Life and Times of Mr S worked for me like magic It unsettled my notion of what was real what possible and resettled that notion in a strange luminous place Narayanan uses what he sees as singular illusions class caste family for example to conjure a pluriverse of his own crowded with multiple often polymorphous identities that by their very nature could be illusions too This recalls the work and play of magicianacrobats and Narayanan is one of them Questioning the very nature of reality and the possibility of finding true answers he pushes at limits walking a dangerous tightrope I am dazzled by his dexterityAdil Jussawalla This unique and captivating book takes the experiments of GV Desani as a starting point and composes a chronicle of living language enacted around the person of Mr S Lyric and narrative parodic and reflective Vivek Narayanan gives us a work of woofconfidence rich with minidisquisitions on desire guilt food caste malls etc It jiggles the hearticles slugs back the memory jug and palavers with a laptop Often on the heels of a round of elaborate ebullient passages the reader is brought to a complete stop Only in minds stillness shall the wood apple appear Life and Times of Mr S is a brilliant homage to an evermorphing language and land CD Wright