Set in India's Old Delhi, CLEAR LIGHT OF DAY is Anita Desai's tender, warm, and compassionate novel about family scars, the ability to forgive and forget, and the trials and tribulations of familial love. At the novel's heart are the moving relationships between the members of the Das family, who have grown apart from each other. Bimla is a dissatisfied but ambitious teacher at a women's college who lives in her childhood home, where she cares for her mentally challenged brother, Baba. Tara is her younger, unambitious, estranged sister, married and with children of her own. Raja is their popular, brilliant, and successful brother. When Tara returns for a visit with Bimla and Baba, old memories and tensions resurface and blend into a domestic drama that is intensely beautiful and leads to profound self-understanding.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“A wonderful novel about silence and music, about the partition of a family as well as a nation.”
The New York Times
“A rich, Chekhovian novel by one of the most gifted of contemporary Indian writers.”
The New Yorker
The New York Times
“A rich, Chekhovian novel by one of the most gifted of contemporary Indian writers.”
The New Yorker
From the Back Cover
“A rich Chekhovian novel by one of the most gifted of contemporary Indian writers.” – New Yorker
“Anita Desai has created an entire little civilization here from a fistful of memories, from a patchwork of sickroom dreams and childhood games and fairy tales. Clear Light of Day does what only the very best novels can do; it totally submerges us. It also takes us so deeply into another world that we almost fear we won’t be able to climb out again.” – Anne Tyler, New York Times
“A wonderful novel about silence and music, about the partition of a family as well as a nation.” – New York Times --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
“Anita Desai has created an entire little civilization here from a fistful of memories, from a patchwork of sickroom dreams and childhood games and fairy tales. Clear Light of Day does what only the very best novels can do; it totally submerges us. It also takes us so deeply into another world that we almost fear we won’t be able to climb out again.” – Anne Tyler, New York Times
“A wonderful novel about silence and music, about the partition of a family as well as a nation.” – New York Times --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I've read this book three times, and every time I wept for the astounding truth it forced me to face. Bim's stubborn acknowledgement is one we all must someday make; even though we should never have to. Families are the most difficult part of life, and they are the most rewarding. No other book that I have read expresses this better than Clear Light of Day (with the exception of Anna Karenina).
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This was a book that kept my interest from the beginning, in large part because of the expert characterization of the central characters. It is both depressing and optimistic; the characters mostly are constrained by their personality and history, yet at the end are able to transcend themselves. It seems that in returning to what they are attempting to escape from - the family - they are finally able to become whole. Their flashes of insight and the author's analysis may seem contrived at times, but it's difficult to imagine how it could be expressed better.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very warming, touching book about family interactions, moments of happiness and moments of sadness all intertwined together to become what life is, a series of events, sometimes good, sometimes bad, what comes, comes. What is gone is gone just like the snail mentioned in the book that was found by the characters at times but only to lose the pearl again where the cycle repeats itself. This is a story that informs us about the ups and downs in life and how everyone faces it differently. To do so, the author cleverly uses true realistic characters to portray this
Each member of the Das family is distinctly unique. It is a touching story about how distinctly different each individual is and how each has their own separate lives, keeping them apart from each other. Bimla is independent and intelligent and is able to survive on her own without the help of others but unfortunately she is very dissatisfied with life. Tara, unlike her elder sister, is not ambitious and is very dependent. All she wanted is to find a life where she will not have to take responsibility and have no need to worry about her life which she succeeded in finding an ambassador as her husband. Lastly Raja, the elder brother, who is ambitious and has always dreamt of being the hero ended up as a successful, well-off man. With each leading a different life, each has a different view of things and this leads to many conflicts between the siblings.
However no matter how different they are, they grew up together, shared many precious moments together, creating a bond that can never be broken, love. Love is what connected them to each other. Love teaches the characters how to forgive and forget, how to compromise with one another with compassion, how to move on and how to stand side by side with each other to face the world together. Especially to Bimla who had melted her anger and learn to love the world again for what it is with the help of her loving sister, Tara. Love will overcome all differences and difficulties and is the exact recipe to help us get through the ups and downs of life.
This is a truly, amazing book that I greatly enjoyed. It stays true to how family relationships are like. Being a member of a three child family, I can understand how each characters is feeling and is amazed at how it greatly relate to how I feel for my siblings at times. I both hated and love my siblings at the same time. Sometimes it may get so frustrating that I vow never to talk to them ever again but it is always love that turns out to be the winner for I always forgive the wrongs they did at times and is able to embrace the frustrating side of my siblings for I love them and love them just the way they are just like the characters Anita Desai portrayed in this book.
The beautiful and easily accessible language makes it a very enjoyable book to read. The language is filled with so much emotions and passion, that it sometimes feel like I am reading a prose with some poetic element in it. Anita Desai has also skillfully put in many insightful views to what life is and helps us to be both expectant of the bad sides of the world and yet be optimistic to the good sides of the world.
However at times, the plot seems to be developing at a slow rate with no great climax in the story, in fact it is a book that is presented almost in a monotone that makes readers to hope for more movements in the story. However I like it just the way it is, for life does not always consist of shocking, exciting events like the made up stories from fictions, in fact life is rather dull, boring at times and most of the time is spent on waiting for something to happen just like the events and the tone of the book.
This is a passionately, beautifully written domestic drama that is definitely a must to read. Get it now!
Each member of the Das family is distinctly unique. It is a touching story about how distinctly different each individual is and how each has their own separate lives, keeping them apart from each other. Bimla is independent and intelligent and is able to survive on her own without the help of others but unfortunately she is very dissatisfied with life. Tara, unlike her elder sister, is not ambitious and is very dependent. All she wanted is to find a life where she will not have to take responsibility and have no need to worry about her life which she succeeded in finding an ambassador as her husband. Lastly Raja, the elder brother, who is ambitious and has always dreamt of being the hero ended up as a successful, well-off man. With each leading a different life, each has a different view of things and this leads to many conflicts between the siblings.
However no matter how different they are, they grew up together, shared many precious moments together, creating a bond that can never be broken, love. Love is what connected them to each other. Love teaches the characters how to forgive and forget, how to compromise with one another with compassion, how to move on and how to stand side by side with each other to face the world together. Especially to Bimla who had melted her anger and learn to love the world again for what it is with the help of her loving sister, Tara. Love will overcome all differences and difficulties and is the exact recipe to help us get through the ups and downs of life.
This is a truly, amazing book that I greatly enjoyed. It stays true to how family relationships are like. Being a member of a three child family, I can understand how each characters is feeling and is amazed at how it greatly relate to how I feel for my siblings at times. I both hated and love my siblings at the same time. Sometimes it may get so frustrating that I vow never to talk to them ever again but it is always love that turns out to be the winner for I always forgive the wrongs they did at times and is able to embrace the frustrating side of my siblings for I love them and love them just the way they are just like the characters Anita Desai portrayed in this book.
The beautiful and easily accessible language makes it a very enjoyable book to read. The language is filled with so much emotions and passion, that it sometimes feel like I am reading a prose with some poetic element in it. Anita Desai has also skillfully put in many insightful views to what life is and helps us to be both expectant of the bad sides of the world and yet be optimistic to the good sides of the world.
However at times, the plot seems to be developing at a slow rate with no great climax in the story, in fact it is a book that is presented almost in a monotone that makes readers to hope for more movements in the story. However I like it just the way it is, for life does not always consist of shocking, exciting events like the made up stories from fictions, in fact life is rather dull, boring at times and most of the time is spent on waiting for something to happen just like the events and the tone of the book.
This is a passionately, beautifully written domestic drama that is definitely a must to read. Get it now!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
I liked it enough to seek out another one of her books.
It should first be noted that Anita Desai is clearly an erudite scholar of English, poetry, and the written word. Read more
Published 28 days ago by Renee
A good, rather than a great work
Desai's "Clear Light of Day" concentrates on the Das family at Old Delhi, specifically the children who are alive after years of living together and then parting. Read more
Published 2 months ago by C. Yew
worth reading
Set in the 1970's in India, Bim, Tara, Baba and Raja are four children who grew up in Delhi at partition. Read more
Published 10 months ago by MV
Beautiful tale of Old Delhi - long sentences, lots of similes.
Set in India's Old Delhi, "Clear Light of Day" recounts the lives of four siblings - two sisters and two brothers - who grew up in an ever-changing India. Read more
Published 15 months ago by kj
Essential Indian reading
Clear Light of Day is at once an accomplished family drama, a book about growing up and memory, and a historical novel. Read more
Published on April 6, 2010 by reader 451
Day Old Lottery Tickets Are More Interesting
"...while the morning took another stride forward and stood with its feet planted on the tiled floor." - p. 10
Enough said. Read more
Enough said. Read more
Published on December 16, 2009 by Sean J. Giorgianni
Superfluous and slow; leading nowhere..
If your reading this for the historical context, I can understand why you might give this book a higher rating. Read more
Published on October 5, 2007 by Andre Gordon
the book that made me drop Asian Lit
Let me start out by being fair - if you know a lot about Indian history/culture this book MAY interest you even if the first 50 pgs. are excruciatingly slow. Read more
Published on September 5, 2006 by College student & Fantasy lover
Thoughtful novel about the divising of the Indian subcontinent
The partition of the Indian subcontinent into two nations has held sway over the Indian imagination for more than three decades. Read more
Published on January 27, 2006 by John Gabree
Patience Pays Off
I think Ms. Desai would capture the heart of any woman of Indian origin. The book does start of very slowly but nevertheless beckons your patience. Read more
Published on August 25, 2000 by Farah Ahmad
Book Extras from Other Websites
This content may contain spoilers
Introduction (From Wikipedia)
Clear Light of Day is a novel published in 1980 by Indian Novelist and three time Booker Prize finalist, Anita Desai. Set in Old Delhi, this book describes the tensions in a post-partition Indian family during and after childhood, starting with the characters as adults and moving back into their lives through the course of the book. While the primary theme is the importance of family, other predominant themes include the importance of forgiveness, the power of childhood, and forgiving those you are close to.
Background (From Wikipedia)
Desai considers Clear Light of Day her most autobiographical work. She also, unlike many Indian writers, places a premium on setting.
Themes (From Wikipedia)
Family
Bim’s breakdown at the end of the book results in remarkable clarity of thought. In this insight, she concludes that the bond of family is greater than any other, that she felt their pains, and that she couldn’t live without them.
Forgiveness
Bim’s inability to forgive Raja demonstrates that the deepest hurts come from the closest bonds. However she does find it in herself at the end of the book to forgive Raja for the insult and realize the importance of family.
Attribution: The information appearing above in this tab is from Wikipedia:
Clear Light of Day. Amazon is not affiliated with, and neither endorses, nor is endorsed by Wikipedia or any of the authors who contributed to this article. The Wikipedia content may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: CC BY-SA. Additional or other terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.
Plot summary (From Wikipedia)
The book is split into four sections covering the Das family from the children’s perspective in this order: adulthood, adolescence, childhood, and the time perspective returns to adulthood.
The book centers on the Das family, who have grown apart with adulthood. It starts with Tara, the wife of Bakul, India’s ambassador to America, greeting her sister Bimla (Bim), who is a history teacher living in Old Delhi as well as their autistic brother Baba’s caretaker. Their conversation eventually comes to Raja, their brother who lives in Hyderabad. Bim doesn’t want to go to the wedding of Raja’s daughter, showing Tara an old letter from when Raja became her landlord, unintentionally insulting her after the death of his father in law.
In part two the setting switches to partition era India, when the characters are adolescents in what is now Bim’s house. Raja is severely ill with tuberculosis and is left to Bim’s ministrations. Aunt Mira (Mira masi), their supposed caretaker after the death of the children’s often absent parents, becomes alcoholic and dies of alcoholism. Earlier Raja’s fascination with Urdu attracts the attention of the family’s Muslim landlord, Hyder Ali, whom Raja Idolizes. When he heals, Raja follows Hyder Ali to Hyderabad. Tara escapes from the situation through marriage to Bakul. Bim is then left to provide for Baba alone, in the midst of the partition and the death of Gandhi.
In part three Bim, Raja and Tara are depicted in pre-partition India awaiting the birth of their brother Baba. Aunt Mira, widowed by her husband and mistreated by her in-laws, is brought in to help with Baba, who is autistic, and to raise the children.
Raja is fascinated with poetry. He shares a close bond with Bim, the head girl at school, although they often exclude Tara. Tara wants to be a mother although this fact brings ridicule from Raja and Bim, who want to be a hero and a heroine, respectively.
The final section returns to modern India and showcases Tara confronting Bim over the Raja’s daughter’s wedding and Bim’s broken relationship with Raja. This climaxes when Bim explodes at Baba. After her anger fades she comes to the conclusion that the love of family is irreplaceable and can cover all wrongs. After Tara leaves she decides to go to her neighbors the Misras for a concert and she then decides that she will go to the wedding.
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Clear Light of Day. Amazon is not affiliated with, and neither endorses, nor is endorsed by Wikipedia or any of the authors who contributed to this article. The Wikipedia content may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: CC BY-SA. Additional or other terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.
Awards and Reception (From Wikipedia)
In 1980 Clear Light of Day was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, although it did not win.
Attribution: The information appearing above in this tab is from Wikipedia:
Clear Light of Day. Amazon is not affiliated with, and neither endorses, nor is endorsed by Wikipedia or any of the authors who contributed to this article. The Wikipedia content may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: CC BY-SA. Additional or other terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.
Music (From Wikipedia)
The primary manifestations of music in the book are Baba’s gramophone, Dr. Biswas’s musical inclinations, and Mulk’s singing at the end of the book. The idea of music relating to life experiences is present. Baba constantly playing his gramophone at the same volume with the same records shows the stagnation of his development. Dr. Biswas refinement in musical taste shows the personal refinement he learned in Europe. Mulk and the Guru show that while life alters our experiences, we are still the same people; as they used the same style but with different experiences shaping their performance.
This is confirmed by Mulk complaining about his sisters sending away his musicians, like the partition of India. But the musicians return at the end of the book to accompany Mulk at the end of the book.
Tara also mentions her daughters' music but says it develops with their growth.
Of particular Interest is what music Desai has Baba play; all the records are from the same time period and he never gets any new ones. But the most potent of these songs seems to be "Don't Fence Me In", performed by Bing Crosby. Every primary character in the book with the exception of Bim finds some way to escape. A song about being free, however, is what angers the one character who, on the surface, had no desire to do so.
Attribution: The information appearing above in this tab is from Wikipedia:
Clear Light of Day. Amazon is not affiliated with, and neither endorses, nor is endorsed by Wikipedia or any of the authors who contributed to this article. The Wikipedia content may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: CC BY-SA. Additional or other terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.
Language (From Wikipedia)
Each of the languages in Clear Light of Day represents different things. Urdu is the language of culture, refinement, and knowledge. Hindi is considered every day, mundane and banal. Additionally the repeated examples of poetry emphasize the beauty of the one language compared to the other as more often than not they are in Urdu. Raja expounds how an Urdu poet could do that in a single couplet. Urdu symbolizes Raja and the Ali’s culture and sophistication.
Attribution: The information appearing above in this tab is from Wikipedia:
Clear Light of Day. Amazon is not affiliated with, and neither endorses, nor is endorsed by Wikipedia or any of the authors who contributed to this article. The Wikipedia content may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: CC BY-SA. Additional or other terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.
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Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
The koels began to call before daylight. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Aunt Mira, Hyder Ali, Miss Das, New Delhi, Miss Singh, Old Delhi, Kashmere Gate, Lord Byron, Miss Stephen, Bela Road, Jamia Millia, Lodi Gardens New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The koels began to call before daylight. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Aunt Mira, Hyder Ali, Miss Das, New Delhi, Miss Singh, Old Delhi, Kashmere Gate, Lord Byron, Miss Stephen, Bela Road, Jamia Millia, Lodi Gardens New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 10
books:
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71
books
cite this book:
See all 71 books citing this book
- Diamond Dust: Stories by Anita Desai in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- The Waste Land and Other Writings (Modern Library Classics) by T.S. Eliot on page 41
- The Waste Land (Norton Critical Editions) by T. S. Eliot on page 41
- In Custody: Tie-In Edition by Anita Desai in Front Matter
See all 10 books this book cites
- Negotiating Identities in Women's Lives by Christine W. Sizemore on 12 pages
- A Divided Legacy: The Partition in Selected Novels of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh by Niaz Zaman on 9 pages
- Colonial Karma: Self, Action, and Nation in the Indian English Novel by Josna E. Rege on 8 pages
- En-Gendering India: Woman and Nation in Colonial and Postcolonial Narratives by Sangeeta Ray on 6 pages
- The Politics of the Female Body: Postcolonial Women Writers by Ketu H. Katrak on 5 pages
See all 71 books citing this book
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