The Death of Vishnu

Suffused with Hindu mythology, this story of one apartment building becomes a metaphor for the social and religious divisions of contemporary India, and Vishnu's ascent of the staircase parallels the soul's progress through the various stages of existence. As Vishnu closes in on the riddle of his own mortality, readers ponder whether he might not be the god Vishnu, guardian not only of the fate of the building and its occupants, but of the entire universe.