--are based on Philip Meadows Taylor's 1839 novel, Confessions of a Thug, about a character called Ameer Ali. The novel was a sensation in England when published, and popularized the modern use of the word "thug."

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book. ( )