Procure Karma Translated By Cathy Ostlere Print

fiction written as narrative poetry, Definitely a first for me, but wow, This book is compelling and rich, In both a historical and personal context, this book touches on so much of the beauty and heartbreak of India.
The story of Maya Jiva and Sandeep is a love story, It's a drama. It's a comedy. It's a tragedy. It is clear that Cathy Ostlere has spent in India, and the way that she captures her experiences through her characters is very real.
A strong recommendation for everybody and especially if you have spent are or planning to spend any time in India.
A bright pink cover kept catching my eye whenever I'd be in the library at work, and eventually I went over, picked it up, and discovered Karma.


Even as an English Ed major, I've never had a strong love for reading poetry for a variety of reasons with some exceptions, so I've typically avoided books written in verse.
I think I automatically assume that I'm going

to have to decipher a bunch of figurative language and other stuff I don't really need to mess with in the same manner when reading a novel.
But, I flipped through the book and it seemed to merely have the structure of poetry and not much beyond that, so I gave it a shot, and I'm so glad that I did.


The characters were beautiful, round, real the emotions raw, believable, and touching, The settings were described simply, and yet they stood out in my head vividly,

I learned quite a bit about a culture I did not and honestly still don't know a lot about, and I was fascinated by these characters and their lives.
It is a love story, but at the same time, it's so much more than that, It's a glimpse into normal lives disrupted by civil unrest and the clashing of cultures that aren't really all that different when you truly look at them.
I haven't read a novel told in verse for so long, this came as a pleasant surprise, not what I expected but I'm enjoying it so far.
I imagine Dev Patel as Sandeep and Freida Pinto as Maya,

Māyā means illusion or more accurately a delusion, Though given two names as a daughter for two parents from different religions, she always favored the name her Hindu mother has given her "Maya".
Her Sikh name given by her father is "Jiva" which means soul,

Maya is a Canadian, with an Indian family, a Hindu mother who commits suicide because she misses India and a father who plucks her from all that is a familiar and thrusts her into awar between Sikh and Hindus where she is orphaned and lost.


Sandeep is a desert boy, the moment he sees the silent sad Maya knows that she is his mirage.


The story is filled with love, hate, hope, despair, courage and weakness, grief and happiness, But the ending is bittersweet yet filled with hope,

REVIEW FOR KARMA BY CATHY OSTLERE

Cathy Ostlere brings to life a moving and rich post World War II novel about a girl named Jiva who must struggle to find her father in the religiously divided country of India.
Throughout the book, elements of romance, historical fiction, and a comingofage story are all woven into this novel that tells its tale through angelic and detailed prose.
Jiva, who's name means 'life', has always been different, even in her home country of India, where her ancestors are derived from.
For one thing, her mother is Hindu, and her father is Sikhreligions that continuously battle each other for supremacy in the Asian country.
And even though Jiva is Indian, her family leads a life in Canada so as to avoid the religious turmoil in her parents' homes.
When one day Jiva discovers her mother's body after commiting suicide, her father decides that they must go back to India to lay her mother's ashes to rest.
Jiva's journey thoughout this dramatic and intricate story leads to disaster, hope, and renewal, You will find yourself drawn into the magnificent world that is Jiva's, and urge yourself to read until you are finished and satisfied with Jiva's outcome.
Though confusing with countless flashblacks and time lapses, Karma is a book that will weave you through a journey that moves and swells with emotion and philosophy.
It seems like all of young adult literature is being written in verse nowadays, This is, at least, the fifth book I've read this month written in verse, yet "Karma" is by far the best of the lot.
Set against the backdrop of the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the riots between the Sikhs amp Hindus that followed, "Karma" tells the story of Jiva/Maya, a CanadianIndian girl forced to return to India with her father after the death of her mother.
Both lyrical, haunting and romantic many times all together, Maya's story is one that can't easily be forgotten,

When I looked at the hot pink cover of the two faces intertwined about to kiss, I almost broke my eyes from serious eyerolling.
Yet, this is a case where you can't judge a book by its cover, Cathy Ostlere has crafted one of the best books written for teens this year, Tween/teen girls will devour this epic story in a relatively short amount of time,

A definite Printz contender Reading Level: Grades

The year is, Fifteen year old Maya packs a suitcase for a trip to India with her father, They are going to lay Maya's recently deceased Hindu mother to rest, Not long after they arrive, however, tumultuous religious differences between the Sikhs and Hindus explode into violence when prime minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated.


Maya and her father, a Sikh, are caught in the middle of the clash and separated when their hotel is attacked.
Afraid for her safety because of her HinduSikh parents and her sex, Maya quickly hacks off her long ponytail with a pair of scissors and runs, forgetting her mother's ashes in the hotel room.


The next hours are harrowing for Maya as the riots swell around her, Sikhs and Hindus fighting unrelentingly around her.
When she finally emerges from the violence, rescued by a kind desert family but traumatized into muteness, it is only theyear old son, Sandeep, devoted to helping Maya find her father, that can save her again.


This historical fiction romance in diaryformat free verse will have you turning pages back again and again to reread Maya and Sandeep's words and longing for more after the end.
Karma is fraught with emotion, culture, violence, religion fear, but most importantly, family,




Other novels you might like:

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth

For older readers:

Sold by Patricia McCormick




sitelinkFor more book reviews from the HPPL Youth Department, click here.
Verse novel, young adult, culture, historical fiction

I enjoy learning about countries and cultures through fiction.
I am interested in finding out more about the author, Ostlere, Is she from Indian background and what kind of research did she complete to write this novel Set inwhen India's prime minister is killed and religious genocides occur.


Maya, fifteen years old, is growing up in Canada where her parents immigrated to from India, Her father is Sikh and her mother is Hinducompletely different religious beliefs, Her mother longs to return to Canada but her father won't hear of it, Sadly her mother finally returns in an urn, When Maya and her father arrive in India Maya's first visit a cultural war has begun where thousands of Sikh people are murdered.
Maya loses her father in the uprising and ends up at a refuge for widows, A woman doctor helps her by sending her to her family to heal where she meets a young man named Sandeep.
The community believe Maya is a witch that will bring much harm to them, Thus begins a journey in the desert to find a new place for Maya,

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it I wonder about the verse, Sometimes I thought it was forced, The sentences seemed to be formatted into poetry but might have been better in a journal/diary format since that was what the characters were writing.
I actually preferred when the story was invoice poems and wish Ostlere had used more of this format.

I loved this novel, At first, I was a little wary for the "in verse" part wasn't quite a Geetabook, However, after reading the first few pages I was hooked, This is a story about a massacre that took place nearlyyears ago in India, After Indira Gandhi's death, there was turmoil in India and thousands died, In the midst of all this was a young CanadianIndian, Maya, who can't find her father and becomes lost in this unknown land.
Along comes Sandeep and they fall in love, What made this story so wonderful is because it was in verse, I loved Ostlere's writing style and that I could relate to some of Maya's feelings, This book stole my heart and some of my tears, and I could not believe how much I enjoyed it despite taking a chance with it.
This is a mustread for all who enjoy Indian culture, I hope you all do read it for it will make an impact, No understatement here to state that I loved this book, What a joy it was to read this very unique, interesting, heartrending, and heartwarming story, It's a very interesting book, The emotions, characters, and plot are all very unique and interesting, This book is written in verse, something I'm unsure of, One POV, Maya, had some very interesting poems, The ones that were the most interesting were those that were call and effect across the page, However in Maya's POV their were a few chapters that were basically sentence that were awkwardly entered, and not so pretty.
The other POV, Sandeep, had no flowery poetry, This was also written in verse, but I think this would have faired better if this was paragraphs, in turn letting Maya's POV being a little bit more flowery.
The actual plot was interesting and very well told, This book taught me a lot about cultures in India, Also I feel that some people feel that because people are of a different skin colour etc, that they are different.
This book shows that they're exactly the same as us, That they have the same hopes, desires, This book also shed light on historical events in India that I had no idea that they occurred, This book is an excellent read, Karma is defined as action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in reincarnation.
This is the main theme woven throughout this novel, The main part of this story takes place during the riots that broke out after Indria Gahndi is gunned down in.
Maya is the main character in this novel, She writes down the unfolding of these horrific events in her diary, The riots are between the Hindus and Sikh, The turmoil between these two religious groups results in bloodshed and senseless killings, The background controversy in this story is significant because it's also an internal conflict raging inside Maya, Her father is Hindu and her mother is Sikh, Her parents love each other but cannot escape their difference in beliefs, Maya feels torn between them, She doesn't quite fit in anywhere, Maya's character is very interesting, She starts out as an average teenage girl, Maya's world is thrown into turmoil and she must overcome heart wrenching obstacles to find her way, Her journey into India is one of self discovery and forgiveness, Maya has to choose her path or it will be chosen for her, When Maya looses her voice her story is told through the eyes of Sandeep, Sandeep watches over Maya as a favor to his sister, He is intrigued and enthralled by Maya, His sister thinks that Sandeep can be the one person who can lure Maya from her internal prison, In a way Sandeep and Maya's stories are similar, They are both trying to find out where they belong, I liked Sandeep's character a lot, He's is funny and charming, I really enjoyed reading about him,
Overall I thought this story was fantastic, Even though this book is overpages it's very fast paced, It only took me a few days to read it, Cathy Ostlere did a great job with this novel, I experienced a lot of emotions while reading Kharma, It's funny how a few words can say so much sometimes, This novel is written in beautifully constructed verse, It is a must read, It's a good thing that I didn't realize this was a "novel in verse" until I brought the book home from the library, because then I almost certainly would have passed it over, convinced that a book with a title like "Karma," a Bollywoodish cover, and the additional supposed gimmick of being a giant poem was bound to be awful.


And it could have been, but it wasn't.

What saves this book is everything contained within the covers the writing, the story, the characters, and the alternating POVs.


The writing: beautiful, with every word chosen with such deliberate care, Each page is a separate poem for the most part, yet they read like minichapters, As I was reading I wondered if the effect would have been the same if Ostlere had simply written it as a novel.
. . and thank goodness she didn't, because this end result is truly exquisite,

The story: engaging on all levels, with conflict coming from many directions, the most urgent being the Hindu and Sikh riots which erupted after Indira Gandhi was assassinated.
You don't need to know too much about this event or about Indian religion or culture in general because the author does such a wonderful job of outlining it all for you.


The characters and POV: The story revolves around Maya/Jiva, who becomes lost in the city during the riots and loses her voice after a traumatic experience and Sandeep, the boy who becomes her caretaker and “voice” as Maya works through her trauma.
The POV shifts between the two are necessary to keep the book from becoming too melancholy on Mayas side and too irreverent on Sandeeps, but the balance struck by both really flesh out the story and bring both humanity and humor in explaining a series of events that stained Indias history.


I found this book on NPR's list of Teen/YA picks, but I think pigeonholing this gem as such would be an injustice.
In fact, if I ever teach literature again, I would definitely add this to my students reading list, Its impossible to finish this book and NOT want to talk about it, .