Customer Reviews

Shame: A Novel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

While this book may not be great literature, it is a chilling indictment of Moslem persecution of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh following the destruction of the Babri Masjid in India.

Taslima Nasrin has provided many factual accounts of desecration and destruction of Hindu temples and atrocities against the Hindu minority in her book. One reviewer likened the experience of Hindus in Bangladesh to Muslims in India. There is no comparison. That reviewer intimates the destruction of the Babri Masjid (itself built to desecrate a Hindu temple) outweighs the destruction of thousands of Hindu temples in South Asia following that event!! I have traveled in both India and Bangladesh, and Muslims in India have much greater freedom and security than Hindus in Bangladesh.

This book deals with genocide and not persecution. Genocide of a minority and eliminating thier existence completely.Just as the Nazis went about systematically eliminating jews , so have the govts and religious bigots gone about systematically eliminating hindus in both Pakistan and Bangladesh. These countries which had quite a significant hindu population at the beginning of the 19th century have next to none now because of well planned genocide , rape and systematic conversion. Taslima Nasrin is a Humanist. It doesnt matter if she will not be a literate giant. She will always be remembered in the hearts of those who have suffered at the hands of islamic fundamentalism.

I read the original Bengali version around 1994-95. I recently read it again (same Bengali version). I give it 5 stars -- not because of its literary value, but for the great influence the book will have on the reader. The great significance of the book is that it will force the reader to take another look at him and the society he lives in. It will show the reader how it feels to be on the receiving end of all the every day abuses and injustice. This book is the universal story of persecution of minorities all over the world. In Bangladesh Taslima is extremely disliked by a great number of people out of sheer ignorant belief that the author is on the pay roll of BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is unfortunate that her critics never read this particular book. She describes the demolition of the mosque as it was shown around the world by CNN. The irony is that same BJP and VHP people who denounce Bangladesh, while thumping on "Lajja" (Shame), for its treatment of minority Hindus miss the message of the book. If they look at themselves, they will realize that all the Muslim and Hindu names in the novel could have been interchanged to tell the story of the plight of Indian Muslims. In fact, the book tells the universal story of strife between Tutsis and Hutus, Tamils and Sinhalese, Blacks and Whites. "Shame" should be a mandatory reading for all young people around the world to give them an understanding of "people who live around us, but are not like us, and hence not one of us". The cruelest irony is that the BJP and VHP, who were involved in the demolition of the mosque, govern India 5 years after the publication of this book.

I picked up my copy of Shame in the New Dehli airport 3 years ago and finally got around to reading it this winter. I found myself skipping pages at a time because they were full of `statistics' and found them distracting from the story of Sudhamoy and the rest of his family. Being an outsider to Bangladeshi politics I was reading this story to familiarize myself with, what is for me, a little know nation. I was introduced to a family that I became interested in and a nation going through awful turmoil. Much of the time `Shame' read as a political treatise. I would have found the book more engaging if I had taken a course in South Asian politics. Because of her persecution, Nasrin has been comparied to Salman Rushdie, but I would not put her in the same category of writer. Overall I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in South Asia.

I picked up this book because of the press on it and the knowledge that it was written by a Muslim woman who spoke out against the atrocities committed against Hindus by Muslims and vice versa. I can't really say anything about it that hasn't already been said.

I wouldn't even be posting anything except for the amusing comment by P. De Angelis about there being no mention of the Twin Towers. The copyright of this book is from October 1997 - several years before 9/11........

In answer to the reader who wondered why Hindus didn't just convert to Islam or relocate to India suggests he or she 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.

The book is great, even though it bashes the fundamentalists pretty bad. You sort of wonder throughout the book why people don't do one of two things if the situation is so bad-1. leave for India, or 2. convert to Islam. Thanks Nasrin.