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srivalli's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
3 Stars
One Liner: Works in bits and pieces; underwhelming as a whole
1947 India
Mano Majra is a small village that borders between India and Pakistan. It has an almost equal number of Sikhs and Muslims and one Hindu family. The village seems to be unbothered by the chaos of Partition until the only Hindu, the money lender, is murdered, and Juggut Singh, with a criminal past and a Muslim lover, becomes a suspect. Things take a turn for worse when a train arrives with the dead bodies of the Sikhs. What happens when neighbors turn enemies? What can Juggut Singh do to save the village and himself?
My Thoughts:
Well, given the title and the author’s name, the book sets high expectations. Fortunately, I knew better (not that it helped, but still).
The book is a little less than 200 pages and is divided into three sections without any chapters or section breaks. The scenes jump at random (and somehow even the publishers didn’t see the need to format it when reprinting different editions).
It can take a while to figure out how the events fit into the timeline. Some happen in parallel, some in the near past, and some are from the immediate future. Now, insert philosophical musings and nature-themed multipage metaphors where they shouldn’t be. Perfect (not)!
The premise is actually terrific. Imagine a border village that is a character of its own. The main villagers have defined personalities (let’s not forget this is historical fiction). I quite enjoyed the portrayal of Iqbal, the ‘foreign-educated social worker’. I even laughed out loud at the mention of beautiful white ladies and the trysts of handsome Nehru (IYKYK, if you don’t, well, too bad).
The touches of wit and sarcasm work in many ways, though not always. Blending fiction and social commentary can be a tough task, and this book doesn’t manage it well. I liked The Tamarind Tree by Sundara Ramaswamy a lot more in this aspect.
However, as a book that is supposed to present the story of the Partition, this one pretty much falls flat. The writing is raw, and there’s no sugar-coating of the brutalities. But none of it moved me as a reader. Not because I already know all of it and much more, but because the execution is ineffective.
I have to mention the super annoying translations of slang into English. Imagine using an alliteration for something like a pig’s p*nis. Ugh! The constant use of translated cuss words (and phrases) grated on my nerves. Compared to this, ‘something black in the dal’ feels pardonable.
There’s quite a lot of filmy drama as well. It does help the narrative some, but fizzles out in the last section.
To summarize, despite the raw portrayal of the Partition, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for the topic. Go for nonfiction like The Tragic Story of Partition by H.V. Seshadri or Pakistan or the Partition of India by B.R. Ambedkar. I have physical copies of both books and intend to read them soon.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Rape, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Torture
theredheded_bibliomaniac's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
2.5
.
Raw Writing is commendable no doubt
But there are many triggers
.
Trigger warning : Description of sexual assaults are repeated
And many curse words
And definitely sad and emotional
.
Third star for the climax..
👆This I wrote in my Goodreads review yesterday and today I realised while discussing the book with mom (mom has also read it long ago) that it was kind off filmy.
Like the guy is totally useless in the whole book and in the end Bam ...(won't say the spoiler)
The book was ok.
But I can't bear the 4 page description of Rain..
Also it's total fiction
I think many things are over exaggerated
(Like specially to make people feel it)
Along with rain there is too much description of nature and surroundings.
.
Why do the editors and publishers don't want people to feel the Indianness
Why can't they used local words
For example Ghee, why to change it some English name to attract foreigners.
Infact when more Indian words will be used it will feel More Indian and it will be like knowing Indian culture why can't they do it that way and then add glossary and there write that Ghee means Purified butter.
.
When a book is based in a particular country they should have the Indianness which will make foreigners read it and to know the culture more deeply.
.
Now have you ever seen anyone translate the meaning of "Tiramisu" so that everyone in world will understand it ...?
.
One more example is "Charsobees" and here the charsobees doesn't mean 420 the number, it means a cunning person...but They wrote 420 in the book..
Now tell me will someone who is not Indian and is reading it then will he get the meaning by reading 420...infact he won't even get the meaning by googling 420 ..
.
I mean why ...?
Please use Indian words for Indian slangs & local words and explain it in Glossary ..
.
Explaining what happend after independence in 1947 in a particular village where news were news reached rarely and how police did not act and how the minds of villagers changed with slight provocation was a good thing in the book
.
And yeah I was scared like what will happen in end
I was relieved that I didnt happen but actually that thing happend in reality and
Raw Writing is commendable no doubt
But there are many triggers
.
Trigger warning : Description of sexual assaults are repeated
And many curse words
And definitely sad and emotional
.
Third star for the climax..
👆This I wrote in my Goodreads review yesterday and today I realised while discussing the book with mom (mom has also read it long ago) that it was kind off filmy.
Like the guy is totally useless in the whole book and in the end Bam ...(won't say the spoiler)
The book was ok.
But I can't bear the 4 page description of Rain..
Also it's total fiction
I think many things are over exaggerated
(Like specially to make people feel it)
Along with rain there is too much description of nature and surroundings.
.
Why do the editors and publishers don't want people to feel the Indianness
Why can't they used local words
For example Ghee, why to change it some English name to attract foreigners.
Infact when more Indian words will be used it will feel More Indian and it will be like knowing Indian culture why can't they do it that way and then add glossary and there write that Ghee means Purified butter.
.
When a book is based in a particular country they should have the Indianness which will make foreigners read it and to know the culture more deeply.
.
Now have you ever seen anyone translate the meaning of "Tiramisu" so that everyone in world will understand it ...?
.
One more example is "Charsobees" and here the charsobees doesn't mean 420 the number, it means a cunning person...but They wrote 420 in the book..
Now tell me will someone who is not Indian and is reading it then will he get the meaning by reading 420...infact he won't even get the meaning by googling 420 ..
.
I mean why ...?
Please use Indian words for Indian slangs & local words and explain it in Glossary ..
.
Explaining what happend after independence in 1947 in a particular village where news were news reached rarely and how police did not act and how the minds of villagers changed with slight provocation was a good thing in the book
.
And yeah I was scared like what will happen in end
I was relieved that I didnt happen but actually that thing happend in reality and
It was shameful to read that part of History.
It was also one massacre in those times of partition that lost most lives..
There are things which are over exaggerated and there are things which were important to be shown and were totally ignored.
And that book is Indian classic...
What more I can say
I know it's a fiction but when it's historical fiction let's not show half history
(Few things which Indians did were excluded from the book, maybe he might have faced criticisms for it, I don't know his reasons but then it seems half baked story)
It was also one massacre in those times of partition that lost most lives..
There are things which are over exaggerated and there are things which were important to be shown and were totally ignored.
And that book is Indian classic...
What more I can say
I know it's a fiction but when it's historical fiction let's not show half history
(Few things which Indians did were excluded from the book, maybe he might have faced criticisms for it, I don't know his reasons but then it seems half baked story)
.
What I think is this book is pretty famous for its bold language ..
And even after being Bold it doesn't speak much about the reality
.
You can read the book as fiction don't consider the it for real facts ..
What I think is this book is pretty famous for its bold language ..
And even after being Bold it doesn't speak much about the reality
.
You can read the book as fiction don't consider the it for real facts ..
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture
Moderate: Cursing
More...