NIGHT THEATER
A surgeon flees a scandal in the city and accepts a job at a village clinic. He buys antibiotics out of pocket, squashes roaches, and chafes at the interventions of the corrupt officer who oversees his work.
But his outlook on life changes one night when a teacher, his pregnant wife, and their young son appear. Killed in a violent robbery, they tell the surgeon that they have been offered a second chance at living if the surgeon can mend their wounds before sunrise.
So begins a night of quiet work, “as if the crickets had been bribed,” during which the surgeon realizes his future is tied more closely to that of the dead family than he could have imagined. By dawn, he and his assistant have gained knowledge no mortal should have.
In this inventive novel charged with philosophical gravity and sly humor, Vikram Paralkar takes on the practice of medicine in a time when the right to health care is frequently challenged. Engaging earthly injustice and imaginaries of the afterlife, he asks how we might navigate corrupt institutions to find a moral center.
Encompassing social criticism and magically unreal drama, Night Theater is a first novel as satisfying for its existential inquiry as for its enthralling story of a skeptical physician who arrives at a greater understanding of life’s miracles.
Book Lists
“The 12 New Books You Should Read
in January 2020″
Time magazine
“Indie Next Selection”
January 2020
American Booksellers
“15 Small Press Books To Kick Off Your 2020 Reading Season“
BuzzFeed.news
The first of “19 books to read in 2020”
The Week
“20 New Upcoming Books To Add To Your 2020 Reading List“
Thought Catalog
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The Guardian
“Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated
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Literary Hub
“The Most-Anticipated
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Craft Literary Journal
“10 Books to Read in 2020
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Jetsetter
Reviews
Perceptive and absurdly humorous in ways I hadn't expected. By the time I reached its smashing final line, I was hoping Paralkar would resurrect the dead for a sequel.”