A review by booklywookly
Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree

5.0

Remember that one friend of yours who can talk about anything and has opinion about everything? That one friend who starts off telling about an “interesting” incident and it’s been one hour 40 minutes and you are counting how many times they said “sorry, I digressed” (13 times) and “okay so where were we” (6 times)? However exhausting it is being with this friend, you are always enthralled by the stories and energy. After a month of silence, you call them again. If that person were to be a book, this would be it. 

This feels to me like a collection of short essays, discussions and philosophical thoughts on topics touched upon over due course of a fictional plot. Annotators are gonna have some fun here. An inch of a story, a yard of these beautiful ramblings. Meandering in every direction, Shree is shepherding us through these many conversations - the many ebbs and flows - guiding us to the important “what ifs” from the less relevant ones. She is making herself noticed and is not hiding behind a character. She addresses you and occasionally shows you a mirror.

ma is depressed, ma is shrinking, ma won’t get out of the bed, ma made a friend, ma is unfurling, ma is unfurling too much, ma decides to visit Pakistan. 

It’s a slow burn. You’ll have to be patient to appreciate it. Ma doesn’t utter one legit complete sentence until p.230. Another important character, Rosie, enters narrative at p.169 never to be heard of again till p.310. Pakistan? 500 pages in. You get the idea. But it picks up typical plot-pace in the second section.

Mishmash of themes and genres - exploring modern urban life, folklore, Buddhism, gender, after effects of a nation being divided, mother daughter relationship, patriarchy, and redemption. Octogenarian main character, puns, wordplay, drifting into tangents, whimsy, magic realism, coarse humor, fleshed out supporting  cast, and a self aware eccentric narrator - this is what you get.

Some random thoughts in comments. 

I could definitely relate to “beti” the most. I understand what she was going through and I felt bad for her. I also felt bad for “bahu” who deserved better. 

A couple of chapters written from crows’ PoV and it has Rushdie written all over it. 

The whole “I want to go to Pakistan” arc seemed a bit forced to me. 

I watched Shree reading few excerpts from original version and it was quite dramatic and - ratatatatatatat - on fire! This is clearly a love letter to Hindi language and if I get time, I might read the OG as well. Daisy Rockwell’s clever efforts to preserve the “Indian-ness” of the context, playfulness of the words and nuances of sound over meaning in her translation is commendable. Grammar may go to hell. However, I would avoid if this is your first entry into the world of a South Asian literature. There are much easier and more forgiving books out there to give you a quick south asian culture orientations.