Debalina Halder

Absolutely terrible. This was badly written, with stilted dialogue, and although I have the feeling we’re supposed to be sympathetic to the narrator she just comes across as being in need of a hard slap. The story deals with important themes like justice and bullying and has the potential to be so very deep and interesting, and instead it’s endless whingeing about how unfair life is. No one’s learned anything by the end of the story – and don’t even get me started on the ridiculous and irrelevant ‘love interest.’ Painful.… (meer)

I thought this was going to be a book about a woman falsely excused of a crime and her experience with a corrupt justice system. This is not that book.

Dishari goes to a university where ragging/hazing is a massive issue between first year students and the higher classes. Dishari was badly ragged; she was routinely publicly humiliated and criticized. She promised herself that she wouldn’t be the same. While she wasn’t as bad, she was horrible to one girl because of her weight. She even criticized her male friend that dated this girl. The girl who attempted suicide was Dishari’s roommate. She was definitely social awkward, but Dishari constantly belittled her but insisted she was helping the roommate. She may not have ragged like she was ragged, but she was still a bully.

After the attempted suicide of Dishari’s roommate, she and two others are charged with various crimes and spend three weeks in jail waiting for various hearings. This would have been an amazing point to explore injustices and corruption in the system. One woman will never leave jail because she can’t afford a lawyer. There is a four year old girl in jail because her mother was charged with a crime. The conditions in the jail were inhumane.

But that’s not the book I read. I read several dozen pages of Dishari complaining about how much better she is than her fellow inmates. For a few of the women, I got the sense that Dishari thought they deserved the treatment because they are poor.

There are several cultural things that may not translate well to American audiences. Dishari becomes interested in a boy. They tell each other “I love you”, and then they go on their first date. A year later, they have their first kiss. I know in some cultures and religions, kissing is treated the same as sex – you wait. But is declaring your love before a first date that common?

Another thing I need to mention is the writing, especially the dialogue. It seemed very awkward and formal. Possibly issues with translation?

This book was frustrating and disappointing.… (meer)

This is the story of three female college students in India that have been wrongly accused of ragging other students and are sent to jail. If the novel is indeed based on real events, as claimed by the author, then it's a very sad and discouraging account of the injustices and violations of basic human rights that are still perpetrated in 21st century India.

Sadly, it is doubtful whether this novel will do much to change the situation. Especially since it is rather badly written and fails to convey much emotion about the events. The naïvety with which the narrator relates her story is staggering and also undermines the seriousness of the matter.

In a nutshell: important, powerful subject but weakly told.… (meer)