Interesting build up but falters at the end. The entire story seems a bit disconnected.

3.5

Recommended by my wife, I did not want to risk my life by not picking it up sooner.
I am the kind who judge a book solely by its title and cover, skipping the blurb and reviews. So expectations were low. Also, I don't gel along well with multiple award winning books.

But this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Yes it is a story woven in and around a Sari shop, but the varied layers of human emotions is what makes it special. Like those detailed fine works on a Sari which may not be apparent unless you look closely.

Simple linear plot. A protagonist to warm your heart. Little grim on the sufferings of various people. A book I would recommend.

A very, very strong message was sent forth!
This book is about the limitations of common people's desires, their passions and their resolve to change things. The common man revolts, all of a sudden, to change everything around him that is wrong, only to get himself changed by these things. That is the theme presented in this book. Indeed, it is about a commoner's failures; their inabilities.
This is a book of profound character. Something that will not fail to capture your attention; and it will nag you for days. The idea presented was herculean, the plot and characters are fantastic. This is one of the rare books that will open one's eyes. This is a Zeitgeist.

Ramchand was a common man who works as a shop assistant in Sevak Sari House, a sari shop in Amritsar. His colleagues are Rajesh and Shyam, the eldest and most experienced in the shop; Hari, the youngest; Chander, the bitter-faced, dull senior; Gokul, the only person who somehow matched Ramchand's frequency; and the ever-scolding manager Mahajan. Ramchand lives his life all alone having lost both his parents in a bus accident when he was 8. He had a passion, a desire to study in English-medium schools a desire that his father had deeply rooted in Ramchand's mind when he was alive. After his parents death, he was looked after by his uncle who educated him until he was 15. Then, his uncle died too and he was forced to leave the place and live on his own. He was quite content with his life routine - eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work.
One day, breaking this dull routine, Ramchand was sent to take saris for Kapoor house, one of the most influential and richest houses in Amritsar. They are choosing expensive saris for their revolutionary daughter Rina who would become a novelist later, unlike any marwari these people ever knew. On the day of Rina's marriage, Ramchand only went in curiosity to see the preparations and expensive decorations when he was caught and produced before Rina by the guards. He mumbled to which Rina said that she invited him when he reminded her that he was her sariwala. She said so, in an air of fun, and thus Ramchand gets things to eat which he never would have all his life. A few days later, Rina came to their shop, pretended to be looking for saris, but spoke to Ramchand and went. Later, Rina would use Ramchand as her central character which none will be aware of.
Meanwhile, Chander fails to appear at work. When he was sent to fetch Chander, he sees Chander fully drunk, and his wife Kamla laying inside the house being beaten. The second time he goes to his house, he finds his wife alone, a rum bottle in hand. Though afraid, he sits next to her and asks if he could help. She narrates what happened to her - the injustice that Gupta, another wealthy family, had done to her. That would change him. The few words she spoke, created in him a spark that will forever change his life. He did not what changed him: Kamla's story or the new books he is reading - he had bought some English essay books from a second-hand shop to improve his English, a long forgotten dream, a seed that his father had sowed; this new knowledge forged in him quite a change in his characters. Some days later, the news of Kamla's death comes to his ears. The injustice she faced and the impunity that the perpetrators enjoyed incensed him that he acted like a madman, shouting at everybody, throwing things, beating Mahajan. Thus, he was fired. He badly wanted to change things, to change the ease with which the rich escape laws and the poor get framed. He stays home like a walking dead for 13 days in home, unconscious of his own actions. One day he wakes up finding himself acting insane.
Did his resolve to change things - the economical bias - succeed? What did he do? What was the injustice that Kamla faced? Read on, to know.

سوداوية، كئيبة، خاوية. بها بعض الاوصاف الفريدة والبيئة المثيرة لي شخصياً ولكن..بكلمة واحدة اقول رواية....جوفاء

I remember enjoying this at the time I was reading it. I picked it up while I was in India and it gave me some insight into Indian culture. Thinking back, I don't remember much about the story, so....I don't know if that is good or bad.

قبل كل شيء، علي التحدث عما يزعجني دومًا في الترجمات: مسز، مستر، بيزنس وغيرها من الكلمات التي عجزوا بقدرة قادر على ترجمتها رغم احترافيتهم!

اختياري للرواية مبني على عشقي للخياطة والتطريز وما إلى ذلك، وبالتالي تأملت أشياءً وخرجت بغيرها، مختلفة ولكنها جميلة أيضًا. وكلما وُصِفَ ساري ما بألوانه وزخارفه، طار قلبي يريد السفر إلى الهند للبحث عن الساري الموعود!

الرواية تستحق القراءة، ولا عليكم من حصولها على جائزة أورانج، فمعروف عن هذه الجائزة أنها جائزة نسوية خالصة، قد تفوز بها من تستحق ومن لا تستحق. كحال تلك الجوائز التي يفوز بها كتَّاب لمجرد أنهم ذكروا اليهود في خرافة المحرقة أو أنهم مسالمون للأبد رغم عدم استحقاقهم للجوائز!

الرواية منذ البداية نجدها خفيفة وسلسة، الأفكار رائعة والحوارات كذلك. حسب اختلاف الطبقات الاجتماعية تُشعِر القارئ وكأنها حدثت في الواقع ثم نُقِلَت على الورق لدقة الوصف والتشخيص.

هناك شخصيتَان في الرواية كانتا حتى آخر لحظة لهما حُبِكت بشكل رائع وأحدها زادها عمقها. أبدًا لم تعجبني نهايتهما بعد ذلك للحدث المشترك بينهما. أعلم أن نهايتها كانت منطقية جدًا وقد تكون النهاية الوحيدة المتحققة ولكن وددت لو أن الكاتبة قد رحمتنا قليلًا في إسعادنا بشيء بدل الواقعية، ربما سأقبل بالمبالغات ما دامت لإرضاء مشاعري! أعترف أنني بقيت حانقة على الكاتبة رغم انتهاء الرواية وما زلت!

الترجمة كانت رائعة واحترافية لولا كما ذكرت سابقًا عجزهم عن ترجمة مسز، مستر، بزنس وإلخ من تلك الكلمات والألقاب.

Satire is, at its heart, a stinging critique of the world as the writer sees it. At its best, it cuts through the social conditioning and manners we impose on the world while at its worst offers little more insight than an Englishman, Irishman and a Scotsman joke. It is within this tradition that Bajwa enters with her first novel, examining the social strata within Amristar society from the perspective of its lowly protaganist as he seeks to better the world he is awakening to.

In recent times, Indian literature published overseas has told fantastic tales, exoticising the other at the expense of plot. Bajwa avoids this pitfall, focusing her story on Ramchand's inner life exposing the reader to Indian culture in a natural, non-voyeuristic way, gently opening the cracks that lie below surface of polite society.

More literary than I expected, and in tone clearly influenced by Bengali film, where life sucks until you die, and nothing you can do can change it. The story, told relatively dispassionately, about the clearly naive Ramchand becoming aware of things like class difference, how women think, and the injustices of life and putting himself on a quest to widen his world is absorbing, but the ending didn't really pay off for me. I guess I'd like to think that effort results in something, but clearly the point is that in India, for certain people, it doesn't.

رواية لطيفه مشوقه في بداياتها ولكن بنهاية سيئة مملة>، ولكن لا شك أن الكاتبة وفقت في سرد وتعريف القارئ على الكثير من الاعراف والتقاليد التي يتبناها طبقه معينه من المجتمع الهندي.

3.8

This story 'grew on me.' The first half I would have rated as a 3, but by the end I decided I had enjoyed this short trip to India. For future printings in English, I suggest adding definitions for readers who aren't familiar with the foods or clothing of India. (I waited too long before I started looking up the words and finding images as needed.)

This is a coming-of-age story about a 26-year-old thoughtful young man who, at a fairly young age, had been left to fend for himself. While reading, Camus' The Stranger kept coming to mind. And now I'm wondering if that's a fair comparison. I guess it's time to re-examine Mersault. (But I like Ramchand better.)

A quote from p 64:
Ramchand had also noticed that women rarely, almost never, bought saris alone. They had to be in twos and threes to be able to decide and to derive the maximum pleasure from the process of purchasing a sari. Buying a sari wasn't just buying a sari — it was entertainment, it was pleasure, an aesthetic experience.

Bottom line: The details are different, but human nature is pretty much the same in all cultures.

The was a great book, it felt so real. It was sad to read about the atrocities and inequalities women face, especially in india. I'm so glad I found this book in goodwill though. I like the narration and seeing Ramchand's development throughout the story

The book started well and the story was relatable. The salesman was a very normal person and you could identify with his problems but it became hurried in the middle and the end was very hasty. The story didn’t make any sense.