3.5
A Burning: A Read with Jenna Pick
ByPublisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK! • A "gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary" (USA Today) 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 is an electrifying debut.
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 is an electrifying debut.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesA Burning: A Read with Jenna Pick Reviews
3.5
“i will not be able to ever stop thinking abt this book. it tackled such oppressive issues and did not turn its face away from the horrors of injustice.
also just really hit the nail on the head with the impact social media has on justice and the community it can bring together and the lives it can ruin. so sad. needs to be studied.
gave me a similar vibe to chain-gang all-stars in the way it approached social issues in such an absurd way that’s actually not that far off from reality when you really get into it.”
“An eye-opener for those who don’t know much about Indian politics. Very little of what’s written in this book feels exaggerated or blown out of proportion. Instead, it reflects realities that many Indians will find painfully familiar. It shows how easily the government can pit one group against another whenever it serves its own interests—not only to maintain its own power, but also as a divide-and-conquer tactic that keeps people from standing together in solidarity against corruption. And while it may seem like some people are being given opportunities to move up in life, the story also makes it painfully clear just how much you have to sacrifice in order to climb the ladder in a country like India.
The writing is as straightforward as the story itself. It isn’t flowery, but it still lands with impact, and there are a handful of lines that are genuinely poetic. I’m definitely curious to read more of Megha Majumdar. My only hope is that her writing continues to evolve, because she already knows how to tell a compelling story.”
About Megha Majumdar
Megha Majumdar was born and raised in Kolkata, India. She moved to the United States to attend college at Harvard University, followed by graduate school in social anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. She works as an editor at Catapult and lives in New York City. A Burning is her first book.
Other books by Megha Majumdar
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