A Burning
Books | Fiction / Literary
3.9
(635)
Megha Majumdar
" For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise--to the middle class, to politcal power, to fame in the movies--and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India. Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party, and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely--an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humour--has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear. Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning has the force of an epic while being so masterfully compressed it can be read in a single sitting. Majumdar writes with dazzling assurance at a breakneck pace on complex themes that read here as the components of a thriller: class, fate, corruption, justice, and what it feels like to face profound obstacles and yet nurture big dreams in a country spinning toward extremism. An extraordinary debut. A novel about fate, power, opportunity, and class; about innocence and guilt, betrayal and love, and the corrosive media cycle that manufactures falsehoods masquerading as truths--A Burning is a debut novel of exceptional power and urgency, haunting and beautiful, brutal, vibrant, impossible to forget."--
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More Details:
Author
Megha Majumdar
Pages
304
Publisher
McClelland & Stewart
Published Date
2020-06-02
ISBN
0771059833 9780771059834
Community ReviewsSee all
"This one just didn't keep my attention. Interesting concept though, and good writing. Found myself putting it down too often to enjoy."
Cassie Sandberg
"Everyone who thinks "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about" about political speech on social media should read this. Chilling."
Sarah Brown
"Tragic and eye opening. It’s an in depth look at social and political issues in India. It highlights the dangers of corruption, social media, and the “mob mentality.” This is also a success story in some ways, both by morally gray and well intentioned means. This book also highlights LGBTQ issues, religious discrimination, and more. Very well worth a read, I am looking forward to another book by Megha Majumdar. "
Emily
"unexpected ending, kept me engaged the whole time. "
Emmah Braulick
"This was a tough read (and I can't really say I "enjoyed" it in the traditional sense) but it was timely and well-written. Each character’s perspective feels unique and alive, and their actions are believable even when they're terrible. I felt like the demonstration of a person being seduced into doing increasingly awful things on behalf of a right-wing political party was realistic."
a
awesome_user_984860
"Not a thrilller, but good"
A B
Ann B
"It was a tough ending. But the book was good. "
K R
Karen Reeves
"3.5 stars. Beautifully written, just wanted things to end differently. The story was painful but realistic in that one person’s success is often due to another’s suffering."
G N
Gretchen Nord
"an interesting read! I never read a book so modernly political and the narrative didn't suffer"
Casey Lapidus
"This was Majumdar's debut novel, and she has set a very high bar for herself for her sophomore effort. An intense and gripping look at how political influence and corruption shape and steer the different classes in a nation (although set in India, very present in today's climate here in the US as well). Each of the main characters evolves, for better or worse into a different person based on one event and how it is used to shape each of their stories. A cautionary story of how what one considers to be harmless words on the internet can change the trajectory of an entire family and community. I didn't want the story to end, not only because the author did such an amazing job in the story's telling, but because I wished for a different outcome for the main character. The language comes off the page and is so descriptive you can visualize the fields, the dust, the smells, the tastes of the sweets; yet it is also so powerful in developing each character as an individual that you when the characters appear, (particularly the hijera, Lovely) they inhabit their roles so fully they transform that part of the story for that moment, and the world of the story becomes theirs."
Liz Thurman
