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A review by jennygaitskell
Moth by Melody Razak
4.0
In this novel of great beauty, heart and charm, Partition tragedies are told from perspectives of the girls and women in one family.
Alma and Roop are the daughters of academics, living in their House of Flowers in Delhi. In February 1947, at fourteen years old, Alma daydreams of her soon-to-be husband with as much vividity as the rest of her constant make-believing. Younger Roop is bored by the wedding, preferring to hunt and examine the home's unlucky pests. Most of the household is nervous about so young a marriage, hurried due to greater fears for the country's future. Within the compound's high walls, they tell themselves stories with happy endings, which change with the headlines in the daily newspaper but don't foresee the horrors they will experience.
Gosh, I fell in love with this household, shown so affectionately in the details of their daily and inner lives. They're, bright and funny and eccentric. This intimate portraiture is set against proofs of rising political tensions and signs of coming conflagration. My gut tightened as I read. Old Delhi became alive to me. I felt the weather.
This novel reveals the herstory of Indian independence, dealing with traumas inflicted on women with great sensitivity. Towards the end, this tact made the storytelling less direct. One scene felt a bit dishonest to me, and the ending abstract. However, earlier scenes go on playing through my mind, vivid as one of Alma's daydreams.
Alma and Roop are the daughters of academics, living in their House of Flowers in Delhi. In February 1947, at fourteen years old, Alma daydreams of her soon-to-be husband with as much vividity as the rest of her constant make-believing. Younger Roop is bored by the wedding, preferring to hunt and examine the home's unlucky pests. Most of the household is nervous about so young a marriage, hurried due to greater fears for the country's future. Within the compound's high walls, they tell themselves stories with happy endings, which change with the headlines in the daily newspaper but don't foresee the horrors they will experience.
Gosh, I fell in love with this household, shown so affectionately in the details of their daily and inner lives. They're, bright and funny and eccentric. This intimate portraiture is set against proofs of rising political tensions and signs of coming conflagration. My gut tightened as I read. Old Delhi became alive to me. I felt the weather.
This novel reveals the herstory of Indian independence, dealing with traumas inflicted on women with great sensitivity. Towards the end, this tact made the storytelling less direct. One scene felt a bit dishonest to me, and the ending abstract. However, earlier scenes go on playing through my mind, vivid as one of Alma's daydreams.