Archive · 25 Sep 2026
Review finds Samanth Subramanian’s essays eclectic, connected, and uneven
Samanth Subramanian has written a book made up of many different essays.
The essays discuss people, organizations, countries, animals, technology, and sport.
At first, these topics may seem unrelated.
The reviewer says Subramanian is good at finding hidden connections between them.
Some essays explore problems such as corruption, religious conflict, environmental danger, and communication failures.
One essay looks at a damaged underwater cable near Tonga.
The reviewer praises the book for making small stories feel connected to larger world problems.
However, some essays are less detailed or may appeal mostly to specialists.
Overall, the collection is described as curious, surprising, and sometimes uneven.
Samanth Subramanian’s essay collection is praised for its wide-ranging and seemingly arbitrary selection of subjects.
The essays examine figures and issues including Lalit Modi, the Breach Candy Swimming Bath Trust, Sri Lanka’s Easter bombings, and Judaism in Nigeria.
The review highlights Subramanian’s ability to uncover links involving ambition, corruption, identity, exclusion, ecology, and geopolitical tensions.
An essay about Tonga’s disrupted underwater cable is presented as a warning about interconnected global vulnerabilities.
The collection is not uniformly strong: the cricket essay is considered shallow, while the quizzing essay may mainly interest enthusiasts.
- Who
- Journalist Samanth Subramanian, author of the essay collection; Mukul Kesavan writes its foreword.
- What
- A review of The Web Beneath the Waves and Other Reports from Our Tangled World, a collection of essays on varied subjects and their connections.
- When
- The publication date is not stated in the article.
- Where
- Published by Context; the essays range across subjects connected with India, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Tonga, and elsewhere.
- Why
- The collection seeks to reveal the hidden links among seemingly unrelated events, institutions, and global challenges.
The collection’s strengths
The collection’s limitations
Range and structure
The collection’s strengths
The book’s arbitrary, eclectic structure is presented as a pleasure, enriched by Subramanian’s expansive curiosity.
The collection’s limitations
The lack of a strict theme can make the collection seem unruly, and the essays are not equally engaging.
Connections among topics
The collection’s strengths
Subramanian is praised for revealing links involving ambition, corruption, identity, exclusion, ecology, communications, and geopolitics.
The collection’s limitations
Some familiar subjects, including India’s vulture crisis and Zoroastrian rituals, receive treatment that may not feel equally fresh or compelling.
Depth and accessibility
The collection’s strengths
The collection offers a complex view of the world through small-scale, intimate stories and sustains the reader’s attention.
The collection’s limitations
The essay on beauty in cricket is described as lacking depth, while the essay on quizzing may chiefly interest aficionados.
- Book
- The Web Beneath the Waves and Other Reports from Our Tangled World
- Author
- Samanth Subramanian
- Publisher
- Context
- Price
- Rs 799
- Foreword
- Mukul Kesavan
- Strength
- The essays connect small, intimate stories to wider social and global challenges
- Limitation
- Some pieces are uneven, with the cricket essay lacking depth and the quizzing essay appealing mainly to aficionados