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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sri Lankan Karma, July 14, 2009
This review is from: A Disobedient Girl: A Novel (Hardcover)
Ru Freeman's remarkable debut novel takes place in Sri Lanka, in the context of civil unrest and personal rebellion in the form of its two main characters, Latha and Biso. Both women are products of a culture that gives both class and men the power to decide their destinies, and yet they rebel against it, often under the cover of deceit, with the hope that their secret choices will finally make them happy.
The alternating plots, one told in the point-of-view of Latha and the other in the first-person narration of Biso, are powerful individually, with underlying significance revealed only at the end. Latha, an orphan, is raised in the privileged household of the Vithanages, as the "sister" of only child Thara. Although, as a young child, she believes herself the equal of Thara, she realizes as they approach adolescence that she is destined for inequity, the life of a servant girl. As she grows from child to teenager to adult, she learns many bitter truths about class, love, and destiny.
Biso's story is much briefer in terms of time, a few days of her journey from city to the country of tea plantations rather than the decades of Latha's. However, the time frame does not diminish the power of Biso's drama; instead, it compresses both her misery and her hope into a poignant story of a mother fighting for the future of her children. She and her three children are running from her alcoholic, unloving husband and from her personal, hidden grief for her dead insurgent lover. What happens to them during these few days has a huge impact on the outcome of the novel.
Freeman writes well and beautifully, with imagery that lingers both emotionally and visually. The language is never overblown or unduly complicated but instead delivers the wallop of emotion through words put together well. Likewise, the characterizations - from the main characters to minor ones - seem natural, and they evolve out of actions, not descriptions. The only misstep in this otherwise accomplished novel is choice of present-tense narration in Biso's story, a choice that seems designed to mislead.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, with its compelling dual stories and its depiction of Sri Lankan life and culture. Readers of multicultural and international fiction should find a lot to admire, as should those who love literary and women's fiction. For a companion novel set in Sri Lanka, try Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost: A Novel.
-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely debut novel about self-determination and independence in modern Sri Lanka, May 30, 2009
This review is from: A Disobedient Girl: A Novel (Hardcover)
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This novel tells the story of Latha and Biso in alternating chapters. It begins with Latha as an unloved little girl, rationalizing her stealing of soap from her employers in order to maintain the hygeine habits of the rich. Latha works as a servant and desires the luxuries that her employers, the Vithanages, are accustomed to but deny the servants. Biso is a young mother in Matara, a fishing village in southern Sri Lanka, who has decided to leave her alcoholic, abusive husband and flee to her family in the hills. The Biso chapters catalog her reasons for leaving her husband, her long train journey, and the people she meets along the way. Latha and Biso are not obviously connected for most of the novel (except for some characters that Latha knew and who met Biso while on the train), but each desire independence and self-determination. Latha, seeks to be independent from the dictates of class - particularly her role as a servant and the biases that come along with that status. Biso wants to be free from the husband she did not choose and live her life free from his abuse and lack of love. Latha and Biso are both impulsive and encounter significant mishaps along the way.
Latha's story takes place from the early 1980s to the late 1990s, moving at a fast pass, with years passing between chapters. Biso's story takes place over a four day period in the early 1980s during her trip from coastal Matara to the hills. The author does not disclose dates, but historical events serve as guides. My familiarity with Sri Lankan politics and history helped me settle some dates, but readers without that familiarity should be able to use mentions of Princess Diana as a rough guide of dates.
I found the shifts from Biso to Latha to be jarring. I was never confused about whose chapter it was, as they were clearly labeled. However, the structure lacked a certain symmetry that I am used to seeing when books shift narrator. The Biso chapters were written in the first person, whereas the Latha chapters were third person. Even though the Biso chapters historically antedated the Latha chapters, the Biso chapters are written in the present tense and the Latha chapters are in the past tense. Lastly, as I noted earlier, the pace of the Latha chapters is much faster, as they cover approximately two decades while the Biso chapters cover a short time period - in essense it felt like I was reading about every single hour in those four days, which felt tedious at times. I found this asymmetry to be troublesome, particularly in the beginning of the novel. This is the main reason I have rated the novel 4 stars rather than 5. Although I personally did not care for the approach, the author probably chose this course to conceal a plot twist at the end of the novel.
Overall, the novel is beautifully written albeit heavy handed at times. The novel has a wonderful sense of place, estabilishing the location quite well. The novel does a great job particularly with Latha, describing her frustration with being "invisible" due to her role of servant and her inability to have a regular life. Of course, part of that might be Latha's own making due to mistakes she makes that inhibit the likelihood of her finding a husband and family. Latha never seems to learn from her mistakes, which was frustrating for me. Nonetheless, Latha is a sympathetic character because, as her master-servant role evolves with her one-time playmate and current employer, Thara Vithanage, it is apparent that she is truly alone. The ending seems inevitable but I could not help rooting for Latha in the end to get it right and establish her own life.
Biso shared Latha's penchant towards bad decisions and morphed from a self-assured woman who seemed capable of making it on her own into a "train wreck." The end of the Biso story was predictable (I don't want to spoil the ending but it was foreshadowed numerous times and by the time I got to the second to last Biso chapter, there was only one way it would likely end) and disappointing.
Despite these shortcomings, the novel was good. It was a bit melodramatic, which is a common fault for South Asian fiction. However, the characters were interesting - especially Latha - and her characterization of the master-servant relationship in South Asia was spot on. [This is an especially good choice for readers who liked "The Space Between Us," by Thrity Umrigar.]
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disobedient Girls and Destiny, September 16, 2009
This review is from: A Disobedient Girl: A Novel (Hardcover)
Ru Freeman's A Disobedient Girl: A Novel is set in Sri Lanka and is narrated by two women, Latha and Biso, in alternating chapters. Each of these women struggles with their station in society, the desires they have to improve their lot in life, and the journey they find themselves on after making pivotal decisions. Readers also catch a glimpse of Thara and Leela's lives and struggles.
Sri Lanka is in the midst of civil unrest when we meet Biso for the first time, but when we meet Latha, she is in the prime of innocence. Biso has lived a hard life, though she is not jaded by the loss of her greatest love or the abuse of her husband. Latha, on the other hand, is resentful of her station as a servant girl in a high-class home and straddles precariously between the world of a upper class girl, like her mistress' daughter Thara, and that of a servant. Class struggles, political unrest, and danger permeate the pages of A Disobedient Girl.
The narration begins slowly and builds to a crescendo, though readers may have a tough time with the broken and interrupted thoughts because it can detract from the atmosphere that Freeman attempts to create. Latha's chapters reflect her naivete and her impulsive nature, while Biso's chapters reflect a mature woman who is methodical in her actions and chastises herself for self-indulgence when she must care for three children.
However, Freeman has a gift for dramatic language and situations, illustrating how each woman faces tragedy and overcomes the suppression they feel because of their caste and decisions. A Disobedient Girl: A Novel is not about a specific girl or woman, but about the rebellious part of human nature that desires to be free and in control of its own destiny.
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