INTO THE FOREST: A NOVEL
By Avtar Singh
Context, Rs 499
Written in and set during the 2020 global pandemic, Avtar Singh’s book is a story of isolation, loneliness and longing.
It is June 2020 and a reporter has come to an unnamed German town to inquire about a young girl who has gone missing. She was last seen with Nabi, an Afghan immigrant. The reporter sets out to investigate the accusations hurled at Nabi by the girl’s ex-boyfriend. But the town seem to be hiding something underneath its veil of cordial pretence. The narrative follows each member of the town and his/her stories to stitch vignettes of life before and after June 2020, thereby zeroing on Indian, Bosnian, German and half-Cuban characters to sketch a story of loss in a time of loneliness.
Singh has a delectable way of evoking mystery and setting the scene. He knows exactly how to envelop the reader in the silence of the cold forest without spending too many words on it. This brevity marks the thoughts of his characters too. For instance, the immigrant experience of being in a first-world country is written with subtlety, a hint of irony, and sarcasm to capture the broader political processes. Through dialogues, Singh unveils the minds of his characters and unpacks their sensibilities and experiences of being isolated — socially and politically. The vivid character sketches prepare the readers for the nebulous complexity embedded in them.
The mystery reveals itself towards the end, even though the ending is a bit too comfortable. Nonetheless, Singh’s novel is a moving exercise in contemplation and imaginative thought in difficult times. Readers who have enjoyed Jon McGregor’s Reservoir 13 or Sigrid Nunez’s The Vulnerables will enjoy Singh’s haunting, slow-burn novel that records time when time itself had stilled for the world.
