Lajja: Shame

For me Lajja was a very anticipated read. With all the controversy over it, the subsequent banning by Bangladesh government and the exile of Taslima, it's author, it had made headlines.

But all that enthusiasm faded once I read the book. The intention of the writer was extremely good and she was successful in making the world take notice of the plight of minorities in Bangladesh. Even the plot provided enough chances to exploit extreme emotions. But the structure of the novel, pathetic is the word to aptly describe it, was too crude to make us care for the characters. The conversations and motives of characters were merely mechanical and lacked any semblance to real world. The writing was interspersed with pages of data, very real and disturbing ones, but stated dryly in an off-putting manner.

Lajja has great intentions and a lame execution....