A Burning
Ratings23
Average rating3.3
15
Ratings23
Average rating3.3
Set in Kolkata, India, the novel tells the story of its central character Jivan, a woman who witnesses a terrorist attack on an Indian train while it is stopped in a station.The woman posts to Facebook the next day, drawing the attention of police who arrest her on suspicion of committing the terrorist attack herself. Following the accusation, her fate hinges upon her former gym teacher, PT Sir, who has become a politician in an Indian right-wing party, and on a hijra actress named Lovely.
Reviews with the most likes.
Would not recommend this book. It is riddled with stereotypes and misrepresentations. The writing style was weird as well, nobody in India who is learning English speaks the way Lovely does. It sounds just like the cliched Indian character from an American sitcom. So many aspects of this have made me angry. It's the Slumdog Millionaire of books IMO.
4.5
(I listen to this book)
Lovely makes this story perfect. Megha created a beautiful story in which all the characters mix in between, and get us to know how dreams and expectations are a common game between individual and community. I could feel the hope (and hopelessness) of each character. The audiobook version is narrated by different authors, making it involving and dynamic.
Incredibly propulsive and masterfully crafted, always puts you right into the moment, right into the heads of three people in modern-day India, whose lives are loosely tied together around a tragedy, and who resemble each other in their quest and passion to escape their socioeconomical and cultural circumstances.
A very scary portrait of India with its caste-system, religious discrimination, political corruption, exploitation of dreams, and yet we encounter in it people full of hope. This worked really well as an audiobook.
