A review by aayjaysbookshelf
Ice Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.5

A wonderful novel, crafted with brilliant storytelling and compelling narrative. 'Ice Candy man' is a historical fiction novel on the partition of India, but from the perspective of a Parsi child, which makes it both interesting and unbiased.  With the cast of characters diverse, and the atmosphere of pre-partition India in the background, the novel moves with a slow pace at the start, spanning across the landscape of 40s' Lahore, and it is only later I understood that the initial slow pace was intentional by the author, and amazingly done. My most favorite part about it has to be the expression of the subtle yet poignant changes the Subcontinent went through, day by day, week by week, month by month, until suddenly it was unrecognizable. Different than all the previous partition stories I have read, this one was fresh in its mostly neutral view of partition as seen from a Parsi household. It was also very intriguing because when it comes to partition stories, it's only Muslim, Hindus and Sikhs involved, so to learn about it from a different lens was something. The visual details are harrowing, physically painful even, when the subcontinent was broken, quite literally, into 2 parts. The turmoil that preceded and followed, and is evident to date in our microbehaviours is uncanny, it's almost like it became part of our genetic makeup. The commentary on the sociopolitical environment is as crisp as it can be, and told through a very engrossing story and characters running side by side. I loved, loved, loved how the main characters were drawn, to their littlest of details, and the antics of one character built throughout the story for it become the main ingredient of the climax. Sidhwa's finesse with storytelling and handling sensitive topics like partition with the utmost grace and skill, to tell a story without keeping it black and white, to narrate a tale that pierces through and keep the readers hooked is brilliant. All in all, aLoved reading this.