Shame: A Novel [Hardcover]

Tasalima Nasarina (Author), Taslima Nasrin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997

When the Barbri Mosque at Ayodhya, India, was destroyed by Hindu fundamentalists on December 6,1992, fierce mob reprisals took place against the Hindu minority in Muslim Bangladesh. These incidents form the backdrop for Dr. Taslima Nasrin's explosive and courageous book, Shame, describing the nightmarish fate of one family within her country's small Hindu community.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In late 1992, a long-standing animosity reached a crisis when Hindu extremists destroyed a mosque in Ayodhya, India. Enraged Muslims responded with a protracted persecution of Hindus throughout the subcontinent. This work recounts that campaign of retaliatory terror as experienced by one Hindu family in Bangladesh and particularly its cynical, stubborn adult son, Suranjan, whose sister Maya is abducted and disappears in the near-chaos. The 1993 Bengali publication of Shame caused great controversy and resulted in a fatwa, or holy judgment, against author Nasrin, a Bengali of Muslim background. A seething indictment of oppression and religious fundamentalism couched precariously as a novel, this important work is impassioned but difficult to read. More reportage and protest than story, it is recommended more for its historic than its literary value. Purchase for larger collections.?Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Bengali

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 302 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1St Edition edition (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573921653
• ISBN-13: 978-1573921657
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,414,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not extreme, January 16, 2002

By 

Ruth (Melbourne) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shame: A Novel (Hardcover)

In 1992, some Hindus in India destroyed the Babri mosque. In retaliation, violence against Hindus spread across Bangladesh. Thug violence is not uncommon in Bangladesh (particularly around election time), and Bangladesh is not a high-profile country, and so little comment was made about these events internationally.
Naslim - originally a muslim herself (although now she claims to be an athiest) - wrote Shame in protest. It took her 7 days, and it shows by being a raw, occasionally awkward book. It follows the activities of the hindu anti-hero Suranjan, and his family, during the period of violence. This is not a particularly extreme book. In no way does it suggest that hindus are good and muslims are bad. Instead, it explores the effect of violence and oppression on the psychology and relationships of people. It feels very real. It reminds me of David Grossman's writing on Israel: that the oppression contaminates both sides. Grossman describes the situation there as two apples pressed together and rot spreading on both.
Nasrin does not lie or exaggerate what happened in Bangladesh. True, she does not include the full politics of India, Pakistan, British rule, partition etc., but that's because this is a novel about a family in Bangladesh. Its scale is intimate.
While Nasrin's novel is not extreme, the reaction to it is. Islamic fundamentalists have offered a large cash reward to anybody who murders her. She now lives outside Bangladesh.
I like Nasrin. I like her honesty, intense intelligence and courage, all of which come through in this book. Elsewhere, she has made comments about abolishing Quranic law because of its discrimination of women. I like that too.
Bangladesh is a forgotten country. Inside it, controversial, informed voices (especially women's) are rarely heard. The country needs people like Nasrin. People should read books like hers, whether or not their views are the same. It's intelligent to do so.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping, effectively written, novel., May 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shame: A Novel (Hardcover)

This novel only became known in the West because of the fatwa on the author. Yet, because of this, all the attention has been on the author herself rather than the book. The few comments about the novel that have been published tend to be rather dismissive about it. People says its "hastily written" and "unimaginative". I bought the book just to see whether it was any good as a novel. I found that it certainly wasn't flawless. But I also found it was gripping. I kept turning the pages to see how the story would develop. The pages of documentary evidence did get in the way - but it was precisely because I wanted the story to progress that I found them intrusive. I suspect that some of the negative comment on the novel is simply because many people like their art to be refined and apolitical. "Shame" is, after all, realism: and although it is somewhat "unimaginative", that isn't necessarily an insuperable charge for a work of realism - which is more interested in such issues as truth and unflinching fidelity. In any case, there is an essential imaginativeness here - one to do with empathy - that, the book implies, is altogether lacking in a lot of other people. Indeed, the book shows that a little imagination can go a long way.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars essential reading., June 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shame: A Novel (Hardcover)

The reader who wondered why Hindus didn't just convert to Islam or relocate to India obviously failed to understand the message of the book. The tearing apart of the ideals and optimism of a family very much in love with Bangladesh make this book essential reading for all readers remotely interested in the struggles of minority groups anywhere in the world.