Choice

A Novel

By: Neel Mukherjee

Narrated by: Sofia Engstrand, Antonio Aakeel, Shaheen Khan

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

An ingenious, devastating, explosive novel about the ramifications of choice from "one of the most original and talented authors working today" (NPR).

"How ought one to live?" This is the question that obsesses London-based publisher Ayush, driving him to question every act of consumption. He embarks on a radical experiment in his own life and the lives of those connected to him: his practical economist husband; their twins; and even the authors he edits and publishes. One of those authors, a mysterious M. N. Opie, writes a story about a young academic involved in a car accident that causes her life to veer in an unexpected direction. Another author, an economist, describes how the gift of a cow to an impoverished family on the West Bengal-Bangladesh border sets them on a startling path to tragedy.

Together, these connected narratives raise the question: How free are we really to make our own choices? In a scathing, compassionate quarrel with the world, Neel Mukherjee confronts our fundamental assumptions about economics, race, appropriation, and the tangled ethics of contemporary life.

©2024 Neel Mukherjee (P)2024 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Three Disparate Takes

“Choice” is more like three novellas than one novel, all strong and subtle. I will comment separately on each.

In the first, a man named Ayusha works in London publishing. He gradually chooses to live selflessly, eliminating meat, plastic and other modern conveniences from his life. This has an adverse impact on his economist husband Luke and their twins, Masha and Sasha. Ayusha becomes increasingly obsessed, while Luke tries to retain their careful life. The story is wild and sometimes upsetting, but Ayusha’s actions are rational from his perspective—rational but dangerous.

In the second story, a middling London professor is involved in a possible hit-and-run with her gig driver. She becomes obsessed with the driver, an Eritrean immigrant, as well as her British family’s role in India during the British Raj. She didn’t show much self-awareness, to me, and I found her choices annoying and her story the least interesting.

The third story is fascinating. An impoverished family in rural India is gifted a cow by a nongovernmental organization to lift them out of poverty. The unintended consequences are sometimes amusing, sometimes heartbreaking. As in the other stories, they raise questions about hopeful choices that result in, well, problems. The mother and her two children are beautifully drawn, fully sympathetic and good company.

Neel Mukherjee is a favorite writer. His novels are political, in the sense that governing policies and economics guide his characters, but never didactic or hectoring. He creates ethical challenges for his characters, but again he does it subtly and without bombast. Mukherjee gets people—their needs, their motivations, their frustrations. His earlier novel, “The Lives of Others,” was long but compelling, with beautifully realized characters from all economic backgrounds. “Choice” is shorter but similarly thoughtful and enjoyable.

The three narrators were uniformly excellent.