A Record of Thinking

Amitava Kumar's The Green Book: An Observer's Notebook is the third in the series, after The Blue Book: A Writer's Journal and The Yellow Book: A Traveller's Diary.

- Priyanka Sarkar

In spirit, it is all three—a writer's journal, a traveller's diary, and an observer's notebook. There are ruminations on writing and the "process," notes on Gaza and journeys along the Ganga, and reflections on the darkness that lies within.

The book is divided into sections but is thematically fluid. Kumar begins by framing his Notebook in the tradition of the journals of the Brontë sisters, Henry David Thoreau, Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, and Annie Proulx. One may think it will lean into the Euro-American literary tradition only, especially considering that the author lives in America. But that is not so.

We meet Intizar Husain, Arati K Rao, Gieve Patel, Satyajit Ray, and Nirmal Verma, among others, in these pages. A visit to Premchand's house is thrown in. There is a lot made about the act of journaling too, maybe because it is an observer's notebook and how better to note one's everyday observations than by journaling? Kumar insists it is crucial to give a road map to a writer. Journals also "provide a record of thinking."

He then shares his thoughts on a few writers and their "thinking." He writes about his own earlier works, showing some of his writerly choices, but shies away from sharing what he thinks of his works now. The writing is matter-of-fact, almost asking readers to interpret and analyze.

And then there are the bits that make it