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Homeless Bird
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From: uma at cyberport.com <uma>
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 21:51:12 -0700
I'm always interested to hear of India-related work winning awards, so of course I rushed off to get my copy of HB. Imagine my dismay when I found a setting reminiscent of tourist videos, and a heroine whose consciousness is vastly more middle-class American than rural Indian raised in relative poverty. There is no trace here of the gritty idiosyncrasy that can make a subcontinental setting sing. I found the characters one-dimensional. There were many inaccuracies, many shades of nuance and tone that rang false. E.g. a plot thing -- it didn't seem as if the young husband Hari held a job of any kind, so how the heck did Koly qualify for a widow's pension? There were other things that jarred. No Hindu of Koly's purported background would refer to the River Ganga, e.g., by the Anglicized name Ganges. Maa Ganges -- Mother Ganges? Give me a break -it's enough to send the goddess herself into a tailspin! Another, if less obtrusive, example -- the music gathering at Mala's did not feel representative of the social class of a girl who embroiders/sews for a living -- the interactions did not seem authentic. I could go on.
There is another point that's nagging at me, and I'll try to express it coherently -- I will freely admit bias here, but this kind of characterization of third world settings as exotic is beginning to get tiresome. Frances Burnett depicted the villainous natives quite competently in her time, but at least she had the excuse of her time. I happened to see the tapestry exhibit, The Narrative Thread, that anecdote has it is the inspiration for HB -- the tales of those women are hardly reflected in this kitsch. What worries me is that because of the award this book is going to make it onto all kinds of classroom and recommended reading lists, and there are plenty of folk who are going to see it as the definitive rendition of India. And to think I used to fret when people considered Kipling to be that definitive rendition ;-(
HB is the only one of the NBA finalists I've read, and I'm sorry to be so down on it. Honestly, I would have liked to have liked it more!
All best,
Uma Krishnaswami
Uma Krishnaswami http://www.childrensbookguild.org/Krishnaswami.html
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about [Bernard Malamud]
Received on Thu 04 Jan 2001 10:51:12 PM CST
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 21:51:12 -0700
I'm always interested to hear of India-related work winning awards, so of course I rushed off to get my copy of HB. Imagine my dismay when I found a setting reminiscent of tourist videos, and a heroine whose consciousness is vastly more middle-class American than rural Indian raised in relative poverty. There is no trace here of the gritty idiosyncrasy that can make a subcontinental setting sing. I found the characters one-dimensional. There were many inaccuracies, many shades of nuance and tone that rang false. E.g. a plot thing -- it didn't seem as if the young husband Hari held a job of any kind, so how the heck did Koly qualify for a widow's pension? There were other things that jarred. No Hindu of Koly's purported background would refer to the River Ganga, e.g., by the Anglicized name Ganges. Maa Ganges -- Mother Ganges? Give me a break -it's enough to send the goddess herself into a tailspin! Another, if less obtrusive, example -- the music gathering at Mala's did not feel representative of the social class of a girl who embroiders/sews for a living -- the interactions did not seem authentic. I could go on.
There is another point that's nagging at me, and I'll try to express it coherently -- I will freely admit bias here, but this kind of characterization of third world settings as exotic is beginning to get tiresome. Frances Burnett depicted the villainous natives quite competently in her time, but at least she had the excuse of her time. I happened to see the tapestry exhibit, The Narrative Thread, that anecdote has it is the inspiration for HB -- the tales of those women are hardly reflected in this kitsch. What worries me is that because of the award this book is going to make it onto all kinds of classroom and recommended reading lists, and there are plenty of folk who are going to see it as the definitive rendition of India. And to think I used to fret when people considered Kipling to be that definitive rendition ;-(
HB is the only one of the NBA finalists I've read, and I'm sorry to be so down on it. Honestly, I would have liked to have liked it more!
All best,
Uma Krishnaswami
Uma Krishnaswami http://www.childrensbookguild.org/Krishnaswami.html
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about [Bernard Malamud]
Received on Thu 04 Jan 2001 10:51:12 PM CST
