Scan barcode
neptyun's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
Annie Zaidi does such a phenomenal work at discussing belongingness in India in the backdrop of a nation that is increasingly threatened and more guarded towards its marginalised and minority populations. The writing is succinct, and is elevated by the authors own personal anecdotes.
I am a little unfair in marking it as a three-star read which mostly comes from the fact that the work in itself isn’t as analytical as I thought it would be. At best, it helped me provide a better structure and put together the little fragments of information that I already knew.
I am a little unfair in marking it as a three-star read which mostly comes from the fact that the work in itself isn’t as analytical as I thought it would be. At best, it helped me provide a better structure and put together the little fragments of information that I already knew.
nuhafariha's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you to Cambridge University Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available June 23 2020.
Like the country she lovingly describes, Annie Zaidi's "Bread Cement Cactus" is rooted in a quest for a home for the dispossessed. How strange it is, the experience of being made a stranger in your own home. Relating the personal to the political, Zaidi traces her lineage through the prominent Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh borders. In the mere nine chapters, she interrogates the subtle, nuanced ways in which culture and politics combine to enforce power dynamics and marginalized groups. With pointed critiques and stunning prose, she takes on everything from tribal servitude, vegetarianism, language politics and graveyard sites. What seems like a relatively simple statement, for example "most Indians are vegetarians", is then challenged and broken down into power dynamics and control over food supply chain, violence, and nutritional deprivation. In today's divided political climate, "Bread Cement Cactus" is a necessary call for nuance, perspective and balance.
Available June 23 2020.
Like the country she lovingly describes, Annie Zaidi's "Bread Cement Cactus" is rooted in a quest for a home for the dispossessed. How strange it is, the experience of being made a stranger in your own home. Relating the personal to the political, Zaidi traces her lineage through the prominent Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh borders. In the mere nine chapters, she interrogates the subtle, nuanced ways in which culture and politics combine to enforce power dynamics and marginalized groups. With pointed critiques and stunning prose, she takes on everything from tribal servitude, vegetarianism, language politics and graveyard sites. What seems like a relatively simple statement, for example "most Indians are vegetarians", is then challenged and broken down into power dynamics and control over food supply chain, violence, and nutritional deprivation. In today's divided political climate, "Bread Cement Cactus" is a necessary call for nuance, perspective and balance.
nuhafariha's review
5.0
Thank you to Cambridge University Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!
Available June 23 2020.
Like the country she lovingly describes, Annie Zaidi's "Bread Cement Cactus" is rooted in a quest for a home for the dispossessed. How strange it is, the experience of being made a stranger in your own home. Relating the personal to the political, Zaidi traces her lineage through the prominent Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh borders. In the mere nine chapters, she interrogates the subtle, nuanced ways in which culture and politics combine to enforce power dynamics and marginalized groups. With pointed critiques and stunning prose, she takes on everything from tribal servitude, vegetarianism, language politics and graveyard sites. What seems like a relatively simple statement, for example "most Indians are vegetarians", is then challenged and broken down into power dynamics and control over food supply chain, violence, and nutritional deprivation. In today's divided political climate, "Bread Cement Cactus" is a necessary call for nuance, perspective and balance.
Available June 23 2020.
Like the country she lovingly describes, Annie Zaidi's "Bread Cement Cactus" is rooted in a quest for a home for the dispossessed. How strange it is, the experience of being made a stranger in your own home. Relating the personal to the political, Zaidi traces her lineage through the prominent Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh borders. In the mere nine chapters, she interrogates the subtle, nuanced ways in which culture and politics combine to enforce power dynamics and marginalized groups. With pointed critiques and stunning prose, she takes on everything from tribal servitude, vegetarianism, language politics and graveyard sites. What seems like a relatively simple statement, for example "most Indians are vegetarians", is then challenged and broken down into power dynamics and control over food supply chain, violence, and nutritional deprivation. In today's divided political climate, "Bread Cement Cactus" is a necessary call for nuance, perspective and balance.
kareenbeanreads's review against another edition
I tried my best to get into this supposed memoir, but it felt more like a textbook or an essay. While I appreciate learning more about the historical aspects of where Zaidi lived, I wish there were more personal anecdotes rather than a listing of facts. I had high hopes for this one, as I greatly enjoy memoirs, but the narration style was not for me and I ended up not finishing the book.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Cambridge University Press for the gifted ebook!
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Cambridge University Press for the gifted ebook!
meghnaroy's review
4.0
I came to know about this book through an email from Wolfson College which I was allotted when Cambridge offered me a place at their MPhil Sociology programme. Annie Zaidi happens to be a visiting fellow at Wolfson. I almost immediately downloaded the book from the CUP website, and started reading it. I have come across many reviews of this book where readers have felt like this is a misnomer of a memoir, but I disagree with that view. This is a memoir by all means. Calling it anything else is denying the author of her perspective. One must remember that many of the "facts" that Zaidi has presented in the book on various social issues are highly contested. These cannot be taken for granted in contemporary India. Hence, it is important to grant these realities to her vantage point. If it was not for the intersection of roles where the author places herself, she would not have been able to produce this work. I also jokingly feel like this is book is a nice way to trick a person who is otherwise interested in memoir into reading social anthropology. The book is richly sourced insofar as Zaidi has made good use of anthropological accounts by the likes of Jonathan Parry. Being a journalist, she has seen India closely, and used trustworthy news sources to make her point. She seems to have touched upon all major issues that currently plague India. She finds a smart way to illustrate how intertwined they are with her own experience. This is what makes the work a good example of the sociological imagination - the author blends personal biography and social history very well. She defines home from birth to death and through everything in between. I believe this is also an exercise in feminism where the author manages to show how the personal is political. As a student of sociology/social anthropology, I have been familiar with many of the facts and arguments presented, but it was still worth a read. I adore the use of poetry. As the granddaughter of Partition survivors, the bits about Partition did make me emotional. I appreciate the fact that she, unlike many intellectuals in this country, is on the right side of the Assam NRC debate. Further, one must remember the context in which this book was published - as the winner of the Nine-Dots Prize, Zaidi really makes a good attempt to reveal to the world how she sees her "home" India.
More...