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A Golden Age

A Golden Age

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Description

Throwing in some bengali words like 'roshogolla' will not turn a novel into a cultural fiction - for that a certain soul is required. And as she struggles to keep her family safe, Rehana will be forced to face a heartbreaking dilemma. The author makes little attempt to explain the history and ethnic differences (sending me to do some outside reading), and hides key details about the characters lives until later in the story.

That those nine months of the war were like nine generations, brimming with lives and deaths; that Sohail had survived, while his friends had died; and that here was the city, burned and blistered and alive, where she was going to see what remained of the man with the scar across his face who had lived in her house for ninety-six days and passed like a storm through her small life. This story about the separation of Bangladesh from Pakistan takes place from very shortly before the civil war (with a completely unnecessary prologue set 20 years before) until the day before the war is over. Faiz was reading a English newspaper where Maya, from Calcutta has published an essay in support of guerrilla war. I now understand why the Bengali people did not want to be ruled and exploited by the government of West Pakistan, 1,000 miles away.

As a mother, she is circumscribed by the 'yawning, cyclic, inexhaustible need' for the son and daughter who were taken from her. Throughout the story, Rehana does sympathise with the emotion of independent Bangladesh, but she did end up being a big part of the movement. In many ways, Reena is an everywoman as she struggles to keep what remains of her family together and alive.

However, the writing, although more than proficient, and often very beautiful, wasn’t transporting enough to raise this book above a 3 star read for me.The death of her husband and her fight to keep her children, when her dead husband's brother and his childless wife claim they could take better care of them. Anam is great on description of food, Rehana is an excellent cook and the feast is described in loving detail.

The language, the pace and the restraint from providing too much graphic detail added up to make this a surprisingly easy read for me.The novel is well written and easy to read; the main strength is the family drama and there is a good bit of tension as well. Veering between indulgence and censure, 'there was a part of her that wanted to allow her children anything - any whimsy, any zeal, any excess', while 'another part of her wanted them to have nothing to do with it all, to keep them safe at home'. The book starts with the death of Rehana's husband and losing then regaining the custody of her children, and then fast forwards to the start of the war where Rehana struggles again to hold on to her children. But civil conflict is brewing, a conflict that will lead to Bangladeshi independence, but will also lead to terrible violence and countless individual tragedies.



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
  • Sold by: Fruugo

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