Product Description

This is the story of Ved Sant, an Indian from Port of Spain, Trinidad - a ramshackle carnival culture which suddenly becomes oil and gas rich. At an age when he might have been contemplating further education, Ved is forced to take charge of the family business. Breaking all the rules about how things should be done, Ved follows his instinctive impulses towards kindness, respect, generosity, creativity, and sees the company surge forward. But, while success brings very tangible rewards, it also brings more than its share of heartache. Ved may be clear-sighted in his practical vision of the future, but he is unable to apply the lessons he has learned to his private life. And intense family pressures bind him tight when he needs to be free. Ved is an attractive man, and very attractive to women. But, he cannot keep the one he really loves. And, as his business flourishes, he finds himself sucked into a whirlpool of politics and corruption. In her first novel, Niala Maharaj takes us on an exhilarating journey into an island Eden, where natural, ebullient innocence has a struggle to survive under the extreme pressures of commercial development. "Like Heaven" is a novel which pulsates with life, is rich in character and vibrant with the sounds, smells, colours and texture of the Caribbean.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1129895 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

Review
"The heat and vitality of the Caribbean burn off the page."
"-Guardian"

"From the Trade Paperback edition."

From the Publisher
Like Heaven surges with life, humour and a sense of hope. Niala Maharaj is an exciting new voice.

From the Inside Flap
This is the story of Ved Sant, an Indian from Port of Spain, Trinidad - a ramshackle carnival culture which suddenly becomes oil and gas rich.

At an age when he might have been contemplating further education, Ved is forced to take charge of the family business. Breaking all the rules about how things should be done, Ved follows his instinctive impulses towards kindness, respect, generosity, creativity, and sees the company surgeforward.

But while success brings very tangible rewards, it also brings more than its share of heartache. Ved may be clear-sighted in his practical vision of the future, but he is unable to apply the lessons he has learned to his private life. And intense family pressures bind him tight when he needs to be free.

Ved is an attractive man, and very attractive to women. But he cannot keep the one he really loves. And, as his business flourishes, he finds himself sucked into a whirlpool of politics and corruption.

In her first novel, Niala Maharaj takes us on an exhilarating journey into an island Eden, where natural, ebullient innocence has to struggle to survive under the extreme pressures of commercial development. Like Heaven is a novel which pulsates with life, is rich in character and vibrant with the sounds, smells, colours and texture of the Caribbean.

Customer Reviews

Great summer reading
Much of the new writing out of the Caribbean seems to be stuck in a timewarp: the childhood memoir, the coming-of-age novel. This is a great exception. It's a first novel, from a writer I think we will be hearing a lot more of.

She writes beautifully, and the story moves fast, much of it through dialogue reminiscent again of Naipaul (the skilful, often comic dialogue of "Miguel Street" and the other early books). And Maharaj has solved perfectly the problem of dealing with a second-language or "dialect" culture. The dialogue is easy to read, doesn't get bogged down in phonetic imitation, and catches exactly the rhythm and nuance of Trinidadian talk.

Some readers, especially impatient ones, won't like the way Maharaj works into the main narrative. No opening "teaser" chapter followed by prolonged flashbacks, no fancy tricks with multiple voices or points of view. This is a straightforward linear narrative, rich and almost Dickensian; you have to stay with it. If you wonder in the early pages where things are going, don't despair, you'll soon find out.

Although this is a deeply serious book about a beleagured hero and a beleagured culture, it never takes itself too seriously. It is often very funny, the story itself is human and compelling, and the pace hardly slows. For a feel of real contemporary Caribbean life, start here.

The heart of the Caribbean
There an osmosis-like process that happens through reading this book. I started off knowing very little about Trinidad but by following Ved's story I've absorbed all manner of things about the social and political set-up there.
Ved is an attractive protagonist and Niala Maharaj really succeeds in `cross-writing' herself into a man's mind. One of the clever tricks she pulls off is to have Ved take his life down a route that the reader can see is wrong for him without ever losing credibility.
Ved is surrounded by characters so well-defined that I believe they probably exist in real life. Their antics tug at your heart-strings and they make you laugh out loud. Ms Maharaj is equally at home writing comedy and tragedy and both abound in this book.
It's a rattling good story well told. It captures the heat and heart of the Caribbean.

Entertaining and profound
What a great read. Lovely lively characters, a lot of entertaining stories and a subtle plot with a profound twist that takes your breath away, worthy of the best literature. My friends had better prepare: Like Heaven is going to be my standard birthday gift for some time to come...