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A review by aayjaysbookshelf
The Crow Eaters by Bapsi Sidhwa
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Having read Bapsi Sidhwa's Ice Candy Man earlier, I knew I could hope for a lovely storytelling and I wasn't disappointed. Interestingly, The Crow Eaters had been in my TBR even before Ice Candy Man but it was only now that I got my hands on it and I really enjoyed it.
Sidhwa's finesse with novel writing is quite evident in this very Parsee-centric, pre partition story of a Parsee family that migrated to Lahore and established themselves there from a humble background to a powerful one. The novel mainly revolves around the life of Fareedoon or Freddy Junglewalla and the people associated with him, and written in a humourous, satirical manner which made me laugh quite a number of times in the first half of the novel. Through this novel, you get to have a deeper insight into the lives, traditions and customs of Parsees or Zoroastrians, and I particularly loved how subtle yet poignant Sidhwa was in her expression of both love for her community and constructive criticism on some of its elements, and how all of this was portrayed through fiction.
I liked the details, the characters drawn in a way that I could visualise them, the story having no loose ends, the way Sidhwa builds on the quirks of the main characters throughout the story to use it as a climax later on, the detailed mention of Lahore and Bombay of 1900s, the satire, the glance at the British India and the irony of British empire. The writing of this novel have the beauty of classic writing but without the difficulty and jargons, and the relevance of it being set in this region makes it all the more interesting.
Overall, a really nice novel. Though I would have liked if it talked more about Yazdi and his character arc; I felt a few loose ends were left in his part of the story, and the ending seemed a bit abrupt to me after the slow and detailed built-up throughout the novel. If you enjoy slice-of-life family sagas, especially ones that focus on groups (in this case Parsis in pre-independence Lahore) that are typically underrepresented in literature, then I’d recommend checking this one out.
Sidhwa's finesse with novel writing is quite evident in this very Parsee-centric, pre partition story of a Parsee family that migrated to Lahore and established themselves there from a humble background to a powerful one. The novel mainly revolves around the life of Fareedoon or Freddy Junglewalla and the people associated with him, and written in a humourous, satirical manner which made me laugh quite a number of times in the first half of the novel. Through this novel, you get to have a deeper insight into the lives, traditions and customs of Parsees or Zoroastrians, and I particularly loved how subtle yet poignant Sidhwa was in her expression of both love for her community and constructive criticism on some of its elements, and how all of this was portrayed through fiction.
I liked the details, the characters drawn in a way that I could visualise them, the story having no loose ends, the way Sidhwa builds on the quirks of the main characters throughout the story to use it as a climax later on, the detailed mention of Lahore and Bombay of 1900s, the satire, the glance at the British India and the irony of British empire. The writing of this novel have the beauty of classic writing but without the difficulty and jargons, and the relevance of it being set in this region makes it all the more interesting.
Overall, a really nice novel. Though I would have liked if it talked more about Yazdi and his character arc; I felt a few loose ends were left in his part of the story, and the ending seemed a bit abrupt to me after the slow and detailed built-up throughout the novel. If you enjoy slice-of-life family sagas, especially ones that focus on groups (in this case Parsis in pre-independence Lahore) that are typically underrepresented in literature, then I’d recommend checking this one out.