Scan barcode
A review by ljesica
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
4.0
I'm not sure how this one got on my list, but I really liked it. Nisha is 12 years old when Kazi, her family's cook and her best friend gives her a journal to write down her thoughts. She decides to use it to write letters to her mom who died during childbirth.
This book takes place in 1947. India is no longer under British rule and has been divided into India and Pakistan. Nisha lives with her twin brother Amil, her Papa and her Dadi (grandmother). Her mother was Muslim and her father is Hindu, and both families frowned upon the marriage. Nisha has never met anyone from her maternal side.
When India is divided, Nisha and her family are on the wrong side for Hindus. This is a part of history I know very little about. But Pakistan became a Muslim country and all Hindus and Sikhs were sent to live in original India, with Muslims migrating to Pakistan. There is fighting and violence and Nisha's dad decides they have to leave.
This is the story of their journey and their hardships and their eventual settling in a new home. But really, it's about humans. It reminds me of what I'm constantly trying to understand - why do we have to hate those who are different? Why should someone's religion mean that it's ok to kill them? Before the division, there were some skirmishes, but mostly people lived together peacefully. But then everything fell apart.
This book references Gandhi a lot. It uses his quote "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind". And I feel like this is true. This story made me misty a few times. And it really made me wish the world wasn't so "us against them". I think it was a good learning experience for me and now I kind of want to learn a little bit more about history which isn't something I feel very often.
This book takes place in 1947. India is no longer under British rule and has been divided into India and Pakistan. Nisha lives with her twin brother Amil, her Papa and her Dadi (grandmother). Her mother was Muslim and her father is Hindu, and both families frowned upon the marriage. Nisha has never met anyone from her maternal side.
When India is divided, Nisha and her family are on the wrong side for Hindus. This is a part of history I know very little about. But Pakistan became a Muslim country and all Hindus and Sikhs were sent to live in original India, with Muslims migrating to Pakistan. There is fighting and violence and Nisha's dad decides they have to leave.
This is the story of their journey and their hardships and their eventual settling in a new home. But really, it's about humans. It reminds me of what I'm constantly trying to understand - why do we have to hate those who are different? Why should someone's religion mean that it's ok to kill them? Before the division, there were some skirmishes, but mostly people lived together peacefully. But then everything fell apart.
This book references Gandhi a lot. It uses his quote "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind". And I feel like this is true. This story made me misty a few times. And it really made me wish the world wasn't so "us against them". I think it was a good learning experience for me and now I kind of want to learn a little bit more about history which isn't something I feel very often.