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A review by nashwa017
Water by Bapsi Sidhwa
5.0
She ceased to exist as a person; she was no longer daughter or daughter-in-law.
While I initially gave this book four stars, I'm bumping it up to five stars.
Why, you ask? Because I can - but also because I had time to sit on my thoughts for a couple of days and because this book tells a stunning tale of how widows were treated in India in the 1930s. I don't know much about the practice in this day and age but widows back then did not have much of a place in the society once their husbands died.
The widows were sent away to an ashram, where they had their heads shaved, dressed completely in white unstitched clothes, led a life of self-denial which included eating no fried foods including sweets. In this set-up, we find 8-year-old Chuyia, a child bride who becomes a child widow after the demise of her husband.
The reason I initially gave this book four stars was because it's not a perfect book. The character of Narayan was very underdeveloped and his storyline wasn't as fleshed out as the women in the book. This book is unique because it's based on the movie - Sidhwa was given three months to finish the novel to coincide the release of the book with the movie, since the controversial movie faced backlash in India. Because of the time-crunch, I can't fault Sidhwa for the shortcomings of the book. Working with the script might have tied her hands a little bit, which is why this book is not as developed in some parts as it is in others. While watching the movie, I felt a little bit underwhelmed by it because Sidhwa draws such a vivid picture of the time, the treatment of the widows at the hands of men, and at the hands of the other women. The patriarchal setup is suffocating but so brilliantly executed that you really can't stop reading the book.
Sidhwa has explored religion and its interpretations well, and she has shown us female bonding in this book. The movie is great too, but I feel like the book has more of an impact on me.
While I initially gave this book four stars, I'm bumping it up to five stars.
Why, you ask? Because I can - but also because I had time to sit on my thoughts for a couple of days and because this book tells a stunning tale of how widows were treated in India in the 1930s. I don't know much about the practice in this day and age but widows back then did not have much of a place in the society once their husbands died.
The widows were sent away to an ashram, where they had their heads shaved, dressed completely in white unstitched clothes, led a life of self-denial which included eating no fried foods including sweets. In this set-up, we find 8-year-old Chuyia, a child bride who becomes a child widow after the demise of her husband.
The reason I initially gave this book four stars was because it's not a perfect book. The character of Narayan was very underdeveloped and his storyline wasn't as fleshed out as the women in the book. This book is unique because it's based on the movie - Sidhwa was given three months to finish the novel to coincide the release of the book with the movie, since the controversial movie faced backlash in India. Because of the time-crunch, I can't fault Sidhwa for the shortcomings of the book. Working with the script might have tied her hands a little bit, which is why this book is not as developed in some parts as it is in others. While watching the movie, I felt a little bit underwhelmed by it because Sidhwa draws such a vivid picture of the time, the treatment of the widows at the hands of men, and at the hands of the other women. The patriarchal setup is suffocating but so brilliantly executed that you really can't stop reading the book.
Sidhwa has explored religion and its interpretations well, and she has shown us female bonding in this book. The movie is great too, but I feel like the book has more of an impact on me.