Listening to books has pros and cons for me lately. The sound of the book was wonderful - the characters really come to life and the atmosphere was rich. But because I don't have large dedicated chunks of time to listen I had to break it up a lot and the sweeping nature of the story didn't really come across as it might have otherwise. The protagonist was such an interesting character and watching her progression through the course of the novel was very satisfying. It was a very different perspective on war/revolution and the human scale of it was very much what I am drawn to.

অনুবাদ পড়েছি তাই কিছু জায়গা খুব খাপছাড়া মনে হয়েছে। নাহলে বোধয় ৫ তারাই দিতাম। অনুবাদকে খারাপ বলছিনা কিন্তু কয়েকটা লাইন যেন আক্ষরিক অর্থে অনুবাদ করা হয়েছে প্রথম দিকে। শেষের দিকটায় একদম অবশ্য সেসব বালাই নেই তাই খুব উপভোগ করেছি। একটা বড় দ্বিধা ছিল লেখিকার সম্পর্কে জেনে যে মুক্তিযুদ্ধের মতো বিষয়কে আসলে তার মর্যাদা অনুযায়ী প্রকাশ করতে পারবেন কিনা। কিন্তু যত পৃষ্ঠা উলটেছি তত মন ভাল লাগায় ভরে গেছে। শেষের টুইস্টটা ভাল ছিল। খুব অল্প কথায় যুদ্ধের ভয়াবহতা তুলে ধরাটাও ভাল লেগেছে।

I enjoyed this novel set in Bangladesh on the eve of and during the War of Independence with Pakistan in 1971. It is told with a narrow focus, through a middle-aged widow who was an outsider to Bengal nationalism (she grew up in Kolkota, on the Indian side of the border from Bangladesh, as a Urdu speaker, it was a bit vague whether she was ethnically Bengal or not), and her two nationalist, college-aged children. 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 worked fine for me, although other readers in our group were frustrated by the withholding of information.

The first third was a bit slow and harder to get through, with the confusing characters and historical situation. But after that things became clearer, and the plot became more exciting as the war heated up. The three main characters were all intriguing figures.

The author comes from a famous Bangladeshi family of authors and journalists, but she grew up mostly out of the country. My Bangladeshi friend in our book group was bothered by what she saw as a lot of inaccuracies about the history and culture.

‘This war that has taken so many sons has spared mine. This age that has burned so many daughters has not burned mine. I have not let it.’

An interesting story about the turmoils of war and sacrifice. My first time hearing about the things that took place in Bangladesh before it became what it is known as today. N.B the representation of Islam is a cultural one.

I was unsure at first, but the writing grew on me, it is beautiful and nuanced. The book left me feeling empowered by its main character's strength and devotion.