Intended Audience: Mature Teens
Genre: Real Life / Historical events / Novel in verse
Notes for parents: Some mature scenes, violence, coarse language
The Inside Cover
It is October 31st, 1984, and fifteen-year-old Maya—half Hindu, half Sikh—is travelling from Canada to New Delhi, India, with her father. In her arms she carries only two things: a brand new diary—her only confidant—and the ashes of her mother.
Maya and her father have come to India to deliver the ashes to their final resting place. On the very night they arrive, Indira Gandhi—Prime Minister of India—is gunned down in her garden, betrayed by those closest to her. In the hours that follow, the city plunges into chaos, and Maya finds herself at the centre of one of the bloodiest massacres in the country’s modern history. Thousands are murdered. Thousands are lost.
Unable to find her father, Maya must disguise her identity and rely upon the help of Sandeep—a boy she’s just met—if she is to stay alive and make it home. That is, if she can open her heart enough to love, forgive, and discover what home truly means.
What the Inside Cover doesn’t tell you:
This is a novel written in verse in a first-person diary format.
What’s good?
This is one of the most beautiful, horrific, sophisticated stories I’ve ever read. The author’s words are deliberately and brilliantly crafted in verse to create a stark, emotional sense of time and place that made me feel like I was an actual witness to the real atrocities and aftershocks of one of India’s darkest moments. It’s a mature and memorable journey laced with vivid imagery, heart-stopping action, and an emotional exploration of everything from racism and culturalism, to religion, tradition and violence, to fear, grief, loneliness and shame entwined with romance and violence and love. At its core, this is an inspired and powerful story of the relationship between a father riddled with guilt and a daughter who just wants to belong.
Best part: The writing--
“Animal and human howl at a moonless sky. In doorless doorways the children limp. Boneless. Soft as putty. Another night. Of dark-pressed despair.” (pg. 410)
“I listen to the sound of India's voices for the last time. Laughter ripples like water. A prayer is a single note held long. There is so much life here. And too much death. (pg. 503)
What’s not so good?
On the whole, this book is definitely a downer and is thick with injustice. However, the writing weaves a sense of hopefulness into the second half of the story that pleads for patience and understanding.
Worst part: The cover is pink with yellow writing. I get the significance now, but it still looks like the cover of a Bollywood romantic comedy.
Recommendations þþþþþ
It was stunning – the premise, the style, the imagery, the themes, the journey…it was all stunning. I don’t want to over hype the story—I did find a few bad reviews—but I, personally, was taken in by the exceptional writing and first-rate storytelling. Highly recommended.
Ostlere, Cathy. Karma. Toronto: Puffin Canada, 2011. (Hardcover)
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