El vendedor de saris

I liked the writing and the premise of this novel. But, while sad and moving, and sporadically hopeful, it just didn’t go anywhere for me. I kept thinking it would, but it didn’t. The ending just left me wanting more.

Ko voli egzotiku, ko voli indijske pisce ovo je knjiga koju treba pročitati... Za one koji vole recimo Anitu Nair i njen Kupe za dame... :)

رواية جميلة تحاكي المجتمع الهندي بكل أطيافه وطبقاته، رحلة في الألوان والأشكال البديعة للساري ... تأخذنا الروائية الهندية الشابة لأمنيستار وتشرح الشخصية الهندية باختلاف نمط معيشتها من الجوانب كلها ...رغم النهاية البوليوودية إلا أن الرواية بديعة .

The book started a bit slow for me but once I got into flow I thoroughly enjoyed it. It showed the class system, the discrimination and so many subtle things we face, observe her choose to ignore. The practical reality of it all was also reflected very well. Understanding and feeling the injustice while having a burning desire is not enough. When one decides to act on it, the reality bears down and crushes it all. What can one do than just focus on day to day survival in the end after all.

This is a story detailing the lives of those who are morally bogged down and suffer helplessly under the shadow of the malicious. As I have always believed, education cannot make one a better human being, virtue does and this book lives up to this truth. The world has never been a place for the timid and those who are in synchronisation with its shrewd pecularities, live and last.

I feel like I've gone on a journey with these characters but it's not really gone anywhere, an empty journey. The ending was a complete let down. I thought the horrible things that happened might have encouraged the main character to do something, to make things better or change something but no. His English books he was so passionate about stayed dusty on the shelf, he went back to his routine before with nothing changing. He didn't learn anything from his experiences. He didn't DO anything. One of the characters even wrote a book about a gentleman in a Sari shop... but that plot didn't go anywhere, he never found out, I thought he would be told and then go buy the book and it'll be the sixth book on his growing pile of books.... but no!

The only part I liked about the books was that it was written about a different town in a different country that I've not read about. A lot of the language was from that country, nouns written in the original language but I still understood what was going on. I loved that the main character was trying to better himself too (for a part of the story until he gave up!) and that he was passionate and slightly addicted to book buying! :)

I love the novel it is really amazing.it took me to the real India streets and society.
It shows the class difference in India and the comparison between a high class bride abd low class bride. It really touches my heart.
The hero Ramitshand is an example of a hard working person who really wants to improve his lifestyle and reaches the right way that only woth education u can be something!
Everything was just fantastic, the writing style, plot and the sequence of events. It really makes me feel that i should work hard on anything i want and that ot os my choice to become a great person or to stay as i am.
But i didnt like the ending, i was waiting for something to happen with the hero life, i thought that afrer studying hard he will achieve something and improve his situation but he remains the same and in the same sari shop!
I was willing to see the result of his hard working on his life but unfortunately nothing!
So that i gave the novel 4 stars or else the novel is breathtaking

Thank you Ruba for the great time that you gave me❤️

The Sari Shop, by Rupa Bajwa, follows a sari shop employee, Ramchand, and the people he encounters and meets through his position. The sari shop serves as meeting point or confluence of social economic classes, beliefs, and backgrounds. While I enjoyed the setting and aspects of the story, it’s hard to like the book given the ending.

I enjoyed the setting in Amritsar, the throngs of people, images, smells, sounds that pervade the book. I really loved the character of the sari shop, the interaction of the employees, their boss, and the customers that come and go. I liked that the sari shop allowed individuals to meet and interact that wouldn’t normally otherwise. I liked Ramchand’s journey of self-improvement and his struggle to understand the world.

I have two critiques about the novel – the structure and the ending. First, I found it interesting, but a little weird, that the novel wants to have Ramchand be the main character with a third person limited perspective, but periodically jumps to other characters that are tangentially connected to the sari shop. I like these jumps, but they are scattered, and it isn’t something the novel leans into. Having the second chapter open with the perspective of two wealthy Indian matriarchs and then switching back to Ramchand set an expectation that the book would do more of that … but it didn’t. Not until part two, where we get several chapters diving into the story of Kamla. We also get fragments with several other viewpoints too in the second section. I wish the novel had either left us grounded in Ramchand’s perspective, or was more open to exploring the other characters of the sari shop. I know that second avenue would have radically changed the novel and likely minimized Ramchand as a character. However, I feel like the book could have been more ambitious with these other perspectives.

The second critique is the ending.  What a bleak ending. And what a bleak message. Over the book, we see Ramchand shake himself out of his stupor/listlessness/depression, start making changes to his life, and actually begin to grow. Even though he’s 26, with such a stilted upbringing and having no family or parental figures, the novel is a coming-of-age story for him. The challenge is Ramchand learns about the atrocities and injustices in the city and in the lives of the people around him, wants to confront, but doesn’t know how to meaningful do that. He lashes out, withdraws in depression, and then slinks back and reverts to his original state of being at the beginning of the novel. It’s a frustrating ending, and I wonder what the book is trying to present to the reader. Yes, I am outraged and upset and the inhumane treatment of Kamla, and truth be told, I don’t know how to change or alter a culture that treats women like this. Perhaps Ramchand’s acceptance and reversion is understandable because there isn’t a clear answer, let alone an answer that can be pursued by a poorly educated sari shop attendant. But is that where a novel should leave the reader? Outraged and hopeless? I can’t imagine that should be what the book is arguing.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami also has a similar challenging ending. But that ending was filled with a poignant choice made by the main character. Sure, I disagreed with the choice. The choice made was active though, progressed towards and goal, and had meaning. Here, Ramchand just … gives up. I wish that I could have a takeaway beyond “this is awful and there’s nothing we can do to change it.”

Overall, while the setting was vibrant and intriguing with a intriguing cast of characters, I was a bit perplexed by interweaving of the viewpoints of the novel, and the ending left much to be desired. It was nice to finally finish a book that had been on my bookshelf to read pile for 13 years.