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Tuesday, December 6, 2022

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff - Book Review

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Publication Date: 03rd Jan 2023

Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Dark Fiction (Lit Fic?)

2.7 Stars 

One Liner: I like it and hate it in equal measure 

*****

Geeta's abusive husband disappeared five years ago, making her an outcast in the village. People have decided she did something to get rid of him. Of course, it comes with perks, and Geeta is content to be left alone. 

However, when other women from the village start asking for her help to off their husbands, things start to spiral out of control. Geeta may be inspired by Phoolan Devi, but can she handle the worst that comes with it? 

***

How do you identify a progressive author of Indian origin? Their book has the following topics: 

  • Poor India, slums, unclean villages 
  • Hindu Vs. Muslim (beginning to feel bad for Indian Christians) 
  • Upper Castes Vs. Lower Castes (upper caste are villains, lower castes are victims) 
  • A patriarchal society with loads of women abuse 
  • Targeting Hindu symbols, customs, and rituals 
  • Abuse, misery, and anything that’ll make readers consider India the worst place in the world 

The Bandit Queen is no exception. It satisfies each element on the checklist and makes it a perfect choice for intellectual book club reads. However, the book has certain elements I like and enjoy. 

What I Like: 

The cover is fab. Love those eyes on the black background. So, so good! 

The kids are a treat to read. I wish the book had more of them instead of social activism. Be it Raees, Arhaan, or Irem, each has a distinct personality and is just as adorable (and funny). Irem deserved more space, given that she is the most likely candidate to take over when the time comes. 

The women, Geeta, Saloni, Farah, Priya, and Preity, are layered and flawed. They are much more than the first impressions, and knowing them through the course of the book makes them real (despite a few hiccups). ASP Sinha is another underexplored character. The author could have done so much for the plot with better priorities. 

The book has many references to CID (it is a popular crime show on Sony TV and one of my favorites). As someone who watched 1000+ episodes, it’s a treat to see it inspire women (let’s ignore that the inspiration is not something the channel intended). 

The story picks up pace in the second half. It is not fast but maintains a steady momentum. The climax is Bollywoodish but entertaining. Well, I can visualize the scenes playing out, so that’s a plus. 

The book has a good dose of dark and morbid humor. Some may find it strange, but I like it. The interactions are coarse, crude, and crass, which is exactly how it should be in such a setting. You have to listen to them speak to realize it. Some women use cusswords as a part of their speech, just like men do. And women from rural areas are more likely to have a colorful vocab with native cusswords.

What Didn’t Work for Me: 

The first half is slow, like really slooow. Imagine reading so much only to notice that you’ve completed just a quarter of the novel. This isn’t the kind of book I could speed-read. Sigh!

The dialogues! Yeah, I know it is hard to balance authentic Indian dialogues and their readability for a global audience. It will always be too desi or too western. This book tries hard to get the balance right and manages to a certain extent. But as a desi (#OwnVoice) reader, I could see how it is a weird blend of both. It was hard to sustain the image of Geeta when she sounds like an American in some places (yo, F*ck ya bitch*s) and a proper desi woman (I earn my own salt) the other time. 

The translated proverbs were just as strange. There’s only so much of ‘something black in the lentils’ I can tolerate before screaming. It doesn’t help that this appears around half a dozen times in the book. Please, don’t translate native proverbs into English. I endured the same in The Island of Missing Trees very recently. *sob* 

I don’t mind frustrated characters. They can be wonderful to read. Take one jab at something, and I’ll see it as a part of the plot and character arc. Do it repeatedly, and I’ll pick patterns. Wanna attack unfair societal rules? Go ahead. I’ll cheer for you. Want to use it as a ruse to target one religion, sorry, but no.  

  • Attack mangalsutra as a sign of oppression (coz wedding rings and nikah don’t affect women at all!)
  • Karva Chauth is a symbol of oppression (yeah, every woman hates her husband! Geeta is sure of this. I’ll leave it to married women to handle this claim) 
  • Karva Chauth again- why add one more fasting to the list? (nevermind that the character wishes another character Eid Mubarak in the next scene. Muslims fast for a month during the Holy Ramadan period.)
  • Temples blare, screech, & blast bhajans (I wonder which temples have such schedules; we don’t pray multiple times a day. Trivia: https://www.google.com/maps/search/jambusar+gujarat+mosque/@22.053285,72.7986077,15z/data=!3m1!4b1
  • No caste in Islam (theoretically no; practically yes. But it’s the same with Hinduism. Varna is not caste or jati and is flexible. A person’s varna is determined by the character and not birth. Why use theoretical data for one religion and societal data for another? This analysis sums up the issue in the best possible manner.)

  • From what I know Yadavs are OBC (cattle rearers/ milkmen). 
  • Dhobi (washer men) would be OBC or SC depending on the state (they are considered auspicious and invited to happy celebrations in Andhra) 

I could tell myself to ignore all of this in the name of creative freedom. But this (read below) is ridiculous. 

We have a three-page crash course on Ramayana because a book set in India is not complete with invoking Ramayana or Mahabharata. It adds nothing to the plot. Like zero. I still don’t mind. So what does this version of Ramayana say? It says Raavan was madly in love with Sita, and hence he kidnapped her. I literally choked on my glass of water when I read this. 

You write a book about perverted men abusing, raping, and controlling women and say that Raavan was in love with Sita. Irony downed itself in Bubble Tea. 

How is it that the difference between lust, dominance, and love is still not clear? Raavan was a rapist who abused countless women. (He was upper caste too, and the author could have made use of this to drive her point for the nth time. But no, he has to be in lovey-dovey love with Sita.) 

Oh, by the way, Raavan did not touch Sita because he was cursed that he would die (his head would be blown into a thousand pieces) if he ever touched a woman without her consent. The curse was given by Nala Kuber when Raavan raped Ramba, Nala Kuber’s fiancé. So, darlings, his lack of action had nothing to do with love or respect but everything to do with the curse. End of the crash course. 

A Few Other Hiccups: 

  • Indians use the word postmortem more than an autopsy.
  • Not sure why Farah wears a bindi (she is a Muslim). 
  • Some terms used by the characters contradict the setting and characterization. There is less probability of them knowing such information. 

To summarize, The Bandit Queens is a book I like and hate in equal measure. I love the layered characters and compelling plotline. But I cannot ignore the attempts at presenting a poor, pathetic, ugly, dirty India with Indians who can’t think beyond caste and religion. This has been an image the developed countries love and expect from third-world countries. I’m tired of authors catering to such needs and playing an earnest brown sepoy. 

I won’t deny the existence of ugly in my country. But we have so much good too. We have people working for equality, balance, and overall growth of the country. Presenting a more balanced view wouldn’t make you any less of an activist. 

I came across a couple of reviews mentioning they have a much lower opinion of Indian society after reading the book. Well, I have a perfect reply for this, I’ll share this instead. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk on the danger of a single story. Listen to it from minutes 10 to 12. That is my answer.  

The saddest part is that such stereotypes are encouraged and cemented by authors of Indian origin, which adds a false layer of credibility to the narrative and makes them ‘more authentic’. This view doesn’t consider that the author’s personal perceptions and ideology are the foundation of the plot. Hetero, we have a bundle of stereotypes presented as an entire country. 

To quote Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, ‘show a people as one thing, as an only thing over and over again, and that is what they become’. 

Thank you, NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Ballantine Books, for the eARC. 

#TheBanditQueens #NetGalley 

*****

P.S: The author mentions how she was worried about milking Phoolan Devi’s name and past for the book and that it wasn’t her intention. She doesn’t have to worry about it. She doesn’t commercialize Phoolan Devi. She commercializes and sells dirty India instead. Something that’ll bring more fame and accolades. 

I mention this because the author has enough talent to create characters that carry a story without relying on a checklist. 

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