A Burning: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK! • A "gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary" (USA Today) about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise—to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies—and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India.
Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely—an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humor—has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear.
Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning is an electrifying debut.
Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely—an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humor—has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear.
Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning is an electrifying debut.
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A Burning by Megha Majumdar
288 pages
What’s it about?
Three lives intersect in present day India when a terrorist group bombs a train. The bombing sets off a series of events. Jivan is a young Muslim woman accused of helping the terrorists after she carelessly posts a flippant comment on Facebook. PT Sir is her old teacher, who in the aftermath of the attacks finds himself immersed in a right wing political party. And finally, Lovely is an aspiring actress who might finally be realizing all her dreams. The public wants someone to pay and Jivan is chosen by the authorities as that someone. Will Lovely and PT Sir take a stand or will they use this situation to further their own ambitions. This novel goes back and forth between the characters to give us a unique perspective on India.
What did it make me think about?
India- complicated problems and I am sure complicated solutions.
Should I read it?
This was a quick page-turner with an interesting plot and plenty to think about. What would we choose if the direction of our lives would be forever changed?
Quote-
"I admired these strangers on Facebook who said anything they wanted to. They were not afraid of making jokes. Whether it was about the police or the ministers, they had their fun, wasn't that freedom?"
If you liked this try-
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A Burning by Megha Majumdar
288 pages
What’s it about?
Three lives intersect in present day India when a terrorist group bombs a train. The bombing sets off a series of events. Jivan is a young Muslim woman accused of helping the terrorists after she carelessly posts a flippant comment on Facebook. PT Sir is her old teacher, who in the aftermath of the attacks finds himself immersed in a right wing political party. And finally, Lovely is an aspiring actress who might finally be realizing all her dreams. The public wants someone to pay and Jivan is chosen by the authorities as that someone. Will Lovely and PT Sir take a stand or will they use this situation to further their own ambitions. This novel goes back and forth between the characters to give us a unique perspective on India.
What did it make me think about?
India- complicated problems and I am sure complicated solutions.
Should I read it?
This was a quick page-turner with an interesting plot and plenty to think about. What would we choose if the direction of our lives would be forever changed?
Quote-
"I admired these strangers on Facebook who said anything they wanted to. They were not afraid of making jokes. Whether it was about the police or the ministers, they had their fun, wasn't that freedom?"
If you liked this try-
And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach
First all, this book took me forever to read and I was even skimming. I don't remember where I heard about this book but I was hoping it would be so much better. The writing was choppy and disconnected. I never felt like I really got to know any of the characters. I felt indifferent to all of them. The story has 3 main characters who are all seeking something. Jivan, is a Muslim girl living in the slums hoping to rise to the middle class. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who is seeking political aspirations to a right wing political group. And there is Lovely, an outcast who is seeking fame in the movies. PT taught Jivan while she was a student at a girls' school and Jivan was teaching Lovely English so she could better herself for her acting roles. Each of these characters is a narrator and the story follows their lives. A train is lit on fire at a train station nears Jivan's slum. When Jivan posts some off handed comments about it on Facebook, she gathers the attention of Indian authorities and is rushed off to prison.
The novel is fast-paced and thought-provoking, which I appreciate. I especially enjoyed the voice of Lovely and reading from her perspective.
The character development isn't very deep, so even though they were distinct and I connected with them, I didn't feel strong empathy. This was especially true for Jivan; her thoughts/feelings weren't as clear as for Lovely and PT Sir.
The novel does still ask the reader to consider some complex issues like patriotism, politics, the justice system, loyalty, and self-interest -- not just in India but across countries and cultures.
The character development isn't very deep, so even though they were distinct and I connected with them, I didn't feel strong empathy. This was especially true for Jivan; her thoughts/feelings weren't as clear as for Lovely and PT Sir.
The novel does still ask the reader to consider some complex issues like patriotism, politics, the justice system, loyalty, and self-interest -- not just in India but across countries and cultures.
Megha Majumdar’s “A Burning” is a contemporary story following three people that are tied together by a shared past. That common connection is rushed into the present and placed under a bright spotlight by a tragic event. The character arcs, plot, and through lines weave masterfully together and play out against the backdrop of a changing India. A country trying to balance all of the social and economic challenges across its broad landscape and simultaneously create a coherence around a single national identity.
What Majmudar shows us is that, on the ground level, individual lives are so pressed for survival that they don’t have time to see their shared suffering. As a result, there are no real happy endings here. Majmudar’s greatest skill is her ability to pull the reader deep into each scene. She employs just the right details to place you right smack in the middle of the heat, noise, filth, scents, and sounds of the lives of our characters. The dialogue is punchy and underscores the culture and the various dynamics between the castes. It reads like an experiential journey through the crushing weight of over a billion people trying to chase one dream. That experience shattered routinely by violence; horrible acts flamed by the tensions that destroy the innocent and guilty alike.
The story stresses you in every way. Our characters are all pawns in a larger game played by others. All of them chasing after any semblance of agency over their seemingly predetermined fate. Each has to make moral compromises to find any path forward. All of this highlights that where there is no real concept and application of justice, there will be no recognition of individual humanity. In its place the novel reminds us that no good deed goes unpunished. Indeed, the best line in the book comes near the end when we are reminded that “Only one of us can be truly free.”
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