Bapsi SidhwaThe Pakistani Bride: A Novel

a very beautifully written book which describes the state of women in eastern countries. all has been said about on how it portrays pakistan in a bad light and women have all the freedom there. but i would love to see some intellectual souls seeing he book as a piece of literature.here is a quote from the book: a beautifully written passage"A knot of dancing, laughing children had circled an almost limbless beggar. Every time he succeeded in sitting upright the children playfully knocked him over. The men in the bazaar picked their teeth laughed indulgently. She had noticed this cruel habit of jeering at deformities before, and sick to her stomach wanted to scream at the men to stop the children. ‘They’ll wonder why you are fussing,’ Farukh had said, laughing himself, ‘They won’t see your point of view at all, dear – every nation has its own outlet for cruelty.’ Perhaps he was right. In preventing natural outlets for cruelty the developed countries had turned hypocritical and the repressed heat had exploded in nuclear mushrooms. They did not laugh at deformities: they manufactured them."words like "angrez", "put puttering", "zennanah" only add to a whiff of eastern scent to the story.it also well describes the state of women all over the world which will call for your empathy towards women.Carol meanwhile lay in her room, staring into the dark. ‘. . . asked for it,’ isn’t that what Farukh had said?Women the world over, through the ages, asked to be murdered, raped, exploited, enslaved, to get importunately impregnated, beaten-up, bullied and disinherited. It was an immutable law of nature.even thought the story is a little slow paced and involves too many characters, they are well designed to fit the bill. i absolutely loved the book. shall definitely read more books by the author.leaving you with a beautiful stanza by iqbal, which again is mentioned in the book." Khudi ko kar buland itna, Heighten your ‘khudi’ to such majesty, ke har takdeer say pahaylay that before every turn of fate Khuda banday say khud poochay, God himself asks man – ‘Buta teri raza kya hai?’ ‘Tell me, what do you wish?’"

The story is about a child, Zaitoon, who is brutally torn apart from her parents on the eve of India-Pakistan independence and the aftermath of the bloody communal riots that followed. A tribal man, Qasim, who is also fleeing the riots rescues her and takes her with him to Pakistan and raises her as his own daughter. The first part of the book deals with Zaitoon's growing up years in Lahore under the benign care of friendly neighbours and a foster parent who yearns to go back to his roots in the savage lands of Kohistan. The second part of the book deals with the after-effects of Qasim's decision to marry off Zaitoon to a fellow-tribal's nephew.Bapsi Sidhwa takes you on an unforgettable journey into the tribal areas of Pakistan and leaves you with a range of emotions: awe at the majestic mountains, shock at the primeval conditions, fear for the protagonist and her piteous situation, and anguish at the brutality that women have to face on a day to day basis. A riveting read.

I liked this book, but the whole "Pakistani bride" part of it only consists of the last one-third of the book. The first two-thirds is backstory, which was not unenjoyable. I really failed to see how the American woman's presence enhanced the plot, and I felt the writing to be clunky at times. However, I enjoyed the actual Pakistani bride part of the book, and found the information about the Pakistani tribals interesting.

Bapsi Sidhwa is an extraordinary writer. She seems to capture the essence of culture and tradition within Pakistan.The characters are well formed and the author follows this journey quite well with a mesh of "why" for the unanswered cultural questions.This is a part of the world that evokes great ambivalence for me the reader, because I want to criticize the abuse of women and can't seem to understand why they don't run away. Sidhwa anticipates this feeling and tries to resolve it in her novel.

I found this book slow to start, but it picked up nicely after. Considering it was the author's first book, it was quite good. I wasn't fond of the ending, but, that is personal preferance. I liked it better as I went along.

This book was well written and I could not put it down, once I started reading it. It's a tragic story of a young girl who uses her wit and determination to escape from her brutal husband and his sadistic family. It makes one question a culture which allows such heinous acts toward women and young girls, and our helplessness against abuse against women all over the world.

This was a quick and exciting read. The characters are full of life and the landscape of the country/city is described in exquisite detail.

Great book, riveting story. A great way to see deep into the lives of women in Pakistan. Also, much more understanding of what happens when westerners attempt to ignore local beliefs.

Brilliant writer - Cant fault her! Amazing story loosely based on a true story