21 January 2021
A Burning
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 political 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 humor--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.
| Title | : | A Burning |
| Edition Language | : | English |
| ISBN | : | null |
| Format Type | : |
Readers Also Enjoyed A Burning
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✧ find this review & others on my blog ✧At the start of Majumdar’s standout debut novel, Jivan, a young Muslim woman, makes a Facebook post that takes a jab at the government’s handling of...
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I really liked this story. I wondered if the political ambition overshadowed the power of the prose....
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I've decided not to rate this one because although I think the stories/characters were interesting and thought provoking, I personally am not into political fiction. I think the storyline around Lovel...
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A wonderfully plotted, ambitious debut novel by a writer with a lot to offer, the story of 3 lives intersecting around a single, harrowing lie. Majumdar takes major risks with a multi-perspective, voi...
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I’m glad I read this: Megha Majumdar’s debut novel. It felt like the most advertised- promoted book of this summer - I needed to read what all the fuss about.I’ve many memories of the year I spe...
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A Burning begins with a conflagration. For the reader, this novel is a lit fuse: an exercise in tension, perfectly paced.Majumdar covers a lot of ground in this short and deceptively simple novel, set...
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3.5 Majumbdar took on a huge challenge in this her first novel. How to show three different people and how they will compromise their consciences, truths in order to become someone. Contemporary India...
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[3.3] A Burning is a raging novel with a plot and characters there mainly to serve its point about injustice and corruption in modern India. Unlike most reviewers, I was disappointed. I found it distu...
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Wow, what a powerful novel with an important message. A Burning follows Jivan, a Muslim girl who is accused of executing a terrorist attack based on a Facebook comment she made. Her fate ends up resti...
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It all starts simply enough—an idealistic young Muslim girl uses her very first costly device with her own salary, a SmartPhone, to join in the conversation on Facebook. A vicious train attack by te...