Yogesh Chadha
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
It's a good chronicle, but weak as a biography 3 out of 5 stars.
31 of 31 people found this review helpful.
I purchased this book because I wanted to learn more about Gandhi and his influence, given that he's been regarded as the father of modern India, and was an inspiration for Martin Luther King Jr.Gandhi: A Life is a densely packed book; I wouldn't say it's hard reading, but there's a huge amount of material here. Unfortunately, I felt disappointed by it since it does a good job of presenting the basic facts of Gandhi's life (carefully cross-checked for accuracy, the author assures us in his foreword), but goes no further than that. As such, it will teach the reader much about what Gandhi did and said, and about the state of India circa 1890-1948, but it will provide little insight into the man himself.
As one would expect, facts about Gandhi's later life are more readily available than about his earlier life. Despite this, the first third of the book feels the most rewarding, as several formative events provide profound insight into the man, including his vegetarianism and policies of non-violence. His gradual development from a shy young lawyer with stage fright into the powerful and dogmatic leader is carefully shown through his experiences in South Africa.
His return to India prior to 1920 and his ascension to the top of Indian politics, though, is not as successful. Just when we most need explanations and interpretations of Gandhi's behavior, Chadha fails us. Gandhi suddenly ceases to talk on Mondays, for some reason. He acquires what is essentially a cult of personality, but his own personality seems basically unlikeable, and the personalities of those around him are left sketchy. Chadha introduces supporting characters with a few paragraphs when they appear, but then takes as a given that their behavior will be understood.
While I can understand the desire to deconstruct the mythology around a figure such as Gandhi, it seems to me that the author does us a disservice in not probing deeper into the figure, even if he does have to work with some less-well-documented material. Such interpretation seems to me to be an essential part of being a biographer.
The book concludes on its lowest note, a three-chapter description of the plot (if it can be called that) leading to Gandhi's assassination. Filled with characters who never met Gandhi, and whose motivations were not particularly profound, it adds almost nothing to our understanding of Gandhi, those around him, or his nation. It is, ultimately, a digression and an anticlimax.
If pure facts about the life of Gandhi are what you're looking for, then this is the book for you. If you're looking for interpretation or better understanding of who he was and why, then I recommend you look elsewhere.
Editorial Review:
The aim of Gandhi: A Life as described by writer Yogesh Chadha is "[Reclaiming Gandhi] as a human being out of the many myths surrounding him." Chadha's method seems to consist mainly of a "frank" detailing of the Indian revolutionary leader's personal flaws. But the sheer amount of biographical data in this book is impressive. And the details of Gandhi's assassination in 1948 and the subsequent prosecution of his killers are extremely well researched. In his introduction to the book, Chadha fleetingly suggests that Gandhi's significance to the liberation of India is overemphasized at the expense of his broader contributions to humanism, although the evidence presented later in the biography might indicate that the two are profoundly interconnected.
Making copious use of Gandhi's collected writings, Chadha presents a highly detailed portrait that lends new insight into one of the 20th century's most profound spiritual leaders.
