Scan barcode
lunabbly's review
5.0
I think it took me a while to understand the book because I didn't have any background whatsoever on the happenings of the 1947 forced partition. I read the first two sections and then decided to do more investigation and background research before reading more. For me, sometimes I do need to understand the PoLiTicAl imPlicAtIonS to better understand the human-scale impact of such violence. And I'm thankful that Yasmin Khan provided the human stories, the real human-scale impact of partition as those get lost throughout history. We have to remember that partition was not too long ago and people who were children when they had to travel thousands of miles or were forced apart from family are still alive today. Highly recommend people reading!
frogggirl2's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.0
A pretty dry and high-level recounting without substantial personal or relateable human stories. It glosses over what seems to have been substantial issues like the annexation of Hyderabad, the partition of Bengal and the "Kashmir imbroglio" (p. 208) and therefore runs quite short for such a complex and ongoing historical event. As somebody who was not familiar with partition, there was a lot of good information here, but nothing is addressed in any depth, and I clearly need to go to another source for more information.
"Coolies" is a slur - although the topic of this book is historical, the writing of the book is not historical, and I don't understand the value of using this word several time so casually, outside of quotations.
"Coolies" is a slur - although the topic of this book is historical, the writing of the book is not historical, and I don't understand the value of using this word several time so casually, outside of quotations.
red_magpie's review
4.0
Historical nonfiction is generally what I reach for, but I found this fascinating. It is astounding to me that such a huge, catastrophic event like Partition gets barely a mention here in the US.
faithlav's review
2.5
I know that I am super interested in the subject matter and I had to read this for a class, so that has colored the way I reviewed this book. I know that there was a lot of chaos and uncertainty, but I feel like so much of the same things were repeated and drawn out where they didn't need to be. This was very dense and while to some that could have been really moving in showing the horrors of Partition, but for me it bogged the book down and I wasn't really interested in what was being said.
jilianh's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.0
This book was so educational and informative!
I wanted to read a book for my "Read the World" storygraph challenge (Cracking India) but because it was written from the perspective of a child, I thought some formal background into partition was needed before I read it. I had absolutely no prior knowledge past the fact that when Britain pulled out of India it became Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. I genuinely had no idea what a massive collective trauma it truly was. I felt like Khan did a great job of showing the crisis from multiple perspectives, and provided me with the nuance and detail I was looking for. It is quite information dense so I needed to really focus my attention, but I have no doubt that a lot of work and research went into making this book happen.
I wanted to read a book for my "Read the World" storygraph challenge (Cracking India) but because it was written from the perspective of a child, I thought some formal background into partition was needed before I read it. I had absolutely no prior knowledge past the fact that when Britain pulled out of India it became Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. I genuinely had no idea what a massive collective trauma it truly was. I felt like Khan did a great job of showing the crisis from multiple perspectives, and provided me with the nuance and detail I was looking for. It is quite information dense so I needed to really focus my attention, but I have no doubt that a lot of work and research went into making this book happen.
faehistory's review
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
I read this book while in the final year of my history degree, when I was focusing on the end of British empire in India. The book informative, advancing my perspective on the period in question. It was also very well written.