The definitive 1971 novel, Books and Documents, NewAgeIslam.com

Books and Documents

The definitive 1971 novel

Book Review

By Khademul Islam

There is a second point to be noted about the book. The very subject matter of her novel sets Tahmima Anam apart from other English-language writers of Bangladeshi origin such Adib Khan or Monica Ali. While the latter's works tend to be about the Bangladeshi diaspora (to use that ungainly term) and its attendant immigrant life and/or sensibilities, Tahmima's novel, in contrast, by being set in Dhaka, and to some extent in Calcutta, peopled entirely with a local set of characters, by closely spanning the war-torn months of 1971, with each chapter corresponding to a month or several months of that year in the lives of its characters, lays claim to be fully a Bangladeshi novel, to be about life here. It is a book which tells the story of Bangladesh, its people and the terrible year of its birth from the inside. That, combined with the high quality of its writing, makes the novel a milestone in the field of English-language fiction by Bangladeshis. The novel has been favourably reviewed in British newspapers, which have hailed the author as a 'voice of real eloquence' and 'major new talent.'

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