Arunabha Sengupta’s second novel Big Apple Two Bites shows the varied responses of Indian software professionals on deputation in New York. Some grumble about the food and culture, others direct all their efforts towards saving money.

His fi rst novel The Labyrinth (2004) presented young software engineers on their fi rst job in Chennai. Here a more experienced professional is sent to New York as a consultant on a project, once before and once after 9/11.

Sen’s time in New York revolves around the Japanese martial art form Aikido, and an attractive colleague, Allison Palmer.

The novelist deals with great sensitivity with the issues of 9/11, the loss of jobs in the software sector, and disillusion with the corporate environment.

There is a lot of enjoyable humour. The entire book is written in the second person, adding a touch of freshness to the narrative.

Shyamala Narayan
http://jcl.sagepub.com/content/43/4/89.full.pdf