"The Inheritors" by Nadeem Zaman

 

The Great Gatsby, relocated from 1920s New York to the bustling capital of Bangladesh in the 2010s.

But it's more than that. The Inheritors is a beautifully written critique of the gulf between the partying rich and the toiling poor; it explores the shallow relationships among the rich not-so-young things and the deeper but sometimes exploitative relationships between the wealthy and those who work for them. There are genuinely three-dimensional characters and a nice touch of mystery as Nisar the outsider tried to make sense of a world he didn't fully understand.

The Plot:

Nisar, the narrator, travels to Dhaka, which he left as a thirteen year old, thirty years earlier, to sell his father's properties. His next-door neighbour, Junaid, who holds lavish parties every Saturday night in an otherwise empty apartment block, is still in love with Nisar's cousin Disha even though their previous marriage ended; she is presently with Tarek. Bit by bit, Nisar discovers more about Dhaka and Junaid. As these rich young(ish) Bengalis live an opulent life-style, their various relationships fracture and reform until tragedy strikes.

The parallels:

The parallels with The Great Gatsby are clear and start with the characters' names, whose initial letters are identical:

• Narrator Nick Carraway becomes narrator Nisar Chowdhury. Nick comes from the midwestern US; so does Nisar. Nick gives a potted account of his ancestry: “The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have a tradition that we’re descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch...” (TGG Ch 1) Nisar gives himself a rather more explicit ancestry, including his mother’s side, but it starts: “The Chowdhurys were of Yemeni Arab stock. They travelled to Bengal in around the 14th century and never looked back” (Ch 1) A difference is that Nick in TGG has his thirtieth birthday while Nisar is "flirting with my forties" (Ch 1) Another is that there is no suggestion that Nisar has gay sex.
• Protagonist Jay Gatsby becomes protagonist Junaid Gazi. Fitzgerald’s introduction to Gatsby is: “There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the ‘creative temperament’” (Ch 1) Zaman’s introduction to Gazi is: “He existed in a kind of beauty that was undeniable. He exemplified the mysterious coexistence of opposing forces in one single being. He was as attuned to the universe as much as to his world, like an all-purpose machine, and picked up on the changes that took place miles ahead of others. His state of mind or any grand ability to tackle life with any special creative force towards the creative had nothing to do with it.” (Ch 1) Like Gatsby, the enormously rich Gazi lives next door to the narrator in a huge building empty except for the servants and himself. Like Gatsby, Gazi throws extravagant parties which he himself scarcely participates in. Like Gatsby, Gazi is in love with the narrator's cousin. Gatsby calls Nick 'old sport', Gazi calls Nisar 'boss'. Their ends are similar. Near the end of the book, Nick meets Gatsby's father, so Nisar meets Gazi's dad.  
• Daisy is Nick's second cousin, once removed; Disha is Nisar’s first cousin. Daisy had a romantic relationship with Gatsby and is now the wife of Tom Buchanan. Disha was married to Gazi but is now in a relationship with Tarek Bashir. 
• Antagonist Tom Buchanan, Daisy's husband, is a millionaire; he has a mistress. Tarek Bashir is still married but presently in a relationship with Disha. He is "running around with Maisha" (Ch 14)
• Jordan Baker is Nick Carraway's girlfriend for most of TGG though they grow apart towards the end. Nisar has a platonic relationship with Jasmine until nearly the end of TI.
• George Wilson is a garage owner.  Gowhar Wasim's family owns car dealerships.
• Myrtle Wilson is George's wife. She is Tom Buchanan's mistress. Gowhar's wife is Maisha Wasim. She is in some sort of relationship with Tarek.

There are other parallels. For example, in TGG, there is a billboard on a highway that runs through a desert of ashy wastelands that represent industrial America. On the billboard is an advertisement for an oculist which consists of a monstrous pair of eyes overlooking the desolation; the symbolism of the all-seeing eye of God (and perhaps a reference to the eye atop the pyramid on the dollar bill) is blatant. In TI, the character Gowhar is obsessed by the idea that the stars in the night sky are God's Eyes. Nisat says: “God's Eyes. I had a literal image of eyes wearing horn-rimmed spectacles staring down from the sky. A billboard along an American highway portending the end of days while those eyes watched and judged.” (Ch 18) Another visual image is that Gazi bought his apartment block because from its roof he can see where Disha lives; Gatsby bought his house because he can see, across the Sound, a green light on the jetty at the end of Daisy's lawn.

The famous last line of TGG is "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."; the last line of TI is “The past beats on, louder sometimes than the present, clearer than any visions of the future.” (Ch 28)

But there are differences. For example, Nisar has problems with a lawyer, Ehsan Kibria, who seems to have swindled his family. Both this solicitor and Meyer Wolfsheim (a friend of Gatsby's) have been involved in betting scandals; otherwise this plot line seems distinct.

I have no issues with a modern novelist mining and reforming an old source like this; Barbara Kingsolver did the same in Demon Copperhead. The only problem that I had, as with DC, was that once I had noticed the similarities, I started paying more attention to the parallels and less attention to the modern text; I was distracted from properly enjoying The Inheritors. Because this novel had a lot of great things going for it. The sense of placed was superb. The character of the narrator Nisar was much stronger than the original, Nick (a feature it shared with Demon Copperhead). There was a much stronger sense that the rich hedonists were parasites upon the poor. But the ending seemed a little rushed and, because of the parallels, it was highly predictable, even though Zaman tweaked it slightly.

Summary:

It was a fascinating glimpse into high society in Bangladesh and an entertaining story with some great characters.

Selected quotes:

• “Flirting with my forties, I'd reached a sort of morally stringent stance about the world. It had to stand upright, it had to pay unflinching heed to what was wrong, and I couldn't be bothered to understand its wayward, unruly ways, or care about the nuanced tendencies of human nature.” (Ch 1)
• “If bosses were that good there'd be no need for God.” (Ch 7)
• “His face was sunken into his cheeks, and half-moons of ashen blue hung under his eyes.” (Ch 8)
• “Dhaka isn't an easy place.” (Ch 12)
• “Old times are just that and no more. They're no longer the living, breathing present, they’re dead, not to be revived.” (Ch 14)
• “Disha and Gazi sucked the oxygen of ten people, and they didn't need to be present to do it.” (Ch 16)
• “If there’s a hell, it's right here - we’re standing in it. Heaven is the way out of it.” (Ch 18)
• “But there was no discomfort, no awkwardness, and we sat together as two people with a long and complex history, of many cycles of ups and downs, back once more to equilibrium.” (Ch 22)
• “Home isn't just one thing. it isn't a country, a city or a place of dwelling. Home is a going away, contained in loss, obscured by the brushstrokes of memory.” (Ch 28)

July 2024; 249 pages

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God