Books By Asian Authors Worth Reading
1. Women of Substance: Profiles of Asian Women in the UK
2. The God of Small Things – by Arundhati Roy
This is a haunting, poetic novel, utterly gripping in its inexorable description of the approaching tragedy that awaits its two main characters.
You know what is coming, and grieve for the passionate woman at the centre of the book, for her two children, for the lover, for the country that could allow this to happen, for the passionate at heart everywhere.
The language is lyrical and ringingly poetic: some of the images will stay with me for a long time. I was particularly taken by the writer’s ability to take a child-like perspective at moments of intense emotion, to see from a child’s eyes, yet to describe feelings which are simultaneously adult.
A stunning first novel; rich, intense, powerfully moving.
3. Lajja (Shame) – by Taslima Nasrin
This book is about how religious fundamentalism affects normal people and the society they live in.The story line is set against the Babri Masjid demolition by Hindu fundamentalist on 6th December 1992 at Ayodhayain India.The fall-out of this incident on minority Hindus in neighbouring Banglaedesh has been told through Duttas family-Sudhmoy ,Kironmyee and their two children ,Suranjan and Maya.The way each member observes ,interprets and responds to religious extremism unfolding in front of them can give an insight into how people cope with such situations individually and i must say author has beautifully penned these emotions.You have -the idealist Sudhamoy,head of the family ,who till the end clings to his motherland , disillusioned Suranjan(son) who slowly starts questioning everything which he thought he had understood and emotionally locked up Kironmyee(Sudhmoy’s wife) -epitomising woman from sub-continent for whom family is above all.
Fiction has been peppered with actual historical events, facts and statistics throughout the novel to give credibility to author’s arguments.At times one feels as if author is trying to prove something or other to authorities in power. This novel is in a way author’s cry for humanism.
I have given only four stars since i felt author has left many things untouched and unanswered on such a topic.The book is heavy on stating the incidents and facts rather than analysing or suggesting some solution which one might expect given the nature of the novel
