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sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
5.0
It uses the old method popular among novelists of highlighting the prevalent social injustice and conditions through a shocking event - you know how Medea's killing her children reflected on patriarchy of her time, when 'Beloved's heroine kills her child it reflected on slavery. Camus' Outsider's narrator failed to feel any grief for his mother's loss - reflecting the way how people are unable to feel a sense of belonging to our surroundings and so on, Before I had read Phaedra I thought her incestual intentions reflected on the unjust assumption where a woman expected to remain happily married to a man twice her age and take a man her own age as her stepson. Here the event disclosed in the very first sentence is narrator's (then a little girl) inability to feel any remorse on the accidental death of her brother and reflects on unequal treatment of girl and boy child.
One of the first African feminist novels - what at first seems like a coming of age novel of a girl in Zimbawe expands to contain stories of other women around her. At one point, the narrator points how the women are unable to react to a situation as they wish to and feel morally obliged to because the identity that the society and culture have imposed on them (and which they have come to completely identify themselves with) expects them to stay silent.
It is unfortunate indeed to think of families where only one child would be able to get the education - but to resist a better life style choice just because it seems western culture ... To be honest, I'm not a big fan of those words - 'culture' and 'identity'; the only purpose they seem to serve is to confuse people and make them avoiding taking choices which will help them to live their lives to fullest. I think it is foolish not to make a life style choice just because the community you identify with doesn't normally make such choice or its members aren't allowed to.
And culture - except for really first civilizations (bronze age-iron age); great civilizations that were also really productive in sciences and arts have only shown up only in places where people have been willing to learn from different cultures. Romans were willing to learn Greek Philosophies, Ottoman empire learned sciences and philosophies both from Romans and Indians, Mughals at their best (Akbar, Shah Jahan, Jahangir) had artists from every living culture in their courtrooms, renaissance artists were willing to adopt dead civilizations and gods of Greece. Even colonial empires were in time of their rise translating literature of their colonies. Russia's great literary periods were at best when authors like Dostoevsky and Tolstoy were studying ideas from around the world and ended slowly when they raised the Iron curtain. USA's first became world power when it was willing to accept migrants from around the world. More recently, the Latin American literary boom was the result of works by authors who refuse to limit their inspirations to Latin America. It thus seems foolish to denounce something just because it wasn't first created or done in the country.
Okay now some ramblings on India - there is nothing more about the book itself.
The problem of these confusing words is particularly relevant to India - where there is always a talk of saving Aryan, Hindu and Indian culture. There is a fallacious reasoning that just because something is being done for centuries, we should continue to do it. Another very stupid belief is older is somehow better. So Vedas are superior because they come earlier than other books and culture; being first ancestors they deserve to be followed. But if you go along this chain of reasoning - we should rather be living on trees because we lived on trees even before we wrote books and monkeys are our real ancestors. Also, think of it, the practise of Sati was defended on cultural reasons. IMO, culture should not be thought of as a guide to direct our future but in terms of footsteps left behind by society.
Moreover, all this talk about saving culture is always raised when it is a question of maintaining some sort of maintaining some sort of injustice - typical examples include the protests against reservations for SC/ST when they were first made, protests against Hindu marriage act because it divided property equally between all heirs (rather than merely male heirs) and legalized divorces and now there are similar protests against a similar reform law for Muslims.
Same thing with those goon attacks on pubs. Have you ever wondered what part of pub-culture is not Indian? A pub is just a public drinking place and such public drinking places were always there in India. What are called pubs are merely more fashionable. It isn't drinking itself these culture-protectionists are against or they would have attacked alcohol factories. It is not men getting drunk or getting drunk in public they are against - again those things that has always been done in India. You might for once think their problem is presence women at those places but wrong- the problem is not the fact of the presence of women itself but who those women are. You see these goons maintain a list of actions that a good man can do but good women can't. And so ... okay, this lecture just got boring and I feel sleepy
One of the first African feminist novels - what at first seems like a coming of age novel of a girl in Zimbawe expands to contain stories of other women around her. At one point, the narrator points how the women are unable to react to a situation as they wish to and feel morally obliged to because the identity that the society and culture have imposed on them (and which they have come to completely identify themselves with) expects them to stay silent.
It is unfortunate indeed to think of families where only one child would be able to get the education - but to resist a better life style choice just because it seems western culture ... To be honest, I'm not a big fan of those words - 'culture' and 'identity'; the only purpose they seem to serve is to confuse people and make them avoiding taking choices which will help them to live their lives to fullest. I think it is foolish not to make a life style choice just because the community you identify with doesn't normally make such choice or its members aren't allowed to.
And culture - except for really first civilizations (bronze age-iron age); great civilizations that were also really productive in sciences and arts have only shown up only in places where people have been willing to learn from different cultures. Romans were willing to learn Greek Philosophies, Ottoman empire learned sciences and philosophies both from Romans and Indians, Mughals at their best (Akbar, Shah Jahan, Jahangir) had artists from every living culture in their courtrooms, renaissance artists were willing to adopt dead civilizations and gods of Greece. Even colonial empires were in time of their rise translating literature of their colonies. Russia's great literary periods were at best when authors like Dostoevsky and Tolstoy were studying ideas from around the world and ended slowly when they raised the Iron curtain. USA's first became world power when it was willing to accept migrants from around the world. More recently, the Latin American literary boom was the result of works by authors who refuse to limit their inspirations to Latin America. It thus seems foolish to denounce something just because it wasn't first created or done in the country.
Okay now some ramblings on India - there is nothing more about the book itself.
The problem of these confusing words is particularly relevant to India - where there is always a talk of saving Aryan, Hindu and Indian culture. There is a fallacious reasoning that just because something is being done for centuries, we should continue to do it. Another very stupid belief is older is somehow better. So Vedas are superior because they come earlier than other books and culture; being first ancestors they deserve to be followed. But if you go along this chain of reasoning - we should rather be living on trees because we lived on trees even before we wrote books and monkeys are our real ancestors. Also, think of it, the practise of Sati was defended on cultural reasons. IMO, culture should not be thought of as a guide to direct our future but in terms of footsteps left behind by society.
Moreover, all this talk about saving culture is always raised when it is a question of maintaining some sort of maintaining some sort of injustice - typical examples include the protests against reservations for SC/ST when they were first made, protests against Hindu marriage act because it divided property equally between all heirs (rather than merely male heirs) and legalized divorces and now there are similar protests against a similar reform law for Muslims.
Same thing with those goon attacks on pubs. Have you ever wondered what part of pub-culture is not Indian? A pub is just a public drinking place and such public drinking places were always there in India. What are called pubs are merely more fashionable. It isn't drinking itself these culture-protectionists are against or they would have attacked alcohol factories. It is not men getting drunk or getting drunk in public they are against - again those things that has always been done in India. You might for once think their problem is presence women at those places but wrong- the problem is not the fact of the presence of women itself but who those women are. You see these goons maintain a list of actions that a good man can do but good women can't. And so ... okay, this lecture just got boring and I feel sleepy
emilyassef's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
marlisenicole's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
sincerelymendacious's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
withywoods's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book is so rich, so complex. I'm not sure I'll be able to shake it for a long time. Not that I would want to. Just thinking about Nyasha makes me want to sob.
gh0stp's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
luciepzt's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.25
carrie_bize's review
3.0
Ich war etwas zwiegespalten bei diesem Buch. Ich fand die Geschichte unglaublich horizonterweiternd.
Es geht um das Leben eines jungen Mädchens in Simbabwe, welches den patriarchalen Strukturen ihrer Kultur und gleichzeitig den Auswirkungen des Kolonialismus ausgesetzt ist und ihren Platz in der Welt finden will. Zwischendrin gab es einige Passagen, die ich etwas langatmig fand und musste mich dann etwas durchkämpfen. Da es aber kein sehr dickes Buch ist, bin ich trotzdem gut durchgekommen und fühle mich sehr bereichert um ein paar Blickwinkel.
Es geht um das Leben eines jungen Mädchens in Simbabwe, welches den patriarchalen Strukturen ihrer Kultur und gleichzeitig den Auswirkungen des Kolonialismus ausgesetzt ist und ihren Platz in der Welt finden will. Zwischendrin gab es einige Passagen, die ich etwas langatmig fand und musste mich dann etwas durchkämpfen. Da es aber kein sehr dickes Buch ist, bin ich trotzdem gut durchgekommen und fühle mich sehr bereichert um ein paar Blickwinkel.
zoejoy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes