The Complex

Advance Praise for The Complex

“[Mahajan] clearly understands the psychology of family, messy as it always is. Mahajan evokes the clashing landscapes of India and Michigan with a sure hand, and displays a keen understanding of Indian society and politics. Though the reader learns in the opening pages that one main character will be murdered by a relative, the novel’s final chapters still manage to be shocking, which is a testament to Mahajan’s genius. This novel is beautiful and unforgettable. A masterly novel, seemingly influenced by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, by a talented and self-assured writer.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“The Complex is an extraordinary gift to its lucky readers: an enormously full and brilliantly structured novel whose characters come to feel as familiar—and as bottomlessly mysterious—as one’s own family. I was spellbound by the ramifying dramas of the Chopras, whose strong roots intertwine below their Delhi complex during decades of sweeping global and national change. I am awestruck by what Karan Mahajan has accomplished in The Complex, and I never wanted this book to end.”
—Karen Russell, author of National Book Award finalist The Antidote

“A delicious page-turner about familial jealousy and revenge that, in the Dostoyevskian tradition, doubles as a masterful investigation of the slipperiness of power in a changing and modernizing world. The Complex is Mahajan’s most exciting, virtuosic novel yet.”
—Vauhini Vara, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist The Immortal King Rao

“In the tradition of Tolstoy, Karan Mahajan has written a family saga and a historical epic that describes humanity with absolute fidelity—no kinder or crueler, wiser or duller, grander or punier than it really is. In The Complex, not only is the personal political, but the political is a duck blind for the personal, demonstrating how family secrets and failed businesses create demagogues, martyrs, and murderers. This is a farsighted and serious novel, and a monument to radicalized times.”
—Tony Tulathimutte, author of Rejection, longlisted for the National Book Award

“Epic in scope, wonderous in its summoning of distinct characters, vital in its weaving of family and politics. This is a miraculous novel.”
—Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of National Book Award finalist Chain-Gang All-Stars