THE SIXTH NIGHT

A CRITIQUE BY: IVES PEREIRA.

This novel will have an endorsing appeal and impact on those who have lived in Goa and its environs when it was in its pristine state some thirty years ago.

The culture that leaps out of the pages, as one reads the novel, is an amalgam of the old fused with nuances of the new.

The love story itself is a mirror of love stories that have been the preoccupation of novelist throughout the centuries.

In that sense the story-line is predictable. What makes the story unique and interesting is the lucid style of the author and the historical context in which it has been placed. This makes Linda, the main character albeit the tragic figure more credible.

The novel is an interesting tool for getting to understand how culture can become a self-policing phenomenon which can provide security to its adherents, but also become brutal in its uncompromising application.

Silviano C. Barbosa uses a whole lot of Konkoni words and expressions as one plows through the novel. If anything, this gives the novel a local habitation and flavour.

The plot has been well designed, and the progression of events well constructed.

Ives Pereira.