I always feel bad when I dislike a novel that is as original as this one. It is pretty hard to find works like Song of Kali, especially in the era in which it was written -- that era being the mid-80s, i.e. when horror fiction was at its peak in popularity. Horror novels were *it* but, sadly, a lot of books written in that genre then were barely more than pedantic Stephen King rip-offs.

If anything, this novel is definitely not a Stephen King rip-off.

As I said, this book is original and was unlike anything else I've ever read. Dan Simmons's first novel is a roaring entrance into the game, and it doesn't really ever let up for the entirety of its 300 pages. I'm a big fan of Dan Simmons -- Summer of Night is one of my favorite novels ever -- but this book, despite its originality, doesn't quite show the skills Simmons would hone only a couple of years down the road. However, this is his first novel and I wouldn't expect it to be perfect.

What, you may ask, is my beef with this novel? Actually, I only had a problem with a couple of things, but those things -- the protagonist/narrator as well as, say, every other character -- are pretty big. This book is told in first-person, so all of the events are witnessed through the eyes of our main character, Robert Luczak, an aspiring poet and staffer for a magazine who has taken his wife and infant daughter with him on assignment to Calcutta, India. This guy, for lack of better descriptive terms, is an arrogant, self-absorbed asshole. And for no reason, too! His wife is calm and put together and tries to help him, but he constantly treats her like a child. He is the sole reason this family of three has horrible things happen to them in India because he consistently does stupid things that he acknowledges is stupid... but he does them anyway. I won't say more because I would hate to spoil anything. '

As well as Robert, all of the other characters are annoying, but they're just annoying because I don't know enough about any of them to feel any other way. They're hastily-drawn ciphers whose only role (in most cases) is to keep the story going. When they suffer, I don't really care because Simmons does not offer enough backstory or details about these people he's brought to the page. I typically enjoy Simmons's characters because they are almost always written in such detail and given so much life... but I guess he hadn't learned how to create realistic people yet. I dunno.

I'm going to keep this review short because I'm sort of annoyed at this book -- mostly because I wanted to like it. It won the World Fantasy Award in '86. It's often touted as one of the scariest novels ever by so many horror fans online. It has such a following... and I don't know why. In my opinion, it wasn't even all that scary. Sure, there were several chilling moments but in most cases the author substituted actual fright with mere gross-out, which might work for some readers... but it definitely doesn't work for this guy. It was a quick read and, like I said, it's highly original. If anything, Simmons uses the location of Calcutta to his advantage, getting all of the mileage possible out of the concept he has created. In addition, the last couple of chapters are pretty bittersweet, mixing horror, fright, and suffering in a way Simmons would often do in his later, bigger novels. The final chapters is where the novel shines most.

All in all, Song Of Kali wasn't a bad read, but it wasn't particularly great either. It was a decent way to kick off my October reading, but I doubt I'll ever go back and read it again. 3 stars.

This is a hard book to rate. This was a thoroughly unpleasant read, filled with unlikable characters, telling a story where little actually happens. Yet, I found the book strangely captivating.

От тази книга все още сънувам кошмари, а романтично наивното желание да посетя Индия рязко се изпари.

Videorezi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdLy...

Robert Luczak reist mit seiner Frau und der gemeinsamen kleinen Tochter Victoria nach Kalkutta, um ein Manuskript eines vermeintlich vor acht Jahren verstorbenen Autors, eingegenzunehmen.
Dieses Unterfangen erweist sich allerdings als nicht so einfach, wie von ihm angenommen.
Irrungen und Wirrungen in einem verarmten Land, Menschen die Luczak eigentlich wohlgesonnen sein sollten, ihm aber dann doch Steine in den Weg legen sind nur der Anfang.
Als es Robert Luczak dann auch noch mit einem im Untergrund vertretenen Kult, um die Todesgöttin Kali, zu tun bekommt, steht er plötzlich vor der Frage, ob er und seine Familie Indien lebend wieder verlassen können.

Dieses Buch ist das erste Werk von Dan Simmons (1986) und das merkt man deutlich. Es ist nicht zu vergleichen mit Werken wie "Terror" oder "Der Berg".
Und leider hat es der Story an etwas Aussagekraft gefehlt. Entweder hätte Simmons hier eine Kurzgeschichte draus machen sollen, oder noch einige Seiten drauf packen müssen, denn Potenzial hatte die Story eindeutig.

I got to 33% and I had to throw in the (moist) towel. The main character was an insufferable asshole and the repetitive description got on my nerves. This is my first by Simmons, however it won’t be my last as I’m pretty sure his later books (this was his first) will be better. I hope Drood won’t disappoint like this one has!

Visą laik mačiau filmą. Visą knygą išžiūrėjau, nors iš tikro išklausiau (#Audiobook). Ir negaliu pagaut, kodėl niekas dar nepadarė intelligent horror ar mystery suspense pagal šitą puikų, atmosferinį scenarijų. Bet ir erzino tas pats. Kai autorius piešia tau paveikslą nesinori, kad jis nupieštų jį už tave. Juk mes, knygiai, tuo ir didžiuojamės prieš filmius. Tuo, kad skaitydami GOT nematom galvoj Sean Bean. O skatydami Dune, matom sandworms geresnius nei D.Lynch ar D.Nolan. O #DanSimmons persistengė. Jis nupaišė taip tiksliai, kad nepaliko vietos fantazijai. Bet be šios apmaudžios overdesign / overthink smulkmenos, viskas #Recom. #SongOfKali #LEBooks

"Il canto di Kali", esordio narrativo di Dan Simmons, è un romanzo che mescola il thriller psicologico, il mistero e il soprannaturale, ambientato in un'India avvolta da un'atmosfera inquietante e pericolosa. Il protagonista, Robert Luczak, è un giovane scrittore che si reca a Calcutta per intervistare un misterioso poeta di nome M. Das, ma ben presto si ritrova immerso in un mondo di oscuri segreti, rituali e forze misteriose legate al culto della dea Kali.

La scrittura di Simmons è suggestiva e avvolgente, con descrizioni vivide della città, che diventa quasi un personaggio a sé, con la sua bellezza decadente e le sue ombre. L'autore gioca con le paure universali dell'ignoto e del soprannaturale.

Nonostante questo, il primo romanzo di Simmons non è esente da difetti.
Alcuni lettori potrebbero trovare il ritmo del romanzo un po’ troppo lento, specialmente nelle fasi iniziali, quando l’autore costruisce l’atmosfera e il mistero.
Inoltre, sebbene la trama e l'ambientazione siano affascinanti, alcuni personaggi, in particolare lo stesso protagonista, potrebbero sembrare poco sviluppati. La sua evoluzione psicologica non è sempre convincente e le sue reazioni possono sembrare forzate e poco naturali in alcune situazioni.

Finale volutamente ambiguo con diversi interrogativi che restano privi di risposta.

Piacevole ma ancora acerbo.

I swear, I get myself into all sorts of nightmares adding horror books into my tbr.

A bitch will never learn, seriously. But to be fair, a good book is a good book. Even if it fucked my mind up and cause me to question the shadows and what's living inside it.

Here's the thing about Song of Kali -- it's not good.

Dan Simmons, a Coloniser from a colonial country, writes about Calcutta, in India, a colonised country which was - and continues to be - exploited by colonial countries. And his racial prejudice jumps out immediately, from the very first page.

The book opens with what is assumed to be our narrator, reflecting on his thoughts on Calcutta post-ending. Here, he says;

n  

Some places are too evil to be allowed to exist. Some cities are too wicked to be suffered. Calcutta is such a place. [...]Calcutta should be expunged. Before Calcutta I took part in marches against nuclear weapons. Now I dream of nuclear mushroom clouds rising above a city.

n

Even if one is to ignore that lovely monologue, every chapter within Song of Kali opens up with more quotes that disparage Calcutta's existence, remarking upon its filth and sin, how its streets should be abolished. Simmons is a white man, and a white man whose opinion of a city that has been exploited and violated by the West seems to echo every white supremacist notion of "lesser countries", as if the United States is any better.

At one point within the book, it looks as if Simmons is going to execute some self-awareness, when a minor character, Michael Leonard Chatterjee, approaches our protagonist Robert with a scathing assessment of his racist views on Calcutta by remarking that Calcutta's issues are not unique, and often shared with England and the U.S., both historically and currently. This seemed as though Simmons was rightly critiquing the American view on "underdeveloped" (read: over-exploited) countries in the East, but alas, this resounding moment of reflection is cut short when Amrita, Robert's wife and Indian-born British immigrant, pipes up, disagreeing with Chatterjee and insisting that India's racism and colourism are somehow uniquely rancid.

This is not the only moment of blatant racism within the book. Early into our arrival into Calcutta, we are introduced to Krishna, an eccentric caricature who despite having studied abroad in the U.S. studying literature, speaks in broken English. This is, of course, ignoring that English is the official language taught in India, thanks to colonialism. Simmons further insults Krishna by mocking the thesis rejected by an American professor, its topic regarding the exploitation of Eastern religion, themes, and ideas by American writers. Despite Krishna's perfectly valid point, Simmons frames this as laughable.

Further, the entire "horror" aspect of the book relies on xenophobic ideas around Hinduism and its worshippers. Here, a cult of Kali worshippers is depicted as rapists, murderers, and necromancers who conduct human sacrifice to Kali - despite no Hindu sect in India ever existing. The closest one could get to Simmons' fantasy racist cult, is the Aghori Sadhus, a Hindu sect that embraces and lives amongst death and consumes the flesh of the dead in order to purify their spirit and help them along to the afterlife. This sect, however, practices no murder, no rape, no bloodshed -- the dead they find are ones that have been discarded into the environment and left to rot in the open. This is, of course, very different to Simmons' depiction of Hindu worshippers, and plays into the Western Coloniser's ideas of barbaric non-white religion.

This is all, unfortunately, unsurprising once you dig a little further into Simmons' opinions and latest writing. In Flashback, where his cynical racist views imagines a post-Obama future as a desolate and destroyed wasteland, where the American populace has been turned into drug addicts, where Chinese and Muslim terrorists are a threat to U.S. soil. His aggressive rant targeted at Greta Thunberg only further exposes his alt-right and conservative views. What more can we expect from a Coloniser? I am surprised his malice did not penetrate further into Song of Kali.

In the end, all I can conclude with is that Song of Kali is not only a shockingly racist take on Calcutta and India as a whole, it offers very little to the horror genre that hasn't already been done much better by Colonised authors. Save the read of this book - pick up some Nuzo Onoh or Graham Jones instead.

Uf – teško da mogu da pišem o ovom delu bez popularnih 'spojlera', al' ajde da pokušam u par rečenica da kažem zašto ovo valja.

Kao prvo, ambijent u kojem se održava veći deo radnje opisan je više nego dobro i vrlo deskriptivno. Smrad, prljavština, gubavi prosjaci i prokleta tama – najmračnija iteracija Indije sa kojom se suočih do sada. Svojevrsno spuštanje u 'Srce tame' sa elementima blagih supernaturalija. Nije čudno što 'moderna publika' smatra ovu knjigu rasističkom.

Kao drugo, ovo je tip pripovesti kakav lično najviše volim. Pisano iz prvog lica, koje je – ako mene pitate – idealno za ovu vrstu književnosti. Tako se muka, ovde vaskolika, najbolje prenese!

Treće. Sama priča je pitka i lagana za ispratiti. Novinar/pesnik odlazi u Kalkutu kako bi preuzeo novu novcijatu poemu čuvenog indijskog pesnika... problem je samo što je taj isti pesnik odavno mrtav. Kako i zašto se novi uradak pojavio, vaše je da vidite.

Ovo je prvo Simonsovo delo, pa se vidi ta 'oštrica' i želja da malčice šokira čitaoce nekim gnusnim deskripcijama i dešavanjima koja i lično smatram najbolnijim mogućim. Ta mu je oštrica otupela u međuvremenu, ali ova knjiga ostaje kao monument poletnosti i mladosti dokazanog autora.

Preporučujem... a ja (skoro) nikada ne lažem.
4,2/5

This is a more literate genre novel than most. The story was gripping and propulsive even when I had a hard time suspending disbelief. But the images of Calcutta seemed somewhat stylized--Dickensian squalor without the redeeming Dickensian prose--and the characters didn't exactly wow me with their depth. Then again, this is a genre novel, so maybe my expectations were a little off? Maybe. Still, in the end I liked it well enough.

Kolkata is a city of contradictions. One side of the road would show magnificent high rises while the other has shanties and hastily put together human habitations. You travel through roads where garbage is piled high and refuse floats through large bodies of water. Turn a bend in the road and you see a tree lined pavement, well cared for houses and apartments and the road will lead you to some of the swankiest shopping malls in town. There is a mix of the old and the new, the beautiful and the repulsive & the eye catching and the forgettable. Kolkata in short thus is a replica of any other large city in the world. Dan Simmons though paints a grim portrait of this town and calls it in so many words a nest of many evils.

Kali is in Hindu Mythology a manifestation of uncontrolled feminine power. She is rage,lust,power,battle fury, primeval intellect, bestial instincts,benediction, omnipotence and a lot many other traits rolled into one. The cults that follow her are said to be violent in nature to appease this dark side of the divine female. Simmons capitalizes on this and takes imagination to a higher level when he calls Kali an undoubtedly evil entity with a ruthless cult behind her. Song of Kali is one of the best horror novels I have come across with the focus kept solely on one of India's dark myths. Contrary to my usual taste, there is quite a scattering of the visceral throughout the events which serves mostly to heighten the ambiance.

I agree with many of the reviewers here, the characters and the story makes us feel that Kolkata is solely and completely evil. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. Also, the moment the characters walk back into America all sense of horror dissipates like those bogey men before a shaft of strong light. But I must say that even after close to 35 years of the novel's setting, there still are places that retain the same shades in this enigmatic city.

This book goes to my favorites list for the simple fact that after a long while, I was completely drawn into the ambiance of a tales setting.

Couple of funny things though :

1. According to the Indian dialect you do not call a person Jayaprakesh. You call him Jayaprakash or Jayaprakas but not Jayaprakesh !

2. A hymn with 108 stanzas is not called a mantri for this word is not the plural form of mantra . Which means it is still called Gayatri Mantra and not Gayatri Mantri .