Reviews

Think I've always known/heard about Udham Singh through media, depiction in hindi movies or word of mouth stories but this was a journey into the life of a man seeking revenge for a massacre of his people and for oppression of his country, India. A well researched and well written book by Anita Ananad. It kept me engaged the whole time, the only comment I have is I wished we had been told of Udham's wife and children now....also I have lauded the book based on the depth of research and knowledge to present a whole picture of Udham Singh's life, I appreciate I am not commenting on the person themselves. The news of affairs and the infamous murder can be a judgement of character but again, it is mentioned in the book and kept separate from Udham's long journey from his village in Punjab to America, through Russia, building connections and relations as he goes and how every step is a calculated move which eventually takes hi to London where he assassinates General O'Dwyer. Want to read more from this author and it has piqued my interest in India's freedom fighters/heroes.

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dark informative medium-paced

4.5

You people go to India and when you come back you are given prizes and put into the House of Commons, but when we come to England we are put to death.

- Udham Singh

This was a fantastic read. I like how Anand started the book with a discussion of her family’s personal connection to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and the ultimate ending for Udham Singh. I think it actually provided more suspense to see how Singh got to where he ended up.

I really like how Anand structured the book with part 1 before the massacre and part 2 afterwards. She provided a lot of context for the situation in India before the massacre, with the Indians’ repeated resistance to the British empire that led to the colonizers enacting more and more restrictions. I learned a lot about Gandhi’s life that I didn’t know before (figures he was a hypocrite on violence in service of the empire… so weird), and I didn’t even know that Britain fought the Eastern front of WWI with so many South Asian people (from India as well as other British colonies).

I liked how Anand went over the personal histories of Michael O’Dwyer and Reginald Dyer (and I’m glad she referred to the former as Sir Michael throughout bc those last names are way too similar lol) just enough to give context without idolizing them. She pretty much let their abhorrent views just speak for themselves. But at the same time Anand wasn’t afraid to go into the dirty details of Udham’s history either. He did some problematic shit that makes him a hard person to 100% root for, but it made his history feel more real. And while I don’t support everything he did, I definitely think him killing O’Dwyer was 100% justified (the British KNEW ahead of time that people were planning to gather in Jallianwala Bagh and STILL decided to “teach them a lesson”! 🤮).

I keep thinking about fucking Dyer forcing everyone who lived on the street where a white lady was attacked just prior to the massacre to CRAWL ON ALL FOURS to get home. Plus the British publicly flogging teenage boys who were later released without charge. What the FUCK is wrong with these people? Imagine feeling that superior and heartless.

My only complaint really is that I didn’t realize that even though Udham Singh is such a legend in India, no one really knows that much about his life. A lot of that is because the British destroyed a lot of records pertaining to the Raj, and specifically tried to distance Udham from his anti-colonial goals. For the most part I think Anand did a good job of distinguishing what is known fact vs. what is supposition, but there was one specific scene towards the end of the book that must have been purely speculation, but wasn’t described as such.

Spoiler

She literally went through Udham’s ritual before the assassination, down to why he put specific things in his pocket, and his feelings looking in the mirror. Where did this come from???

Despite this, I still couldn’t not be disappointed at how little we know! I wish I had known that going in. I really wanted more information on how exactly Udham planned the actual assassination of the title, because Anand didn’t go into it at all. How did he go from so much fucking around (lol) to such a detailed plan? Maybe no one knows.

Despite all the uncertainty surrounding Udham’s life, this was a very absorbing and intriguing read. I kept wanting to get back to it to find out what happened next. Sometimes I got lost in the huge number of names that were mentioned, but I still got the gist so I don’t think that detracted from the book.

Also, while Anand is a fantastic audiobook narrator, the production quality of this audiobook is really poor. I could literally hear her turning pages in the background, lol. She did have quite a few audible intakes of breath that were kind of distracting but not as bad as other audiobooks I’ve tried.

Overall I definitely recommend this as a great introduction to the history of the British Raj, and its resulting anti-colonial resistance.