is the best word I can use to describe this book, Sidhwa paints a vivid picture of the role of women in this time period, I rooted for the characters, even though I knew going in the book would be heartbreaking, Sidhwa writes such life into them, you can't not wish everything would turn out all right, It was a bit hard to read knowing that while some of the practices have died out, mistreatment of women remains nearlyyears later, A heart wrenching novel voicing the unvoiceds, the unheards, the victims of RELIGION and society, Shows how oppressed we are in the hands of society and religion, That we don't have the right to decide the very basic decisions of life even, Must read existentialism, before reading this novel, Encontré este libro en la biblioteca de mi jefa y no pude resistirme, “me lo llevo para el fin de semana, el lunes te lo devuelvo”.
Pues aquí estoy, sábado por la mañana y ya lo he terminado,
Es un libro duro pero precioso, cuenta la historia de una niña viuda de la India, Sinceramente, sabía de niñas que mueren en la noche de bodas, pero no sabía que una viuda tenía que quedar recluida de por vida, aunque ni siquiera hubiera llegado a conocer al hombre con el que la obligaron a casarse.
Está muy bien escrito y se le rápidamente, he conocido ciertos aspectos de los “templos” que no podía ni imaginar, Menos mal que muchas personas han luchado por cambiar un poco las cosas, pero sé que queda mucho por hacer, Los personajes son muy nítidos y la trama bien construida, Me gustaría saber más de Chuyia, de su futuro, si ha tenido hijos, . . pero luego recuerdo que no es real,
Cuando las tradiciones hacen daño a niñas deaños, algo no se está haciendo bien,
Un libro que merece la pena ser leído y más conocido, sitelinkWater is the third film in Deepa Mehta's trilogy of socially relevant historical films, the others being sitelinkFire and sitelinkEarth.
The book was commissioned as a complement to the film to be released at the same time, Mehta had already adapted Sidhwa's The Ice Candy Man into a film, so the choice of author for novelising the film seemed obvious.
Water tells the story of Chuyiya, a young girl who is married off at the age of six and becomes a widow at eight.
Abandoned by both her birth and her marital families, Chuyiya is thrown into an ashram to while away her life in colourless gloom, But India is on the cusp of independence and things are changing, Not everyone is hidebound in filthy traditions, but the emancipation comes too late for some,
Religion is generally shit, and Hinduism is rather shittier than others in its treatment of women, A woman's only role is to procreate and serve her husband's family, according to scriptures, She does not even have the right to worship and perform rituals, Widows lose this purpose and became complete outcasts in society, Even if not abandoned, they were considered inauspicious and kept away from normal life, Even today, this practice continues and I see it in a mild form around me all the time, Weddings and other functions bring out this nastiness in full force in extremely insidious ways, Anybody who says so otherwise is only fooling themselves,
Having seen the film and liked it, I found the novel lacking, It is basically a copy of the film script into novelised form and that is not very interesting, Whereas a film can give you a lot of information in a few scenes, the same needs to be depicted differently in a novel to give the same impact.
This was not done by Sidhwa, She also had the option of developing on some of the characters and making up for the flaws of the film but she did not do that either.
She stuck faithfully to the story and ultimately did not add anything to the discussion,
I also found the research lacking, In one instance, someone informs a character that a law has been passed allowing remarriage of widows, which prompts the climax of the book, But the Hindu Widows Remarriage Act was passed inby Lord Dalhousie, exactlyyears before the events of the story, set in, Gandhi was not even born when it occurred!
I really recommend watching the film instead of reading this book, Also, I highly recommend indeed, I insist on it if you want more knowledge on this subject Deepa Mehta's brother, Dilip Mehta's documentary on the same subject: sitelinkThe Forgotten Woman.
It's a more modern look at widows in India still undergoing the same shit!, Based on the script. Terribly written. The movie is in subtitles which qualifies it as a book, Read the movie instead. Amazing book. She rips your heart out with the book in such a way that you enjoy it,
It's beautifully written, despite the fact that it's based on a movie, and not the other way round,
Beautiful book. I'd highly recommend it
Water by Bapsi Sidh is based on a film with the same name, It is set in, before the partition of Subcontinent when India was under British rule, It is centered around the lives of Hindu widows living their miserable lives in an ashram after being abandoned by their families,
Story: Chuyia, anyear old widow, is left at an ashram where she meets other widows, She's a kid amp acts like one which isn't much appreciated there,
The story is touching, It is sad, at points heart wrenching, It stirs one's emotions, making one feel miserable, helpless, angry, frustrated and sometimes hopeful amp happy, Although the book talks about some quite unfortunate incidents, I still found it beautiful,
The writing is soothing and delicate, Even though it has controversial topics, it doesn't seem harsh,
The characters aren't really fleshed out, maybe because the book is based on a movie, It kinda felt like a movie, with not much details, just the necessary 'scenes', I believe it could've been better, The author could've added some depth to the characters amp to the story to make it seem like a novel, It didn't seem like one, The interaction between the characters was still good,
One problem: It is said in the book that 'recently'law had started to allow widows to remarry, while the widow remarriage act was passed in! It might've been intentional, to show how backwards the area was, and how such information was concealed from them for such a long time.
I think it was really close to reality and I personally learned a lot about the religion, that I didn't know already maybe because I've never watched Indian drama serials.
I do think things are changing, have changed quite a bit since that time hopefully amp this book isn't the reflection of what Subcontinent exactly is right now but of what it once was.
I recommend it but make sure you check all the trigger warnings before picking it up, You might find it pretty disturbing, These are some of the last words Chuyia hears from anyone familiar to her, as her condition abandons her in an ashram for Hindu widows to spend the rest of her life in renunciation.
Chuyia, failing to realize her condition upon arrival, enters the ashram innocent and naive, as the elderly widows surround her and one proceeds shave her soft head.
Watching Chuyia begin to understand her circumstance as she terrifyingly runs for escape screaming for her family, one can only feel a tragic catharsis watching an eight year old being sentenced to life in prison for a “crime” she did not commit.
The ideas and criticisms that come to ones mind are undoubtedly what writer and director, Deepa Mehta, aimed to evoke injustice, patriarchy, and oppression by way of religion.
"Unwilling to accept her fate, Chuyia becomes a catalyst for change in the lives of the widows, When her friend, the beautiful widowprostitute Kalyani, falls in love with a young, upperclass Gandhian idealist, the forbidden affair boldly defies Hindu tradition and threatens to undermine the delicate balance of power within the ashram.
" Water offers an examination of the lives of widows in colonial India, but ultimately it is a haunting and lyrical story of love, faith and redemption.
Do you remember getting married Your husband is dead, Youre a widow now. ”
Water is an excellent book and is worth reading, I highly recommend it. You can also watch the movie which is wonderfully done,
She ceased to exist as a person she was no longer daughter or daughterinlaw,
While I initially gave this book four, I'm bumping it up to five,
Why, you ask Because I can but also because I had time to sit on my thoughts for a couple of days and because this book tells a stunning tale of how widows were treated in India in thes.
I don't know much about the practice in this day and age but widows back then did not have much of a place in the society once their husbands died.
The widows were sent away to an ashram, where they had their heads shaved, dressed completely in white unstitched clothes, led a life of selfdenial which included eating no fried foods including sweets.
In this setup, we findyearold Chuyia, a child bride who becomes a child widow after the demise of her husband,
The reason I initially gave this book four was because it's not a perfect book, The character of Narayan was very underdeveloped and his storyline wasn't as fleshed out as the women in the book, This book is unique because it's based on the movie Sidhwa was given three months to finish the novel to coincide the release of the book with the movie, since the controversial movie faced backlash in India.
Because of the timecrunch, I can't fault Sidhwa for the shortcomings of the book, Working with the script might have tied her hands a little bit, which is why this book is not as developed in some parts as it is in others.
While watching the movie, I felt a little bit underwhelmed by it because Sidhwa draws such a vivid picture of the time, the treatment of the widows at the hands of men, and at the hands of the other women.
The patriarchal setup is suffocating but so brilliantly executed that you really can't stop reading the book,
Sidhwa has explored religion and its interpretations well, and she has shown us female bonding in this book, The movie is great too, but I feel like the book has more of an impact on me, "She ceased to exist as a person she was no longer either daughter or daughterinlaw, "
" . a widow's head is shaved, her ornaments removed, and she is expected to remain in perpetual morning, She is to observe fasts, give up eating 'hot' foods in order to cool her sexual energy, avoid auspicious occasions because she is considered inauspicious for having caused her husband's death, and to remain celibate, devout and loyal to her husband's memory.
"
This is my first book by an Indian author and I loved it, However, this is a heartbreaking story, Bapsi managed to give readers glimpses of the Brahmin religious views and how widows, and even women, were in some places still are unjustly treated in India unworthy of anything humane.
Forcing a young child into marriage often to men who are old enough to be her grandfather, belittling her worth and purpose in life to simply satisfying the needs of her husband and reproducing sons, denouncing her as family or even human for that matter and ostracising her
when her husband dies, deeming her unworthy of love and viewed as cursed, and blaming her for being such bad luck and for causing the death of her husband as a result.
On the other hand, widowers are free to live their life with respect and are not at all responsible for the death of their wives.
Reading this book made me feel sad and angry at the same time, Nothing can prepare the reader for the heartwrenching beauty of Sidhwa's rendition of Deepa Mehta's film masterpiece, Water, From the opening image of a young Indian girl's life of abject poverty and arranged childmarriage to the impossible hope of her saviors' bravery, Sidhwa is true to Mehta's depiction of the sweep of sixyear old Chuyia's terrible life.
Sidhwa details the turbulent lives of widows incolonial India, who, historically shunned by society, are too often forced to live lives of prostitution by unscrupulous temple priests.
The reader, unable to turn away, follows Chuyia's desperate tale of widowhood and orphaning, Sidhwa relays Mehta's powerful story of righteous friendship and honor, as Chuyia's sure degradation hangs in the balance,
This novel is fantastic, . . but the story is tragically sad, It tells the story of widows in Brahmin culture, and about Chuyia who is married to a middleaged man at the age of six, is a widow at eight and then abandoned at an ashram for widows, where she would live the rest of her life in poverty, atoning for death of the husband she never knew.
It is a cruel existence that is magnificently described by Bapsi Sidhwa, with moments of beauty and hope within the painful story, It is an exceptional book far better than the movie, Recommended. An amazing novel written by Bapsi Sidhwa! This books is basically a film script turned into a novel, It's about the young widows and customs surrounding them in India, This book is based on Deepa Mehtas movie with the same name, Quite contrary to the fashion, book was written after the film, Film was a success as it was nominated for most of the categories in Foreign Films of Canada and won them too, Already a huge success, writing this book must be a huge challenge for Bapsi Sidhwa, In my opinion, she didnt do justice to the story telling, For a script of a film, this narration can do but for a book writing, it lacks a lot of elements,
Despite of having a great story in hand in which she could have added a lot of background Chuiyas story could have many details.
This shows a lazy writing, This was just an example the author has skipped detailing at many places in the book,
Language was quite simple no complex sentences were used throughout the text, The flow of the book could be twisted and not be a straight forward one, She didnt take any liberty to twist or play about any character, For example, the love of Kalyani and Narayan was impromptu, It could have built up in a slow and better way,
Overall, this story had a lot of potential and could have been delivered better by Ms, Sidhwa. .