https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=A_Life_Apart_novelA Life Apart novel - Revision history2026-08-07T07:58:33ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=A_Life_Apart_novel&diff=483710&oldid=prevMattPinto5 at 06:47, 12 November 20252025-11-12T06:47:28Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|2008 novel by Neel Mukherjee}}<br />
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{{Infobox novel<br />
| author = [[Neel Mukherjee (writer)|Neel Mukherjee]]<br />
| country = India<br />
| language = [[English language|English]]<br />
| isbn = 978-0-393-35210-8<br />
| pub_date = 2008<br />
| image = File:A_Life_Apart_(novel).jpg<br />
| caption = ''A Life Apart'', titled ''Past Continuous'' in the original release from 2008 in India<br />
}}<br />
'''''A Life Apart''''', titled '''''Past Continuous''''' in India, is a [[novel]] written by [[Neel Mukherjee (writer)|Neel Mukherjee]]. It was first published by [[Picador (imprint)|Picador]] in India in 2008. It was later published in the UK as ''A Life Apart'' by [[Constable & Robinson]] in 2010. The author began writing the book in 2001 while taking a course in creative writing at the [[University of East Anglia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Neel Mukherjee on Displacement and Desire |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/75355-neel-mukherjee-on-displacement-and-desire.html |website=Publishers Weekly |access-date=15 March 2025 |date=10 Nov 2017}}</ref><ref name="news18">{{cite web |date=27 July 2009 |title=I wanted a gay protagonist in my novel: Neel Mukherjee |url=https://www.news18.com/news/books/i-wanted-a-gay-protagonist-in-my-novel-neel-mukherjee-321410.html |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=News18}}</ref><br />
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It was published in the United States in 2016, by [[W. W. Norton & Company]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Acocella |first=Joan |date=2016-03-06 |title=Flight Patterns |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/14/a-life-apart-by-neel-mukherjee |access-date=2024-10-16 |work=The New Yorker |language= |issn=}}</ref><br />
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A review in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' described the novel as a "powerful mixture of comedy, revulsion, and grief." The main character, Ritwik Ghosh, a student on a scholarship at [[Oxford University]], has a fetish for public toilets in [[St Giles', Oxford|St Giles]]. The contrasting narrative in the novel is of the other protagonist, Miss Gilby, an Englishwoman who goes to India in the early 20th century on a mission for the education of women. The two narratives are interleaved in alternating chapters till the end of the book.<ref name=":0" /> <br />
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The novel uses a narration technique in which although the characters are referred to in third person, the reader only sees what the two protagonists see.<ref name=":0" /> ''[[Los Angeles Review]]'' described the language of the book as dazzling and rich in metaphors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garland |first=Phillip |date=2016-06-14 |title=Book Review: A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee |url=https://losangelesreview.org/book-review-a-life-apart-by-neel-mukherjee/ |access-date= |website=The Los Angeles Review}}</ref><br />
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== Awards ==<br />
* 2008 [[Vodafone Crossword Book Award]], English Fiction<ref name=news18/><br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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== Further reading ==<br />
* {{cite web |last1=Shamsie |first1=Kamila |title=A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jan/30/life-apart-neel-mukherjee |website=The Guardian |date=30 January 2010}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Life Apart, The}}<br />
[[Category:2008 Indian novels]]<br />
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{{india-book-stub}}</div>MattPinto5