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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
A great piece of art must read for punjabi readers and other also because to understand the past happen to our old generation as from what time they come around...
A dystopian novel, told us that during partition of 1947, how women faced the worst of phase as they are being abducted from Camp or from the herd for marriage, lust or for doing household works , how they are treated. This book is plight of one women who face the same but found a way to reunite with family after running away from her plight of abduction. Love found is just an incentive in the story.
A dystopian novel, told us that during partition of 1947, how women faced the worst of phase as they are being abducted from Camp or from the herd for marriage, lust or for doing household works , how they are treated. This book is plight of one women who face the same but found a way to reunite with family after running away from her plight of abduction. Love found is just an incentive in the story.
3.5 stars. I would have given it 4 stars were it not for the increasingly distracting typos and grammatical errors.
Its funny how village life is so similar everywhere, I guess thats the human experience
Pinjar is a short read. Through one woman, Pritam tells the story of many women of that time who were displaced, abducted, raped, or forcefully married into another religion. The English translation is simple to read. I imagine the original would have a much deeper impact on the reader. The story of the protagonist, Puro, is complex. She questions her place in the world and the injustice done to her for being a woman. She comes to love as well as hate her husband who abducts her, marries her, and converts her into his religion. I think this novel is incredibly relevant even today. Pritam shows how women, since time immemorial, have been used as objects of revenge during wars. In the works that I have read so far, I've found her writing to be bold, powerful, and full of emotions.
I did not finish the story following this "That Man"
Check out more of my book reviews, recommendations, and other content on my blog Travelling Through Words and bookstagram!
I did not finish the story following this "That Man"
Check out more of my book reviews, recommendations, and other content on my blog Travelling Through Words and bookstagram!
Read Amrita Pritam's Pinjar while listening to Surinder Kaur in Punjab - what could be better?
A complex story that I want to return to again and again to unravel. So many interpretations. Suffering paramount. Heroes and villains, but no one's a cardboard cutout. Terrible violence based on real circumstances that the subcontinent is still grappling with today. And at the heart of it is a woman in a cage, surrounded by many of her kind.
A complex story that I want to return to again and again to unravel. So many interpretations. Suffering paramount. Heroes and villains, but no one's a cardboard cutout. Terrible violence based on real circumstances that the subcontinent is still grappling with today. And at the heart of it is a woman in a cage, surrounded by many of her kind.
I really want to rate it 5 stars but the another story in it (that man) not that pacey read at all maybe it's because of the translation it loses it's Beauty. But the book is worth for pinjar.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder
This volume includes two novellas by the celebrated Punjabi author and poet, Amrita Pritam. Both novellas are hard to find in English translation, making this an interesting and important read.
• The Skeleton (Pinjar)
The Skeleton is the story of Pooro, who is abducted by Rashida a few days before her wedding, and married to him by force. Thus, in pre-partition Punjab, Pooro; rejected by her Hindu parents for fear of ostracization; becomes Hamida. What follows is a compelling and gut-wrenching account of Hamida's pathos as she gives birth to her son and slowly, painstakingly grows to accept her fate and to lover her husband. Yet, Pooro is unable to leave the remnants of her old life behind, and is faced with a crossroads of emotions when the violence of partition begins.
This story explores well how the pride of two religions — and later, two nations — was nested in the body of the woman during the bloodiest civil war the world has ever seen. It also explores the predicament of a woman 'dishonoured' for religion, through multiple women lost over borders and vengeful conquests. Detailing the bloody history of the partition of India and Pakistan from the eyes of a woman, The Skeleton reveals to the reader the hatred and fear that informed attitudes in the autumn of 1947.
One particularly poignant scene in the story is when Pooro's brother comes to the village she resides in and burns her husband's fields in rage, being unable to find; and retrieve; her. Pooro then wonders whom she feels for — her Hindu brother, or the husband who abducted her and whom she has grown to love. As a woman of the partition, she occupies the greyest of the grey areas of alliances.
Another impactful idea that the author speaks of in this story is the idea of honour itself, and how the same religion that ostracized Pooro on being abducted later took its other women back — just as they tried to take the madwoman's 'Hindu' son back from Rashida and Hamida's household — so that no numbers are lost to the other side.
The Skeleton is a very poignant reminder of the inhumanity of the Partition and of the horrific subjection of women to the tenets of honour. As lovely as Khushwant Singh's translation is; I wish I could read gurmukhi, because I would love to read Pinjar in Amrita Pritam's own words.
• That Man/ The Other Man (Yaatri)
That Man is the story of a son born after much prayer and offered to the temple at birth to be brought up as God's child, in the care and company of two priests and the Head Guru. As he grows up, he becomes enveloped in his own hatred for the world around him, for being forced to live on alms;
and especially for the mother who relegated him to such a fate, and whom he avoids as much as he can because of it. As the story progresses, the boy is faced with more unsettling truths about his birth, alongside the memories of his own secrets and having to respond to the gigantic responsibility forced onto his shoulders.
Written in the stream of consciousness, That Man explores the inner darkness and mental torment of the twenty-year old boy and gives us a glimpse into the human faults and fallacies of everything 'holy'. It is a heart-wrenching story, but one whose affect is stunted and delayed till the very end. As always, a lot is lost in translation — this holds especially true for 'Yaatri', which, in the process of becoming 'That Man' loses a lot of lucidity (one does not know whose translation this one is, but it isn't Khushwant Singh's). In its translated version; at least; Yaatri becomes a slow read with a lot of philosophical inserts and not enough narrative-linguistic glue to keep it together.
Both novellas considered, this was a good read. I would recommend it. Although That Man was stretched thin, The Skeleton redeems this collection, and gets it five stars.
• The Skeleton (Pinjar)
The Skeleton is the story of Pooro, who is abducted by Rashida a few days before her wedding, and married to him by force. Thus, in pre-partition Punjab, Pooro; rejected by her Hindu parents for fear of ostracization; becomes Hamida. What follows is a compelling and gut-wrenching account of Hamida's pathos as she gives birth to her son and slowly, painstakingly grows to accept her fate and to lover her husband. Yet, Pooro is unable to leave the remnants of her old life behind, and is faced with a crossroads of emotions when the violence of partition begins.
This story explores well how the pride of two religions — and later, two nations — was nested in the body of the woman during the bloodiest civil war the world has ever seen. It also explores the predicament of a woman 'dishonoured' for religion, through multiple women lost over borders and vengeful conquests. Detailing the bloody history of the partition of India and Pakistan from the eyes of a woman, The Skeleton reveals to the reader the hatred and fear that informed attitudes in the autumn of 1947.
One particularly poignant scene in the story is when Pooro's brother comes to the village she resides in and burns her husband's fields in rage, being unable to find; and retrieve; her. Pooro then wonders whom she feels for — her Hindu brother, or the husband who abducted her and whom she has grown to love. As a woman of the partition, she occupies the greyest of the grey areas of alliances.
Another impactful idea that the author speaks of in this story is the idea of honour itself, and how the same religion that ostracized Pooro on being abducted later took its other women back — just as they tried to take the madwoman's 'Hindu' son back from Rashida and Hamida's household — so that no numbers are lost to the other side.
The Skeleton is a very poignant reminder of the inhumanity of the Partition and of the horrific subjection of women to the tenets of honour. As lovely as Khushwant Singh's translation is; I wish I could read gurmukhi, because I would love to read Pinjar in Amrita Pritam's own words.
• That Man/ The Other Man (Yaatri)
That Man is the story of a son born after much prayer and offered to the temple at birth to be brought up as God's child, in the care and company of two priests and the Head Guru. As he grows up, he becomes enveloped in his own hatred for the world around him, for being forced to live on alms;
and especially for the mother who relegated him to such a fate, and whom he avoids as much as he can because of it. As the story progresses, the boy is faced with more unsettling truths about his birth, alongside the memories of his own secrets and having to respond to the gigantic responsibility forced onto his shoulders.
Written in the stream of consciousness, That Man explores the inner darkness and mental torment of the twenty-year old boy and gives us a glimpse into the human faults and fallacies of everything 'holy'. It is a heart-wrenching story, but one whose affect is stunted and delayed till the very end. As always, a lot is lost in translation — this holds especially true for 'Yaatri', which, in the process of becoming 'That Man' loses a lot of lucidity (one does not know whose translation this one is, but it isn't Khushwant Singh's). In its translated version; at least; Yaatri becomes a slow read with a lot of philosophical inserts and not enough narrative-linguistic glue to keep it together.
Both novellas considered, this was a good read. I would recommend it. Although That Man was stretched thin, The Skeleton redeems this collection, and gets it five stars.