Want a crash course on some of India’s most interesting elements? Check out a few reads shared with us by Parini Shroff, author of The Bandit Queens, and a few words from her on each. (But before we get to her recs, have a read of her darkly hilarious and often heartbreaking novel.)
The Bandit Queens
by Parini Shroff
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK - A young Indian woman finds the false rumors that she killed her husband surprisingly useful – until other women in the village start asking for her help getting rid of their own husbands – in this razor-sharp debut.
The Collected Stories of Saadat Hasan Manto
by Nasreen Rehman
Saadat Hasan Manto, Kingdom's End. I have a habit of collecting translations of Manto’s short story, because I like examining the translators’ choices. Manto was constantly hounded for everything from vulgar language to feminist ideals to obscenity. Some of my favorite are his works criticizing 1947 Partition; Manto often wrote of the violence the division fomented. [Ed's note: Kingdom's End is no longer available as a new book, so you may have to get creative to find it! In the meantime, check out this volume of short stories by Saadat Hasan Manto.)
Midnight's Children
by Salman Rushdie
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie had a huge impact on my relationship with not only sweeping historical fiction, but also the place of wry comedy in literature.
The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things is a novel I return to often for its scathing and poetic indictment of caste, patriarchy, and colonialism. I’m also a big fan of non-linear narratives; it’s an ambitious undertaking requiring holding and weaving many threads with exacting purpose.
The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition
by Thenmozhi Soundararajan
The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition by Thenmozhi Soundararajan. This is a very recent edition to my bookshelf, but it’s an essential and urgent read. With tender but unflinching prose, this book not only examines casteism in South Asia, but also how the scourge follows Dalits in North America.
Click here for the Page and Pairing guide to The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff