The attraction of the story of eternal love of an emperor for his begum does not fade.
Navtej Sarna
Editor
-
-
Brilliant dream passages featuring Krishna, Arjuna and Rama contrast awkwardly with cliched conversation between stereotypical operatives.
-
Explores Hindu-Muslim interaction in pre-partition India, the trauma of migration and the burden of the past with a delicate touch.
-
Literary allusions abound, but they can get a bit much in one go; Wodehousian flourishes can begin to pall. Dip in and out.
-
The novel lurches fitfully from one episode to the other, reducing tragic history to a two-dimensional farce.
-
Poetic, assured, Khair uses allusion, metaphor,photography and barbed wire to weave his tale
-
Desai is to be commended for documenting a major social ugliness in unflinching detail and producing a fluent page-turner in the process.
-
Edited with dedication and sympathy and includes contemporary narratives that give it a historical context
-
There is little to commend in this novel for which we must blame the generosity—or carelessness—of India’s burgeoning publishing industry
-
A stellar service to Punjabi literature—and to non-Punjabi readers—by bringing 40-odd Punjabi stories into the mainstream.
Advertisement
Newsletter
Signup for Outlook and get curated content to your inbox everyday.