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pavi_fictionalworm's review
4.0
Also Posted on For The Love of Fictional Worlds
Disclaimer: A Physical Copy was provided via Scholastic India in exchange for an honest review. The Thoughts, opinions & feelings expressed in the review are therefore, my own.
Ahimsa is an enthralling look at the Quit India Movement or the Freedom Movement of the Indians against the British Empire in the 1940s.
Told in the perspective of a 10 year old privileged Indian girl; Anjali – who is secure in the knowledge of being a Brahmin kid, who gets the best dresses and is the apple of her parent’s eyes. Her best friend is Irrfan; a Muslim boy, and that makes okay for Islam doesn’t really have a caste system.
Everything in her perfect world starts to splinter when her mother leaves her cushion-y job with Captain Brent in the British Army – and decides to join in the Freedom Movement. Her confusion at the world around is easy to understand and definitely empathize with, for all that she has always taken at face value, the world she has believed to be right; is now slowly proving themselves to be wrong. It was amazing to see how Anjali took everything she has been told and to connect it with the world that she is now living in.
I loved how the author shows the growth of character in Anjali – from believing what she has always been told; to deciding what is right for herself through her own experiences – her confusion, her reluctance was as real as it gets.
This book is a definite recommendation for any young kid or even teenager (and I do believe, that some adults could also definitely use it!) to not only understand their legacy but also know that the path to be kind and humane isn’t easy; but it is definitely worth every second of struggle.
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valerierose1994's review
5.0
This book was absolutely phenomenal. It taught about history in a subtle but important way, had great character development, a strong plot, and it was extremely moving.
I actually put on headphones and listened to this book a few times over hanging out with my husband. It was definitely worth the read.
I actually put on headphones and listened to this book a few times over hanging out with my husband. It was definitely worth the read.
mandkips's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, Police brutality, Excrement, and Death
vedant's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book! Set in/around 1942, it follows a young girl Anjali, whose mom decides to join Gandhi and the other freedom fighters in the struggle for Independence from the Britishers. In doing so, Anjali is forced to give up a lot of luxuries of her life and change a lot of her perspectives.
In just around 300 pages, the book does talk about quite a lot. From the caste system in India to the Hindu-Muslim communal riots, to gender and other (in)equalities, it covers a lot. And IMO (i don't know enough to say for sure) but i thought it did a pretty decent job of doing so as well.
My favourite part of the book would probably be that it does show a variety of opinions, and the characters do realize how something that is seen as being helpful to someone may actually be harmful.
For example, in a hurry to rid their houses of anything and everything foreign, the mother burns all of their expensive good quality clothes, acting according to what was told and spread around the country. Later on, the father talks about how he used to live in poverty, and how much he hated watching those clothes burn. The symbolism of burning the clothes is powerful and may have gone a long way, but practically speaking, it would have been much better to instead have given them to someone who needed it. The fact that they were burning clothes worth a ton while being surrounded by people who had a thin rag to cover themselves in the cold, just doesn't add up.
On a similar note, a Dalit character speaks of how although Anjali and her family had good intentions at heart, they weren't always particularly helping him. Again, the discussion of good thoughts vs practical actions comes into focus.
"If your neighbours saw me at the fair, they'd recognize me as their toilet cleaner...
... if they are too scared to touch my fingers when they pay me, (do you think they'd buy the necklaces I make?)"
"We'll tell them you're a 'Harijan' (child of God), not an 'untouchable'. Just like Gandhiji said"
"Your Gandhi is wrong. Calling us children of God is talking down to us. It's insulting. And it solves nothing. It's just a word! Everyone will still think of us as dirty and beneath them. Changing what you call someone doesn't fix the problem behind the name"...
..."(Dalit) means oppressed. It means we are born into a life of constant struggle because of this unfair caste system. It means what really has happened to us. I'm not like the others in the basti, grateful to be called "Harijan"... See we aren't Harijans. We arent children of your god. Your god forsook us long ago. Your god is not our god... We are Dalits."
I appreciated the fact that the author showed the other side of the story, a view into the person who was being talked about and directly affected by the conversations. The fact that Gandhiji called Dalit people Harijan has been praised a lot, but it was nice to see another perspective as well."
I guess what I didn't exactly love would be that the book is a little cliched at points. A lot of it is fresh and interesting but there definitely were predictable aspects.
Also, personally i was not the biggest fan of the grandfather's character development. At the beginning of the book, he is a bigoted old man, a staunch believer in the caste system, and just generally 'traditional'. Although i did predict that this would change in some way at the end of the book, i would have preferred if he had been left as is. I just think that would have been a more realistic outcome, showing that you cant change everyone's mind, and at the end of the day, there will be some people who will disagree with you. Since this book is targeted at (I'm guessing) mostly 9-12-year-olds, i do understand the choice of making every character (even the British Captain!) likable and to show them in a positive light. Yet I would have liked for there to be some negative roles as well.
In just around 300 pages, the book does talk about quite a lot. From the caste system in India to the Hindu-Muslim communal riots, to gender and other (in)equalities, it covers a lot. And IMO (i don't know enough to say for sure) but i thought it did a pretty decent job of doing so as well.
My favourite part of the book would probably be that it does show a variety of opinions, and the characters do realize how something that is seen as being helpful to someone may actually be harmful.
For example, in a hurry to rid their houses of anything and everything foreign, the mother burns all of their expensive good quality clothes, acting according to what was told and spread around the country. Later on, the father talks about how he used to live in poverty, and how much he hated watching those clothes burn. The symbolism of burning the clothes is powerful and may have gone a long way, but practically speaking, it would have been much better to instead have given them to someone who needed it. The fact that they were burning clothes worth a ton while being surrounded by people who had a thin rag to cover themselves in the cold, just doesn't add up.
On a similar note, a Dalit character speaks of how although Anjali and her family had good intentions at heart, they weren't always particularly helping him. Again, the discussion of good thoughts vs practical actions comes into focus.
"If your neighbours saw me at the fair, they'd recognize me as their toilet cleaner...
... if they are too scared to touch my fingers when they pay me, (do you think they'd buy the necklaces I make?)"
"We'll tell them you're a 'Harijan' (child of God), not an 'untouchable'. Just like Gandhiji said"
"Your Gandhi is wrong. Calling us children of God is talking down to us. It's insulting. And it solves nothing. It's just a word! Everyone will still think of us as dirty and beneath them. Changing what you call someone doesn't fix the problem behind the name"...
..."(Dalit) means oppressed. It means we are born into a life of constant struggle because of this unfair caste system. It means what really has happened to us. I'm not like the others in the basti, grateful to be called "Harijan"... See we aren't Harijans. We arent children of your god. Your god forsook us long ago. Your god is not our god... We are Dalits."
I appreciated the fact that the author showed the other side of the story, a view into the person who was being talked about and directly affected by the conversations. The fact that Gandhiji called Dalit people Harijan has been praised a lot, but it was nice to see another perspective as well."
I guess what I didn't exactly love would be that the book is a little cliched at points. A lot of it is fresh and interesting but there definitely were predictable aspects.
cweichel's review against another edition
4.0
This historical MG novel has compelling characters situated in India before the British left. It reveals the complexity of the situation and portrays these characters as multifaceted human beings. Not only do we see what life was like under British rule, Suprya Kelkar highlights the problems of the caste system and the tensions between the Muslim and Hindu peoples.
shayemiller's review against another edition
4.0
Ahimsa is the story of Anjali who, at the age of ten, discovers how privileged she is because of the caste system in India. She’s never really questioned the “untouchables” of her society — there are simply people who you must never touch because they have always been the lowest of the low. They just are! Nevertheless, while making comparisons between the British control over India and the caste system within her own culture, Anjali finds herself willing to risk her very life to defend the helpless among her people and reinstate freedom for ALL. Written in such beautiful and descriptive language, Kelkar gives us a glimpse into the past so that we might better understand the connection to what we are currently facing TODAY. I read The Night Diary a few months before I read Ahimsa and they are great companion reads. Each provide a very different perspective of Partition, yet both are important for getting the full picture. For this and more #kidlit, #mglit, and #yalit book reviews, please visit my blog: The Miller Memo.
emilyinherhead's review against another edition
4.0
This beautifully written story of Anjali, a 10-year-old in India during the freedom movement of the 1940s, taught me a lot, even though it was intended for a middle grade audience. Kelkar explains not only the Indian struggle for liberation from British rule, but also the internal conflict around the caste system; she paints Gandhi not as the unequivocally pure and good teacher of nonviolence in the face of adversity that some of us were taught about in school, but as a complicated and multifaceted figure who did a lot of important work but also held some problematic ideas of his own. My knowledge of this time period in Indian history was previously limited to the little I'd picked up in middle and high school, much of which I've forgotten by this point, so Anjali's story was an enjoyable, heartwarming, and informative refresher. A great choice either to pick up yourself or to give to the young readers in your life.
(Read Harder challenge #22: A children’s or middle grade book—not YA—that has won a diversity award since 2009)
(Read Harder challenge #22: A children’s or middle grade book—not YA—that has won a diversity award since 2009)
kaylawhata's review against another edition
4.0
Ahimsa means respect for all living things and avoidance of violence toward others. Non-violent resistance is a tenant of Ghandi's teachings during the Indian Freedom movement in 1942. Anjali is a 10-year old Hindu girl in the Brahmin caste. Her mother has joined the freedom fighters and encourages Anjali to treat the "untouchables" --- the lowest caste tasked with doing the worst jobs in society, like cleaning toilets --- as regular people. Though hesitant at first, Anjali grows into her role as young freedom fighter. She realizes along the way that when trying to help someone, it is better to ask them what they need instead of assuming. I think this book does a great job of depicting this historical movement from the eyes of a young person.
shakespeareandspice's review against another edition
5.0
Review originally posted on A Skeptical Reader.
Ahimsa is about a ten-year-old Anjali who’s mother has just quit her job working under the British Raj for undisclosed reasons and a rising Independence movement is about to take her entire life by storm. It opens up with a black Q painted on the side of her mother’s ex-boss’s wall and it takes one into the journey of ahimsa—a practice of nonviolence towards all living things.
Anjali is a remarkable character, a child with flawed perceptions of the world who learns to emerge from her prejudices and disposition to make a difference. Children’s fiction offers adults a very unique opportunity to settle into the mindset of a youth struggling to grasp the adult world and through Anjali’s eyes, we see the struggles not only of a child but also of her country.
India is an incredibly dense region of mixed behaviors and cultures. It’s land that’s gone through hundreds of years of turmoil, integrating people from all walks of life. I cannot emphasize how beautifully Supriya Kelkar has managed to sketch all the nuances of Indian cultures into a children’s book. There are several groups of caste, race, and religion that clash amongst each other and Kelkar explores them perfectly for readers of several ages to grasp.
Whilst reading it, I was having a conversation with a friend about caste and how hard it is to explain the caste system in India to any immigrant but coincidentally, right after that conversation, Kelkar presents a scene where Anjali is asked to examine her sisterly attachment to a Muslim boy, Irfan, when she refuses to even touch a member of her own religion, an Untouchable. Surprisingly, the author even paints Gandhi more realistically, illustrating the hypocrisy and racism of the Father of India himself. To do all of this in an adult novel would be an amazing feat but Kelkar manages to pull it off in a small children’s book, assimilating Anjali’s own limitations with it.
I wouldn’t necessarily say this book is easily accessible to all children. There are words, terms, and subtleties that I think some readers in the West might have difficulty understanding. There is a note in the back of the book where Kelkar has laid out the context to a lot of the major events that occur in the novel so I’d definitely recommend reading that afterwards.
As for the writing, while I don’t think it stands out in an extraordinary way, it does make for a very fast and absorbing read. My attention never once faltered so it’s easily readable in one sitting. And even with the deeply political nature of the novel, Anjali remains a lively character I’ve come to cherish.
Lastly, I would like to thank the author for writing a novel like this. It made me cry but it also just made me incredibly happy and excited for the future generations because Ahimsa exists. It exists and it makes all the difference in the world.
Ahimsa is about a ten-year-old Anjali who’s mother has just quit her job working under the British Raj for undisclosed reasons and a rising Independence movement is about to take her entire life by storm. It opens up with a black Q painted on the side of her mother’s ex-boss’s wall and it takes one into the journey of ahimsa—a practice of nonviolence towards all living things.
Anjali is a remarkable character, a child with flawed perceptions of the world who learns to emerge from her prejudices and disposition to make a difference. Children’s fiction offers adults a very unique opportunity to settle into the mindset of a youth struggling to grasp the adult world and through Anjali’s eyes, we see the struggles not only of a child but also of her country.
India is an incredibly dense region of mixed behaviors and cultures. It’s land that’s gone through hundreds of years of turmoil, integrating people from all walks of life. I cannot emphasize how beautifully Supriya Kelkar has managed to sketch all the nuances of Indian cultures into a children’s book. There are several groups of caste, race, and religion that clash amongst each other and Kelkar explores them perfectly for readers of several ages to grasp.
Whilst reading it, I was having a conversation with a friend about caste and how hard it is to explain the caste system in India to any immigrant but coincidentally, right after that conversation, Kelkar presents a scene where Anjali is asked to examine her sisterly attachment to a Muslim boy, Irfan, when she refuses to even touch a member of her own religion, an Untouchable. Surprisingly, the author even paints Gandhi more realistically, illustrating the hypocrisy and racism of the Father of India himself. To do all of this in an adult novel would be an amazing feat but Kelkar manages to pull it off in a small children’s book, assimilating Anjali’s own limitations with it.
I wouldn’t necessarily say this book is easily accessible to all children. There are words, terms, and subtleties that I think some readers in the West might have difficulty understanding. There is a note in the back of the book where Kelkar has laid out the context to a lot of the major events that occur in the novel so I’d definitely recommend reading that afterwards.
As for the writing, while I don’t think it stands out in an extraordinary way, it does make for a very fast and absorbing read. My attention never once faltered so it’s easily readable in one sitting. And even with the deeply political nature of the novel, Anjali remains a lively character I’ve come to cherish.
Lastly, I would like to thank the author for writing a novel like this. It made me cry but it also just made me incredibly happy and excited for the future generations because Ahimsa exists. It exists and it makes all the difference in the world.