Class, ambition and the performance of intelligence provide much of the comedy and conflict in Manu Joseph’s satirical Indian fiction. Serious Men follows Ayyan Mani, a Dalit office worker at a scientific institute in Mumbai who invents signs of extraordinary intelligence in his young son while observing the vanity of the scientists above him. The Illicit Happiness of Other People begins with a father investigating why his teenage son died and opens into a dark family story about art, belief and mental instability. Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous turns political surveillance, terrorism and media spectacle into a sharper comic thriller. Joseph’s prose is dry, argumentative and often deliberately abrasive, with ideas and social hierarchy driving the humour. His work suits readers of Indian literary fiction, social satire and dark comedy, particularly those who enjoy novels by Aravind Adiga or Upamanyu Chatterjee. Read more Less
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