A review by samdalefox
Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai

hopeful informative reflective slow-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

Ok ok I've said it a few times now, I'm tired of reading classics from the middle class perspective. I've drawn the line in the sand for British writers, American writers, Nigerian writers, and Russian writers, however I haven't read any Indian classics so despite me feeling exasperated at that aspect I made an exception for 'Clear Light of Day'. It's one of those stories that doesn't really have a plot, it's a character study. Only in this story, it's a character study of four siblings and their relationship to their wider family, friends, and neighbours. Despite focussing on the four siblings (Raja, Bimla, Tara, and Baba), the narrative is told in third person only from three perspectives; the two daughters Bimla, Tara, and their Aunt Mira. Published in 1980, but set in the lifetimes of those who lived through the 1947 India Partition in Old Dehli, I suspect focusing the voices of the women of the household was a concious and bold choice. I certainly recognised and appreciated the feminist aspects highlighting everyday sexism and misogyny and the highly gendered culture of acceptable dos and don'ts and especially the care taking roles and invisible labour. I identified with many of their struggles, though most accutely with Bim, the eldest daughter. I believe more India-specific references were made to patriarchy, caste, colourism, and perhaps even commentary on Hindu far right-nationalism, but I'm not familiar enough with India culture and politics to know for sure. I did see, though did not fully understand the significance of, references to the impact of the British Empire and the historic relationship between Hindus and Muslims through the various poetry references e.g., T.S. Eliot and Iqbal respectively.

The story moves between present day and the past, and steadily builds a picture of each of the characters. Although nothing really happens and the story gently ebbs and flows, there a definitely moments more poignant or startling than others. I didn't feel bored reading it, but I didn't feel convinced by 'the clear light of day' revelation at the end either. This is a story about imperfect familial love, of feeling stuck and trapped, about how people respond and develop to challenges, and the ending felt a little too neat. 

Favourite quotes:

"They pranced around in their trousers, feeling grotesquely changed by them, not only in their appearance, but in their movements, their abilities. Great possibilities unexpectedly opened up now thye had their legs covered so sensibly and practically and no longer needed to worry about what lay bare beneath ballooning frocks and what was so imperfectly concealed by them. Why did girls have to wear frocks? Suddenly they saw why they were so different to their brother, so inferior and negligible in comparison: it was because they did not wear trousers. Now they thrust their hands into their pockets and felt even more suprior - what a sense of possession, of confidence it gave one to have pockets, to shove one's fists into them, as if by simply owning pockets one owned riches, owned independence."

"Isn't strange how life won't flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, as if it were held back by locks that are opened now and then to let it jump forwards in a kind of flood? There are these long still stretches - nothing happens - each day is exactly like the other - plodding, uneventful - and then suddenly there is a crash - mighty deeds take place - momentous events - even if one doesn't know it at the time - then life subsides."


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