Scan barcode
julshakespeare's review against another edition
3.0
3.6/5 stars, full review to come! Let's hear it for the boy (Asad)!!! This is one that I feel like I'm going to rate higher after a reread.
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Pacing: 3/5
Writing: 5/5
Enjoyment: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Pacing: 3/5
Writing: 5/5
Enjoyment: 3/5
kdominey's review
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
leoferrari's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
r_klg's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
kehwa's review against another edition
5.0
I am certain that I've found one of my favourite books. The fact that it presents so many vividly-drawn, complex characters within just 319 pages is unbelievable. I hope it gets way more recognition than it gets so that every person affected by or acquainted to partition, even if through experience of their ancestors, reads this gem of a book.
njw13's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
boipoka's review against another edition
4.0
This book was excellent but, ultimately unsatisfactory.
The book is beautifully written - it really brought the Lucknow of Taluqdars to life. There were so many quotable quotes, that I regretted not having a Kindle Book. This is one book that deserves to be highlighted! The language wasn't the sparse modern prose, but it wasn't overly convoluted. It was ornate, but that just added to the authenticity - my grandparents, and my parents, have that same style of writing till this day.
The story was compelling, drew me in right in to their lives, and the conflicts and resolutions were believable. I especially appreciated how the 'progressive's are not anachronistic - they are clearly creatures of their own time, filled with their millennia old prejudices, taking tiny steps forward. The mind really takes much longer to change than outward appearances. The book is clearly written by someone who experienced those times first hand.
Overall, it was the kind of book that makes you want to curl up inside a blanket and lose yourself in the book world.
But. But. I was ultimately disappointed by the last part of the story. Not the resolution per se, that was perfectly fine. But based on the blurb, I was expecting much more details around the social and familial upheaval that the Partition brought about. But this wasn't a book about the family being torn in two, or the wider changes in society. This was squarely about a woman growing up, and making her own place in the world, on a quest for balance between tradition and modernity. That makes it not just worth reading, but timely reading for young Indians. But it wasn't the book I was looking to read.
Read for the challenge prompts -
PopSugar Reading Challenge - A book about a family
Around the Year in 52 Books - A book that includes a journey (physical, health, or spiritual). Laila's spiritual journey is juxtaposed with the journey of society from old to new. To be more literal it also includes Sameer and Zahra's journeys to their new country
The book is beautifully written - it really brought the Lucknow of Taluqdars to life. There were so many quotable quotes, that I regretted not having a Kindle Book. This is one book that deserves to be highlighted! The language wasn't the sparse modern prose, but it wasn't overly convoluted. It was ornate, but that just added to the authenticity - my grandparents, and my parents, have that same style of writing till this day.
The story was compelling, drew me in right in to their lives, and the conflicts and resolutions were believable. I especially appreciated how the 'progressive's are not anachronistic - they are clearly creatures of their own time, filled with their millennia old prejudices, taking tiny steps forward. The mind really takes much longer to change than outward appearances. The book is clearly written by someone who experienced those times first hand.
Overall, it was the kind of book that makes you want to curl up inside a blanket and lose yourself in the book world.
But. But. I was ultimately disappointed by the last part of the story. Not the resolution per se, that was perfectly fine. But based on the blurb, I was expecting much more details around the social and familial upheaval that the Partition brought about. But this wasn't a book about the family being torn in two, or the wider changes in society. This was squarely about a woman growing up, and making her own place in the world, on a quest for balance between tradition and modernity. That makes it not just worth reading, but timely reading for young Indians. But it wasn't the book I was looking to read.
Read for the challenge prompts -
PopSugar Reading Challenge - A book about a family
Around the Year in 52 Books - A book that includes a journey (physical, health, or spiritual). Laila's spiritual journey is juxtaposed with the journey of society from old to new. To be more literal it also includes Sameer and Zahra's journeys to their new country
mahimabh's review against another edition
5.0
Set against the backdrop of the independence struggle in India and the subsequent Partition, Sunlight on a Broken Column is a book that deals in the nuanced subtleties of politics and that raises many questions about the various causes that people commit themselves to. Its protagonist, Laila, in her quest for selfhood and identity, stands in for countless young Muslim women caught in the snare of tradition. Hosain lays bare the reality of oppression and marginalisation of different kinds, her story never oversimplifying any of it, however, but painting a picture of a culture, of a way of life that can only be grasped in the full, when explored from every angle. And that’s exactly what she does with it, the exploration enfolded in a narrative that’s melancholically beautiful, the sadness that it stirs up rising on each page like a haunting presence. It is a tale of resistance and rebellion, and of love and the concerns of the human heart. But the book is as much its story as it is the imagery that it evokes. Hosain's prose, as the novel's title would suggest, constantly plays with light and shadow, creating countless images that are both poetic and cinematic in nature. Her descriptions of the world that her characters inhabit are so rich and sensuous that the world rises, life-like, in the mind of the reader. And once the book is finished, it stays there, playing like footage from an old Hindi film.