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ipsitadas's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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? No
4.25
“এতো আলো পৃথিবীতে, তবু পৃথিবীর মানুষগুলো এতো অন্ধকারে কেন?”
― Ashapurna Devi, প্রথম প্রতিশ্রুতি
(There is so much light in this world, yet why do its people reside in so much darkness?"
- Ashapurna Devi, First promise)
Set in the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries of colonial Bengal (pre-independence India), Ashapurna narrates the struggles and hardships of women in British India in a lucid and conversational tone. The story revolves around the protagonist, Satyabati, a character much ahead of her time. She was married quite early, at a very young age. At her parent-in laws house, her mother-in-law tortured her mercilessly. However, endless social hurdles couldn't stop Satyabati from experiencing a life she once hoped for as a child. Albeit all her wishes didn't materialise, she was able to come a long way eventually.
The novel is based on a social structure established on superstition, prejudice, and injustice to women. Our heroine, Satyabati, rebels against the patriarchal society and fights for her rights at every stage of her life. She leaves her husband's village for Calcutta, the capital of British India, where she is caught in the social dynamics of women's education, social reform agendas, modern medicine, and urban entertainment. As she makes her way through this complex maze, making sense of the rapidly changing world around her, Satyabati nurtures hopes and aspirations for her daughter.
This narrative holds an important place in the history of South-Asian feminist literature. It is one of the first kinds written in that era (1964), where women were even deprived of their fundamental rights.
"I have thought and written mostly about women because I have seen their helplessness and that is what I know best. Over the years, great clouds of protest have accumulated, unexpressed in my mind, and Satyabati, the heroine of my novel is the expression of that protest."
— Ashapurna Devi
― Ashapurna Devi, প্রথম প্রতিশ্রুতি
(There is so much light in this world, yet why do its people reside in so much darkness?"
- Ashapurna Devi, First promise)
Set in the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries of colonial Bengal (pre-independence India), Ashapurna narrates the struggles and hardships of women in British India in a lucid and conversational tone. The story revolves around the protagonist, Satyabati, a character much ahead of her time. She was married quite early, at a very young age. At her parent-in laws house, her mother-in-law tortured her mercilessly. However, endless social hurdles couldn't stop Satyabati from experiencing a life she once hoped for as a child. Albeit all her wishes didn't materialise, she was able to come a long way eventually.
The novel is based on a social structure established on superstition, prejudice, and injustice to women. Our heroine, Satyabati, rebels against the patriarchal society and fights for her rights at every stage of her life. She leaves her husband's village for Calcutta, the capital of British India, where she is caught in the social dynamics of women's education, social reform agendas, modern medicine, and urban entertainment. As she makes her way through this complex maze, making sense of the rapidly changing world around her, Satyabati nurtures hopes and aspirations for her daughter.
This narrative holds an important place in the history of South-Asian feminist literature. It is one of the first kinds written in that era (1964), where women were even deprived of their fundamental rights.
"I have thought and written mostly about women because I have seen their helplessness and that is what I know best. Over the years, great clouds of protest have accumulated, unexpressed in my mind, and Satyabati, the heroine of my novel is the expression of that protest."
— Ashapurna Devi
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