Micro Review 19

 

A Burning by Megha Majumdar (Simon & Schuster)

proof copy

Again regular readers may realise that this book was actually in my top 10 for 2020 but that I hadn't reviewed it. I was a bit sneaky adding it to last year's top reads as it was only published a few weeks ago - in 2021.

However this was a book that really made an impact on me and was certainly one of the best books I did read last year so I bent my (pretty non-existent) blogging rules!

This book brings to light a lot of inequalities that exist in modern India and very much like Two Tress Make a Forest and Kim YiJung, born 1982   really made me reconsider my opinions on the nation.

The book has a simple plot outline: 

Set in contemporary India, Majumdar’s debut is a pulsating character study based in the aftermath of a terrorist attack and the complex, conflicting legacy that the atrocity unleashes on ordinary people’s lives. 

but is so much deeper than this. It brings to light the stories of minorities and also shows how quickly someone can be radicalised. It also shows the dangers of social media, albeit in an extreme manner.

I'm loathe to say too much about the book as the gentle (and not so gentle) unfolding of the story is one of the best things about it. In many ways the tone of the story reminded me of The Reluctant Fundamentalist and how that made me think when I read it. For a debut book this is astounding and Majumdar is definitely an author who's next book I will be eagerly awaiting.

Quick Reads whilst reading slowly

The kindness of Twitter

Happily my reading stamina is still increasing following my recent illness (although it has slowed/gone a little backwards as I am tired out by a limited return to work) but while I was really struggling the kind people from ED Public Relations (@ed.pr on twitter) sent me a surprise parcel comprising three of the 2018 Quick Reads titles.

From my work in the library I was aware of the Quick Reads promotion which

 "was founded by Baroness Gail Rebuck DBE in 2006 to provide shorter, easier to read, accessible fiction for less confident adult readers. Now in its 12th year, the programme has distributed over 4.8 million books since it was launched and introduced hundreds of thousands of new readers each year to the joys and benefits of reading."

It took me a while to read them but I did enjoy them greatly but the biggest discovery for me was the Inspector Chopra book.  This is a mystery set in the back streets of Mumbai and featured a private detective and his pet baby elephant solving a the mystery of a missing car.

On many levels this book wasn't an instant fit: how was I going to follow the plot of a crime/mystery novel at a time when I had real concentration and memory problems? Also how was I going to be able to break an already short book up into chunks that I could physically manage to read? Oh, and the biggie, as a rule the crime genre really isn't my cup of tea!

The wise people from @edpr obviously knew what they were doing for the format of the book was just right, the chapters were complete vignettes and easy to start and stop. The mystery was just complicated enough so that I didn't guess 'whodunnit' but not so complicated I couldn't follow the reasoning. The addition of a baby elephant sidekick is a genius idea. The book may also be considered easier to read but for me it perfectly conjured Mumbai and I felt like I was watching a movie as I was reading, fewer words creating a full picture regardless.

Now I am more recovered I will look out for the full length novels by Vaseem Kahn but I am a little nervous that they won't be as good as this short book. I know that the short story format is considered both hard to write and hard to sell but it worked splendidly here and I'd love to read more short stories in this world.

Again many thanks to those at ED Public Relations who sent the books to me as a gift and with no expectations that I'd review them.