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A review by nuts246
13 Men by Sonia Faleiro
5.0
In this short book, Sona Faleiro shows exactly why she is considered one of the masters of her craft.
The incident described is simple. A young girl from an adivasi community returns to her village after working in the city for a few years. She is young, attractive and sassy, and takes on a married lover from another community. The couple is caught and she is allegedly gang raped by the men of her tribe. Unlike other victims, she goes to the police and her complaint is lodged.
This is the kind of incident that is not uncommon in India. It could be ignored completely. Or it may temporarily capture public imagination before dying out. Or, Sonia Faleiro could choose to cover it. When that happens, what you get is multiple perspectives, with the truth lying somewhere between all of them. What makes this telling amazing is that the author does not attempt to tell you what actually happened. She gives you all the versions, highlights the facts, and leaves you to sift through the rest to reach your own conclusions. There are gaps in all the narratives, some of which could be through a desire to obscure facts and push a particular narrative, but some of which could be because people have genuinely confused what actually happened with what actually happened.
Master storytelling. Definitely worth reading.
The incident described is simple. A young girl from an adivasi community returns to her village after working in the city for a few years. She is young, attractive and sassy, and takes on a married lover from another community. The couple is caught and she is allegedly gang raped by the men of her tribe. Unlike other victims, she goes to the police and her complaint is lodged.
This is the kind of incident that is not uncommon in India. It could be ignored completely. Or it may temporarily capture public imagination before dying out. Or, Sonia Faleiro could choose to cover it. When that happens, what you get is multiple perspectives, with the truth lying somewhere between all of them. What makes this telling amazing is that the author does not attempt to tell you what actually happened. She gives you all the versions, highlights the facts, and leaves you to sift through the rest to reach your own conclusions. There are gaps in all the narratives, some of which could be through a desire to obscure facts and push a particular narrative, but some of which could be because people have genuinely confused what actually happened with what actually happened.
Master storytelling. Definitely worth reading.