I've read Samrat's first two novels... Definitely not amongst the best books I've read, but they were engaging and interesting to read. And that qualifies as a decent read in my book. The man deserves our support. No one else has managed to make it to that stratosphere from Nepal before. It's not a small accomplishment. Infact this month's Elle Magazine even features his book as a must read. I know it's not the NY Times Book Review, but its a mainstream publication nonetheless. http://www.elle.com/article.asp?section_id=36&article_id=7956&page_number=3&magind=7953 "• From Samrat Upadhyay, the author of the much-praised novel Arresting God in Kathmandu, comes a striking story collection, The Royal Ghosts (Mariner), in which young, savvy Nepalese are pitted against one another, and themselves, by that nation’s bloody Maoist insurgency, and whose families—inured to ancient traditions of arranged marriage and caste discrimination—face news like that which begins the title story so eerily and irresistibly: "That June morning, a Saturday, the whole country woke to the news of the killings inside the palace."