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A review by vaibhavsh2624
The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing by Sonia Faleiro
5.0
Thanks to netgalley and groveatlantic for providing the e-arc.
This book didn't surprise me and that is a disturbing fact. We are so used to crime against women, police incompetence, broken systems, botched investigations and corrupt practices that nothing is a surprise anymore.
'One night in the summer of 2014' two girls of the Katra village, Sadatganj, UP went out to defecate in the fields and never returned home. The next morning they were found hanging from a tree in an orchard. Padma & Lalli (names changed) were first cousins and thick as thieves. They were always together, herding their goats or working in the farms, chatting up with other girls or snooping out at night. Together in life and in death.
Sonia Faleiro takes up this case as the centerpiece of her book which is about so much more than just a case. With a stupendous amount of research comprising of more than 200 interviews, chargesheets and investigation notes, news items, youtube videos, testimonies and more, the author draws a compulsively readable narrative of the whats, whys and hows of the said case.
The book is written like a true crime novel but the minute you are lulled into thinking it is just a story, it hits you in the face with cold facts, case studies, dialogues from the victims' family members and statistics about crimes against women.
As you read further, you realise that all of this happened, for real, two teenage girls hanging from a tree, the hours of protest by family members, the botched up post mortem, the news room drama, the twitter trends, the half hearted investigation, the CBI intervention and the trauma the family went through.
Faleiro also goes on tangents to tell the readers about the laws regarding rape and crimes against women, how they came to be, the different cases that made the fast track courts spring up or helped in formulating the stricter and more sensitive laws.
She also provides us with context of how things go about in the rural India, the lives of women, the education they are provided and why, the false sense of freedom, the history of crime in and around the area, the socio-political scene, and the subtle and not so subtle powerplay of castes and sub-castes.
The Good Girls is a brilliant book, one backed with stunning research and simple yet engaging writing. This is something which should be a staple read. I give this book 4.5 stars.
This book didn't surprise me and that is a disturbing fact. We are so used to crime against women, police incompetence, broken systems, botched investigations and corrupt practices that nothing is a surprise anymore.
'One night in the summer of 2014' two girls of the Katra village, Sadatganj, UP went out to defecate in the fields and never returned home. The next morning they were found hanging from a tree in an orchard. Padma & Lalli (names changed) were first cousins and thick as thieves. They were always together, herding their goats or working in the farms, chatting up with other girls or snooping out at night. Together in life and in death.
Sonia Faleiro takes up this case as the centerpiece of her book which is about so much more than just a case. With a stupendous amount of research comprising of more than 200 interviews, chargesheets and investigation notes, news items, youtube videos, testimonies and more, the author draws a compulsively readable narrative of the whats, whys and hows of the said case.
The book is written like a true crime novel but the minute you are lulled into thinking it is just a story, it hits you in the face with cold facts, case studies, dialogues from the victims' family members and statistics about crimes against women.
As you read further, you realise that all of this happened, for real, two teenage girls hanging from a tree, the hours of protest by family members, the botched up post mortem, the news room drama, the twitter trends, the half hearted investigation, the CBI intervention and the trauma the family went through.
Faleiro also goes on tangents to tell the readers about the laws regarding rape and crimes against women, how they came to be, the different cases that made the fast track courts spring up or helped in formulating the stricter and more sensitive laws.
She also provides us with context of how things go about in the rural India, the lives of women, the education they are provided and why, the false sense of freedom, the history of crime in and around the area, the socio-political scene, and the subtle and not so subtle powerplay of castes and sub-castes.
The Good Girls is a brilliant book, one backed with stunning research and simple yet engaging writing. This is something which should be a staple read. I give this book 4.5 stars.