Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the Italian by Tim Parks – published 1984

In the 1980s an unnamed man searches for his missing friend, Xavier, in India, from its luxury hotels to its seedy backstreets.

It’s beautifully told, and a wonderful example of less is more, with minimal descriptions, short sentences and not a single word wasted. I can’t think of another novel about India in which the images created are so vivid, as in the day the man negotiates streets of abject poverty, disease and feasting cockroaches, and at night cavorts in the opulence of the Taj Mahal hotel in Bombay, and it’s like.

As well as the atmosphere Tabucchi creates, there tantalising glimpses of inscrutable characters and cryptic dialogue that never quiet reveals the whole picture, skilfully leaving a part for the reader themselves to complete, which is one of the real pleasures in this short novel.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5