Reviews - Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory

95 reviews for:

Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition through Material Memory

Aanchal Malhotra

4.51 AVERAGE

arundhatianand's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

There are books that feel good even before you've read them. The premise might be alluring, the print and the illustrations might be inviting, or the cover art might be inordinately beautiful. Aanchal Malhotra's Remnants of a Separation has all of these three, and more.

Remnants of a Separation is a unique narrative on the partition of India. The stories bring the gruesome and uncertain nature of the events to light in a form that lends a very human feel to partition. They terrorize, overwhelm, amuse and often reveal how despite the artificial boundaries of religion or nation, human beings continue to retain a love for their roots. The book not only paints a vivid picture of human resilience in the face of the worst of atrocities but also of vulnerability to painful memories embedded deep into one's soul even when on the surface things seem to have healed.

“Memory dilutes, but the object remains unaltered.”

_________________________________________________

The detailed review for this book can be found at https://sumitbhagat.substack.com/ , where I regularly write about books, long-forms & stuff from around the web in the form of a short (<5 min), fortnightly e-mail newsletter. Please do subscribe if you like.

tarabahl's review

4.0

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

goel_1996's review

4.0

What things/objects people brought along with them during partition, and why?

The author has given a unique perspective to look at partition without much emphasis on the political aspect of it.

Forced to kill their own toddlers, travel in a train with dead bodies, separated from their motherlands, watching their loved ones die, one can't fathom the atrocities someone experienced during the partition.

Freedom came at the price of common man.

The only con is that the stories become repetitive after a while.

I'll suggest reading it sporadically instead of finishing it in a single go.

The book's a 3.5 for me. An extra 0.5 for Aanchal who went through all the pain to meet people on both sides of the border and document their anecdotes.