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Summary: A family saga reflecting the troubled state of India. The protagonists are four generations of the da Gama, who became wealthy in the spice trade before declining into gangsterism. Their tale is narrated by the family's last descendant and he attributes their fall to bickering, a reflection of Hindu-Moslem strife plaguing India today. Peopled with odd characters--the narrator is the product of a Jewish father and a Christian mother--the novel is a pessimistic counterpoint to the author's optimistic Midnight's Children, on India's struggle for independence