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andersenhannah02's review
3.75
I did enjoy this novel, and it was a beautiful and heartwrenching tale about the Partition. However, I really struggled with the mixing of third-person and first-person narration, and also the time jumps. It was never entirely clear to me who was talking, Zakir or the third-person version of him, and it was never clear how old he was and when things were happening.
I would recommend this, and I know that I will need to give it another read.
I would recommend this, and I know that I will need to give it another read.
am1na's review
5.0
Basti is unforgettable. Husain grapples with the militarization of memory, the loss of home, and the generational wounds of Partition the way only a poet who lived through it could.
glittercherry's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
sebastianrutter's review
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
booksdale's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
quillify_'s review
4.0
Actual rating: 3.75 stars (for that weird as hell description of a woman at one point)
Yeah, umm, I'm not okay. Partition and the independence movements always seemed so far away, back in the past. Something to be read in history books. But they aren't. It's not even been a hundred years. And the fracture's of a whole sub-continent into pieces, alongside entire cultures, communities, people, and the sheer mayhem that erupted. Just... god, I have no words
“Other people’s history can be read comfortably, in a way a novel can be read. But my own history? I’m on the run from my own history and catching my breath in the present. Escapist. But, the merciless present pushes me back again towards our history.”
Yeah, umm, I'm not okay. Partition and the independence movements always seemed so far away, back in the past. Something to be read in history books. But they aren't. It's not even been a hundred years. And the fracture's of a whole sub-continent into pieces, alongside entire cultures, communities, people, and the sheer mayhem that erupted. Just... god, I have no words
greeniezona's review
5.0
I bought this book last year, early in my translated fiction kick, and I think it's easily one of the best books I found as a part of that interest.
It is also a difficult and challenging book to read. Zakir wanders between the events of his present day, reminiscing about the past, and then, as the book goes on, into dreams and visions, retellings of myths and history that blend into each other so seamlessly that you're not sure you've departed from the here and now until suddenly you're in a town where most of the inhabitants have been beheaded -- but they are still up and walking around and talking.
Adding to this complexity is that while most of the book is narrated by Zakir, not all of it is, and in conversation there are only the quotes, lacking the signifiers of who is speaking them, then the cultural/language difficulties of understanding nicknames and other naming conventions. There is a very helpful glossary, though, which I wish I'd discovered earlier in the book.
Despite these difficulties, it is the later parts of the novel, when the effects of war -- the uncertainties and suspense and unknowingness of war -- cause Zakir to stray more often and deeper into stories, myth, and metaphor, that I really fell in love with the book. And it makes a powerful argument for the humanities -- there are forces that, when you're living them, espeically, cannot be understood by science or journalism alone.
An amazing book.
It is also a difficult and challenging book to read. Zakir wanders between the events of his present day, reminiscing about the past, and then, as the book goes on, into dreams and visions, retellings of myths and history that blend into each other so seamlessly that you're not sure you've departed from the here and now until suddenly you're in a town where most of the inhabitants have been beheaded -- but they are still up and walking around and talking.
Adding to this complexity is that while most of the book is narrated by Zakir, not all of it is, and in conversation there are only the quotes, lacking the signifiers of who is speaking them, then the cultural/language difficulties of understanding nicknames and other naming conventions. There is a very helpful glossary, though, which I wish I'd discovered earlier in the book.
Despite these difficulties, it is the later parts of the novel, when the effects of war -- the uncertainties and suspense and unknowingness of war -- cause Zakir to stray more often and deeper into stories, myth, and metaphor, that I really fell in love with the book. And it makes a powerful argument for the humanities -- there are forces that, when you're living them, espeically, cannot be understood by science or journalism alone.
An amazing book.
tanvi_214's review
challenging
informative
reflective
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Death of parent