Welcome friend! Lately, I have been interested in stories set in India. Revisiting old epics through retellings has offered opportunities to reflect on my childhood but India is more than its epics. Our freedom struggle from 1857-1947 is ingrained in our brains from childhood. As brutal as our history is, it was one of my favourite subjects and I am excited to talk about Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni – A story that presents the time around independence with brutal honesty, the 1940s in Bengal, one of the states that was divided at the time of partition.
Independence
By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni | Goodreads
India, 1947. In a rural village in Bengal live three sisters, daughters of a well-respected doctor.
Priya: intelligent and idealistic, resolved to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a doctor, though society frowns on it.
Deepa: the beauty, determined to make a marriage that will bring her family joy and status.
Jamini: devout, sharp-eyed, and a talented quiltmaker, with deeper passions than she reveals.
Theirs is a home of love and safety, a refuge from the violent events taking shape in the nation. Then their father is killed during a riot, and even their neighbors turn against them, bringing the events of their country closer to home.
As Priya determinedly pursues her career goal, Deepa falls deeply in love with a Muslim, causing her to break with her family. And Jamini attempts to hold her family together, even as she secretly longs for her sister’s fiancé.
When the partition of India is officially decided, a drastic–and dangerous–change is in the air. India is now for Hindus, Pakistan for Muslims. The sisters find themselves separated from one another, each on different paths. They fear for what will happen to not just themselves, but each other.
Content notes include grief, violence, sexual assault, death, religious bigotry, hate crime.
My thoughts on Independence
Independence opens with Priya playing chess with her neighbour and family friend – a mundane activity that the two enjoy. Her father is a doctor who works in Calcutta. With the partition of Hindustan in the near future, tensions between Hindus and Muslims are high, especially in the cities, but that has not affected village life just yet. Knowing what is coming from the synopsis made me feel cold. Like that moment in a movie when peace will shatter and chaos will ensue.
An unfortunate incident kills Nabakumar and what follows is the family facing desperation as the world burns around them. After their father’s death, each sister blames herself. They each feel responsible in some way for the misfortune that befell him and took his life. But life has to go on and times of desperation make people step up: Jamini starts to create a prosperous quilt making business with her mother, Priya tries harder to get her medical degree, making her way to America to get the qualifications she needs while Deepa pretends to be someone else to save her herself from the hands of violence. Where will their choices lead them?
The sisters
Deepa falls in love with a Muslim, her morals tested when she is thrown out of the house because of the object of her affections. But she is strong and has accepted the consequences of following her heart. She leads a trying life in the city of Calcutta, hiding as a Muslim and eventually time leads her further away from her family and India, making a home in the now-Bangladesh. I enjoyed her relationship with her husband, Raza, who was a young man in love with a Hindu girl and tried to give her the world. He supported her at every step no matter how much danger they were in.
A terrible time in society does not cease to exist everyday jealousy, insecurities and desires. Jamini has grown up in the shadow of the two sisters, even though she is not the youngest. She is secretly in love with Amit, the man who loves Priya, and wishes she could be appreciated by her mother, if only Deepa would step out of the way. I felt her character evolved the most through the book. She was the child left behind, picking up the pieces, and she could do it because she was committed. She has a unique strength of character and I grew to admire her.
Priya had always wanted to be a doctor, helping out her father whenever he would allow it. Her journey as a medical practitioner is an important part of the story. I related to Priya the most. She had people in her life who truly believed in her and wanted her brilliance to be known to the world. I enjoyed her relationships with Somnath and Amit as well the American librarian who helped with her university application. Having her storyline with two other sisters helps present a true picture of the time: a woman’s drive to be someone, a professional, to work outside the house, was not encouraged at that time and very few girls had the support in their families to pursue education and thrive. Getting married was the number one priority and Priya faces that societal pressure too.
The setting
Independence is divided into parts, giving a lyrical introduction to the years that the next set of chapters cover. Political events and tensions are integral to this story set in the time of independence of India and these interludes helped me immerse further into the story. The regional festivities and the feel of the religious significance of the events are described well.
The book was full of songs that were popular during the time, encouraging people to stand up for their homeland. Setting the characters in the village of Ranipur allowed me to contrast and learn about the partition time and how its experience differed between a city like Calcultta and a village. It was great to see that music was an integral part, no matter the area.
Through these pages, it is possible to meet many important people of India’s struggles for freedom and then later self governance. The scenes depicting Gandhi’s assassination were well done and transported me to that time.
Writing Choices
I sometimes get nervous trying out favorite authors in new settings. I wasn’t disappointed. Other books I have read by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni are both retellings of Hindu epics – The Forest of Enchantments (review) and The Palace of Illusions (review). They were written in first person while Independence is told in third person, focusing on one sister at a time. Chitra chose three powerful points of views, giving voice, character and justice to each of their storylines while depicting the harsh realities of 1940s India. All other characters of the book were also done well. Independence is a beautiful story about facing adversity after adversity. How the human soul breaks but then finds something to stand up again.
There is betrayal, love, hurt, pain, bereavement and grief in these pages. There is loss of life when someone loses the person who was their anchor. There is falling down and getting up. There are stories of young women who believed in themselves and were willing to sacrifice for each other. There is hope for a better future and strength to fight for it. There are tales of people putting aside the agenda and helping each other as a community.
Growing up, I saw Bollywood movies about the partition but literature wise, my reading has been minimal. Independence is an unforgettable account. I haven’t given much thought to what happens when a place is divided until I read this book, it is always so factual in history! It is only through fiction and people and their experiences, even fictional, that we can make room for empathy and compassion. In a novel, it is no longer the past: it is the present. Life is going to be rough for my characters but they are going to make it and I am here rooting for them.
If you are interested in this book, add it on your Goodreads TBR. 🙂
About the Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Chitra Divakaruni is an award-winning writer, activist and teacher, and the author of 21 books such as Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart, Before We Visit the Goddess, Palace of Illusions, The Forest of Enchantments, and The Last Queen. Her newest novel, Independence, depicts the experiences of three sisters in strife-torn Calcutta as India frees itself from the British yoke. She writes for adults and children.
Her work has been published in over 100 magazines and anthologies and translated into 30 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Bengali, Hungarian, Turkish, Hindi and Japanese. Her work been made into films, plays and dance dramas, and performed as operas. Her awards include an American Book Award, a PEN Josephine Miles award, a Premio Scanno, and a Light of India award. In 2015 The Economic Times included her in their List of 20 Most Influential Global Indian Women. She is the McDavid professor of Creative Writing in the internationally acclaimed Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston and lives in Houston with her husband Murthy.
Divakaruni has been an activist in the fields of education and domestic violence and has been closely associated with the following nonprofits: Pratham, which educates underprivileged children in India, and Daya and Maitri, which assist survivors of domestic violence in starting life anew.
Learn more about her on her website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Book Club/Buddy Read Questions
If you are reading Independence in a book club or with a friend, I highly encourage you to discuss the following questions:
Q1. What does the book say about expectations of women by society?
Q2. What role did the father’s last words play in the plot?
Q3. What does independence stand for in this title?
Q4. What is something new you learned about Indian history?
Q5. What was the most shocking part of the story?
Q6. What is the most unexpected?
Q7. Of the three sisters, which one did you admire the most?
Many thanks to Random Things Tours for giving me a chance to highlight this book on my blog in exchange for an honest review. Check out other reviewers on the tour:
Thanks for the blog tour support x