The Guide by R K Narayan is one of the finest novels ever produced by an Indian novelist, without a shred of doubt! The novel is written in the simplest possible manner so that the readers can have more of reading pleasure and less of delayed-decoding. R K Narayan is one of the founding pillars of global Indian fiction and he has stood up to his reputation with the said work – The Guide. The flapping wings of Rosie which is turned into a dove by Raju who is himself a person trapped in some kind of illusion always. The plot of the novel can easily be termed something as complete or a whole – something which encircles the minds of the readers and does not free them even after they have finished the novel.

Basically, the novel is a three-person as major characters novel and we have Raju and Rosie dominating the scenes with Marco somewhere in the background because his silhouette lingers around until the end. Raju offers Rosie a refuge in his wilderness but later takes the responsibility and converts a frightened Rosie into a free bird and she becomes Nalini – the world famous Indian classical dancer. Raju, however, is trapped by greed and he thinks of Rosie as if she is a goose who lays the golden eggs. And things deteriorate amid them – Raju tries to come out of the dilemma but he turns into a criminal – out of insecurity or out of greed you will know only when you read the novel.

The ending of the novel is hyperbole – we find a Saint Raju who is willing to sacrifice himself for the larger good of the people who have faith in him. He dies a great man – no doubt. The scenes presented by R K Narayan are sometimes very sentimental and sometimes hilarious too. You will surely enjoy reading the novel to until the last.

On a critical and intellectual level, the novel is nothing but a reflection of our society and it’s relevant even today. We always find the people who will think low of a dancer. We always see the people who still believe in marriage as an institution which cannot be juxtaposed with an event called divorce. We still find orthodoxy in our society. We still find people who are sentimental and touchy about their faith and easily trust a person to be their ultimate saviour! We have The Guide everywhere… yesterday, today and tomorrow!

Get your copy from the Amazon link below and you can enjoy reading as we have done!

R K Narayan’s Guide on Amazon India