Book: Ice-Candy Man
Author: Bapsi Sidhwa
Pages: 339
How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days
Read On: Paperback
Plot Summary: The 1947 Partition of India is the backdrop for this powerful novel, narrated by a precocious child who describes the brutal transition with chilling veracity. Young Lenny Sethi is kept out of school because she suffers from polio. She spends her days with Ayah, her beautiful nanny, visiting with the large group of admirers that Ayah draws. It is in the company of these working class characters that Lenny learns about religious differences, religious intolerance, and the blossoming genocidal strife on the eve of Partition.
As she matures, Lenny begins to identify the differences between the Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs engaging in political arguments all around her. Lenny enjoys a happy, privileged life in Lahore, but the kidnapping of her beloved Ayah signals a dramatic change. Soon Lenny’s world erupts in religious, ethnic, and racial violence.
By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, the domestic drama serves as a microcosm for a profound political upheaval.
General Thoughts: I saw 1947 Earth, when it came out in 1998 and I loved it. I can't recommend it enough. I always knew the movie was based on a book and I always intended on reading the book, weirdly it took me all this time to get around to the book! Since I loved the movie so much, I was sure the book would blow my mind, because books trump movies always. Well...almost always.
Things I Liked:
1. The author has done a wonderful job showing the world through the eyes of little girl. The chaos, the change, the people around her and the relationships and the grown-ups, the narrative seemed like it really came from a child's perspective. The confusion, the half-understood truths seemed genuine.
2. The situation and the life in 1940's pre-independence India/Pakistan was also captured well. It came alive within the pages of this book.
3. Lenny herself was a very interestingly written and very memorable. She is loves spending time with adults in her life and is oddly grateful for her Polio that keeps her out of school. She likes the special privileges her disability provides her.
4. A lot of the secondary characters are wonderfully crafted, Lenny, her parents, Ayah, the servants and Lenny's Godmother. They are all well-written and unique.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. This book was a disappointing read. Overall, it just didn't match up to the magic of the film version. One of those rare instances, where the movie was just loads better.
2. The movie ends on a pivotal point. a very powerful last scene that felt me stunned when I first watched it. In the book, this scene, this bit, comes in the latter bit of the second half and after it there are 60 or so more pages. Which to me lost the punch of that moment.
3. There was also a lot of strangeness and sexual stirrings in this book...which to me seemed a little forced.
4. The writing wasn't amazing either. I have read another book by the same author "Pakistani Bride" which was a better written book. The writing in this book was just...not that great.
Rating: 2/5
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