Book Review: ‘The Body by the Shore’ by Tabish Khair

Published : Nov 03, 2022 10:15 IST Tabish Khair’s latest novel, The Body by the Shore, traverses time and continents to chart the mutating forces of greed. The Body by the Shore By Tabish Khair HarperCollins India Pages: 336 Price: Rs.399 In the novel’s future world, massive undertakings such as the colonisation of Mars and undersea farming are being funded with scant regard for the weaker sections of society. “Khair upends the anthropocentric point of view as he shows how tiny organisms have a greater sense of community than humans have.” What Khair seems to prophesy is the fading of human connections: when Jens Erik goes to his old police station, he finds robotic dogs have replaced some of the jobs done by humans. Khair makes us realise that it is this inter-species relationship at the microbial level that is essential to our survival: “If microbes were to be eliminated from the earth, many infectious diseases would disappear.