Song of Kali by Dan Simmons - Book Review

 Song of Kali 

By Dan Simmons

Rating : 2.75/5

Genres : supernatural, theology, dark fiction, fiction, mystery, suspense, 2021-read. 

This book is extremely gripping - till the end. But I couldn't give it more than what rating I have given it. Why? First, it had me simmering with rage and there is more than one scene which left me cringing - the author is outright blasphemous in using curse words against the deity and over blowing/exaggerating about his experiences in India. Second, I think he is confused between - kali, the demon who defines the age of kali vs Kaali the goddess who is known as all powerful. I had to remind myself that this is not a memoir but only a work of fiction. It felt like a slowly unwinding nightmare. This work of Dan Simmons beats many of the recent works of Stephen King - in horror and in touching the morbid, graphic violence, grisly ideas too deep. 

The narrator is a writer and he gets commissioned to obtain a manuscript of poems written by an Indian poet who has disappeared eight years ago - presumed dead - and resurfaced recently. He makes the trip to Calcutta - of which he develops a deep resentment and critical view - with his British Indian wife Amritha and toddler daughter Victoria. He walks into a perfectly tumultuous situation with little knowledge. He learns queer things, strange and unbelievable events follow and eventually the family - what's remaining of it - runs back to America. He cannot escape his narrow but strongly rooted experiences in Calcutta and they define his rest of life. So what happened?