Summary

Prologue – The narrator, a Coptic Christian, directly addresses the reader, saying the city of Bombay is the hero or “heroin” of the story, and that the reader does not know who the narrator is. The narrator is high from opium ingested at Rashid’s. The narrator has been sent back to Bombay after getting into trouble in New York, though the narrator cannot remember what the trouble was. The narrator thinks about someone named Dimple, and how it is said that you should only introduce your worst enemy to opium. The narrator now remembers the trouble in New York, being arrested and deported for drugs.

Book 1: The City Of O

Book 1, Chapter 1, Dimple – The narrator prefers smoking at Dimple’s station each time he comes to Rashid’s. The narrator notes that she disappears to the hijra’s brothel each night. Dimple...