I'm alive . . . for now: Novel - Paperback

by Imayam (Author), Prabha Sridevan (Translator)

[This novel] is a running commentary on the existential journey of one family - a youth in his teens and his father and mother - as they traverse the maze of modern medicine in search of a cure for his deadly kidney disease. I hesitate to use the word "fiction", because this is certainly not make-believe. The author speaks not just as a witness but as an actual participant. Nor does classifying it simply as "non-fiction" do justice to the depth and range of its factual content - and those facts are not only about how kidneys function, how their dysfunction is treated, how transplants take place, and how they respond, and fail, but about the medical and scientific processes, and the financial and administrative structures involved. A range of human interactions is conveyed with both candour and dispassion. No voyeurism, no sentimentality.'

VASANTHA SURYA, Writer

'The highest human quality in Imayam's writing is empathy. His empathy is completely devoid of sentimentality and this he conveys by giving his protagonist the voice to speak. This novel deserves close reading, textual analysis, and extensive scholarly commentary, so that it can take its place in the treasures of emerging masterpieces of world literature.'

KAMAKSHI BALASUBRAMANIAN, Educator and Writer