China Room
Sahota, SunjeevIn 1929 when Mehar Kaur and two other young women marry three Sikh brothers in rural Punjab, their mother-in-law ensures that their sequestration is such that they do not know whose husband is whose, as they only meet alone at night. When the inevitable confusion comes to pass, the consequences will be heart-breaking. Mehar's fate is revealed by her great-grandson decades later, visiting from England, fighting his own demons and contemplating his family's circumstances.
Inspired by the author's family history, this is an emotionally powerful story of connection and estrangement and of characters at the mercy of cultural expectations. [Larger font]
Pages
243
243
Year
2021
2021
Reviews
21-03-2023
We all enjoyed the book very much - it was complex and some read it twice. There is a lot of intriguing ambiguity which makes it a gripping story. The two different but related stories gave us a fascinating comparison between two different times and countries during such turbulent political times for Indian people.
17-03-2023
Most enjoyed the book. Well-written.
06-03-2023
Most of our group enjoyed this book. The two stories intertwined stretching across time. An insight into life where arranged marriages were the norm in a patriarchal society and yet it was the mother-in-law who controlled her sons and allocated tasks to their wives. So many themes for discussion - addiction, rejection, love, racism, treatment of women.
12-01-2023
An easy read, but also really hard to fathom why women are treated so badly. We learnt a lot from this book.
05-09-2022
We felt that this could have been two separate books, the old story and the recent story. As the change between eras was hard to distinguish, it would have been good to have a 'wrap up' at the end, to show how it all fitted together.
22-08-2022
This book was rather difficult for our members to enjoy, but an honest story of another society.