Talkative Man

Talkative Man

File:TheTalkativeMan.jpg First edition
Author	R.K. Narayan
Country	India
Publisher	Heinemann
Publication date	1986
Media type	Print
ISBN	978-0-670-81341-4
OCLC	14166421
Dewey Decimal	823 19
LC Class	PR9499.3.N3 T3 1987
Preceded by	Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories
Followed by	A Writer's Nightmare

Talkative Man is a novel by R. K. Narayan first published in 1986 by Heinemann. The book is Narayan's 13th novel. Like his earlier novels, this one is also set in the fictional town of Malgudi. The novel is a bit short by Narayan's standards but provides the same level of enjoyment one experiences with his other writings.

Plot

The main character is an ordinary man who is wealthy and works as a journalist. He has a regular routine in his life: post articles in the post box, have a talk with people in a tea shop, go to library and house. One day, he meets a man from an unknown land called "Timbuctoo", another of Narayan's creations, the land being similar to the US. The man seems to have come for an official duty for UN and, seeing the calmness of the place, decides to stay here for his work. There comes a twist of what is exactly the man up to and how the main character of the novel solves the problem. The story is simple, and the author honestly admits to being a short story writer, rather than a novelist as he tells; most of the people skip the intrinsic details given about the places and only catch the content (at the end of the book, his words about the story). It is a good read book and can be read for the calmness with which Narayan writes his story, as a critic rightly points out .