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Rehana Haque, a young widow, blissfully prepares for the party she will host for her son and daughter. But this is 1971 in East Pakistan, and change is in the air.
Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence, A Golden Age is a story of passion and revolution; of hope, faith, and unexpected heroism in the midst of chaos—and of one woman's heartbreaking struggle to keep her family safe.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Would make a great movie, destined to be a classic,
By Rachelle Ayala (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Golden Age: A Novel (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
War novels like Gone with the Wind, Sophie's Choice, The Book Thief to name a few, capture the stresses and choices that ordinary people are forced to make as the brutality and deprivation of war, occupation, captivity, that change the ordinary circumstances of life into a living nightmare. This book is no different.
The book starts with a prologue where the widow Rehana sits at her husband's grave and tells him that she has lost the children. Because of her poverty, her husband's brother and childless sister-in-law have taken custody of Sohail and Maya, Rehana's 7 and 5 year olds. Even though they are gone for only a year, Rehana feels in her heart the yearning gap of that year and devotes herself totally to her children. Every year, they have a party where they celebrate the children's return. March 1971 was no different. The party had become a routine, the same guests, Rehana's neighbors, a tenant family from India, the gin-rummy ladies and her daughter's friend. They are celebrating and optimistic of the future. But within a few short weeks, tanks rolled into Dhaka, refugees start streaming out, massacres occur in the city, and her children are drawn into the resistance movement. Life is anything but ordinary when Rehana is drawn into the resistance by her son and daughter. Faced with her guilt at how she lost them for a short while when they were young, and the secret of how she was able to bring them back, Rehana goes along with their efforts, hiding guns and supplies in her home and harboring and caring for a wounded major that at first she regards as a nuisance. She would like nothing better than to retreat into her routine, her shell, sitting at her late husband's grave and speaking to him, and lying to him and herself about the normalcy of her life, ignoring her daughter's cold shoulder and indifference, and her own guilt at the shameful acts she took to bring her children back. But as the weeks went by, taking care of the major who only greeted her with silent eyes, she begins to open up to him, telling him of her secrets, as if to atone for them and he silently bears her secrets for her. The war tears Rehana's circle apart, lives tragically destroyed, destinies changed. Rehana meets her former tenant in a refugee camp, a walking shell, with nothing left inside her except sorrow, for the choice she made, she'll pay with tears the rest of her life. At the end, Rehana herself makes a heartbreaking choice, and even though the war ends a few weeks later, there is no victory, only sorrow in Rehana's heart. As the rest of the city celebrates Rehana speaks to her dead husband, telling him that this time, she did not lose her children. This is a very poignant novel with plenty of action, raw emotions, youthful enthusiasm, and the painful legacies of war, and the birth of a nation.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fine debut about war for independence in Bangladesh,
By Barb Caffrey "writer-for-hire" (In a Midwest State (of mind), USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: A Golden Age: A Novel (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Tahmima Anam's novel "A Golden Age" was an interesting novel about a widow, her children, and the war for independence in Bangladesh. It also is a novel about taking risks for noble causes, romance during impossible times, and the growing pains of both children and countries; really, this is an excellent novel, that falls just short of "instant classic" status.
Anam's main point seems to be that it's impossible for people to stay apart from a war for independence; people must choose sides even if they initially wish to stay apart. Anam's protagonist, Rehana Haque, has to watch her daughter, and her son, get caught up in the war effort, and has the same reactions many women would have; she doesn't want her son to go to war, and she doesn't want her daughter anywhere near it. Complicating matters further, Rehana isn't even from Bangladesh; she originally was from India (and speaks fluent Urdu), and only married her late husband to escape poverty -- yet she grew both to love her husband and her adopted country (then called East Pakistan). As more and more things happen to Bangladesh -- and to her children's college friends -- Rehana grows more and more disgusted. Despite the many years of isolation she's endured -- some self-inflicted, some not -- since her husband's passing, Rehana knows she has to take a stand -- especially after her son first goes off to war, and then her daughter as well. Rehana knows she can't sit idly by, when things can be done, and she ends up aiding the war effort in as many ways she can. Then she becomes attracted to a man who's recovering in her home from a serious wound; he's her age, he's had quite a bit of life experience, and he doesn't judge her for any of her past actions -- good, bad, or indifferent. This heightens the tension overall, and gives Rehana's spiritual and emotional journey/reawakening more depth and breadth. There's a lot in this novel, and a lot to like about it; there's a richness of feeling and description that adds greatly to the way this book is presented, as Rehana's descriptions tend to be stark and rather uncomplicated (even though she herself is anything but). I appreciated this novel quite a bit, and would recommend it to anyone who was looking for an accurate portrayal of the struggle for Bangladesh's independence; I also appreciated that the violence that was portrayed (the way the P.O.W. was treated, for example) was not glorified -- it was portrayed as disgusting, as most reasonable people would see it. At any rate, I think this is an excellent novel, and find it just shy of a five-star effort. Very strong four star effort, recommended. Barb Caffrey
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting book about the Bangladesh war,
This review is from: A Golden Age: A Novel (Hardcover)
I knew very little about the history of the country of Bangladesh and it's quest for independence and found this book to be very interesting and informative.
Also enjoyed the family story about the grieving widow Rehana and how she deals with the loss and threats to her children - this is an illuminating tale about acts of heroism during a time of war. The language in this novel is beautiful yet simple - when a novelist can lay out such complexities in a tightly written book with simple, unpretentious prose, it is a joy to read. A Golden Age gives the reader a gradual build of tension that kept me engaged and turning the page through to the end. I think book clubs would really enjoy this book because there is lots to discuss as it relates to the extreme devotion that a mother can have for their children.
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