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What the Body Remembers A Novel Shauna Singh Baldwin 9780385496056 Books

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What the Body Remembers A Novel Shauna Singh Baldwin 9780385496056 Books

This may be the best Indian historical novel I've read to date--certainly, about the end of the Raj. For a week and a half, I was utterly swept up into the world of Roop and Satya, the two wives of Sardarji Singh, a wealthy Sikh landowner who also works as an engineering officer for the (British) Indian Civil Service in 1940s Punjab. The lives of these two women illustrate a quest for personal happiness and self esteem, mirroring the desperate struggle of Sikhs to remain living in their homeland. Many female Sikh, Muslim and Hindu charactesr in the story face sexism from their families; they are taught to say yes and agree to anything meted out to them, even when the result may be fatal.

Shauna Singh Baldwin has created very real and flawed characters--a fact that I love. Satya, Sardarji's first wife, is bitter after the embarrassment of not delivering a child after many years of marriage. Roop is naive and shallow when at age 16, she willingly marries Sardarji, thinking only about the riches and leisure that should await her. What a rude awakening she as when Satya uses her to her own devices. Both characters grow in a way that is intensely satisfying. The battle between Roop and Satya mirrors Sardarji's own fight to keep his holdings and life in Punjab, while facing the realities of the inevitable British pullout of India in 1947.

I adored the history of Sikkhism, politics, and daily life in Punjabi households, great and poor. The last two chapters include scenes of violence that may be very disturbing to some; however, I feel they had to be there, to truly make the story believable and as haunting as it turned out to be.


Tags : What the Body Remembers: A Novel [Shauna Singh Baldwin] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Out of the rich culture of India and the brutal drama of the 1947 Partition comes this lush and eloquent debut novel about two women married to the same man. Roop is a young girl whose mother has died and whose father is deep in debt. So she is elated to learn she is to become the second wife of a wealthy Sikh landowner in a union beneficial to both. For Sardaji’s first wife,Shauna Singh Baldwin,What the Body Remembers: A Novel,Anchor,0385496052,Literary,Sikhs - India - Punjab - History - 20th century,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Literary,FICTION Women,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction-Literary,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical - General,Historical fiction,POPULAR AMERICAN FICTION,historical;literary fiction;historical fiction novels;historical fiction books;women's fiction;historical fiction;gifts for women;fiction;alternate history;novels;gifts for her;fiction books;historical novels;women;literature;books fiction;realistic fiction books;books historical fiction;women gifts;romance;islam;drama;family;indian;love;family saga;mystery;saga;culture;adventure;war;epic;french;short stories;spirituality;asian;fantasy;relationships;england;magical realism;friendship,historical fiction; historical fiction books; historical; literary fiction; family; war; asian; fiction; fiction books; literature; historical fiction novels; gifts for women; gifts for her; women; women gifts; indian; islam; drama; love; culture; saga; adventure; french; short stories; friendship; women's fiction; novels; alternate history; historical novels; realistic fiction books; books fiction; books historical fiction; romance; family saga; mystery; epic; spirituality; fantasy; relationships; england; magical realism

What the Body Remembers A Novel Shauna Singh Baldwin 9780385496056 Books Reviews

So few people in the western world know of the terrible times in India at the time of the partition. This very human story depicts the life of a Sikh girl who has so little control over her own fate and the story of a family trying to survive the horrors of racial and civil war.
It is a wonderful description of where I grew up and how the partition of the country took place,
Many of the other 5-star reviews provide an excellent summary of the book. the characters--men and women--will remian in your mind and heart long after you've finished the book. And after a long tale filled with some happiness and some great sadness, the ending will change everything. this is one of those books that you willl be very happy to have read.
Happy to have this book, needed it for class.
What the Body Remembers falls into the genre known among my friends and I as "awful/wonderful." "Awful/wonderful" books tell painful truths in such a compelling manner that the reader greedily ingests them, even aches for more. This book, with its no-holds-barred tale of the treatment of women in India, whether Muslim, Hindu or Sikh, can be painful to read--but it's impossible not to. Of all the novels I've read by and about Indian women's lives, What the Body Remembers was by far the most disturbing. And yet I was sorry to close it after reading the last page--it was throughly engrossing, and as fascinating in its way as Memoirs of a Geisha. I highly recommend it.
I knew about the partition of India into Muslim and Hindu states after Independence, but half a world and half a century away from the events, I had no clue about what that actually meant to the people who were living in that part of the world. It's less a novel of plot than of experience, told from the perspective of those who suffer the most when a people is squeezed on the hinges of history. I could not put it down, and I have not had that experience for a long time. I urge anyone serious about stepping beyond the predicability of a novel of plot or relationships to read this book. I cannot understand why it has taken so long for it to catch on in the U.S.
This is a beautifully written novel. Shauna Singh Baldwin creates intricate characters that are completely believable in their complexity. And her plot is continually full of surprises. Once I started reading the book, I couldn't put it down. Nor could I help wondering What if Sardarji had not chosen a second wife, had grieved his not begetting a child with Satya, and had devoted his life to her? What if Satya had transformed her anger and resentment of Sardarji and believed in his goodness to her? What if Satya had transformed her jealousy of Roop and befriended her rather than taking revenge? In her own way, Shauna Singh Baldwin does weave transformation into her characters.

The title of the book is most apt in this age where we are increasingly appreciating the truth of what the body remembers.

Enjoy a great read!
This may be the best Indian historical novel I've read to date--certainly, about the end of the Raj. For a week and a half, I was utterly swept up into the world of Roop and Satya, the two wives of Sardarji Singh, a wealthy Sikh landowner who also works as an engineering officer for the (British) Indian Civil Service in 1940s Punjab. The lives of these two women illustrate a quest for personal happiness and self esteem, mirroring the desperate struggle of Sikhs to remain living in their homeland. Many female Sikh, Muslim and Hindu charactesr in the story face sexism from their families; they are taught to say yes and agree to anything meted out to them, even when the result may be fatal.

Shauna Singh Baldwin has created very real and flawed characters--a fact that I love. Satya, Sardarji's first wife, is bitter after the embarrassment of not delivering a child after many years of marriage. Roop is naive and shallow when at age 16, she willingly marries Sardarji, thinking only about the riches and leisure that should await her. What a rude awakening she as when Satya uses her to her own devices. Both characters grow in a way that is intensely satisfying. The battle between Roop and Satya mirrors Sardarji's own fight to keep his holdings and life in Punjab, while facing the realities of the inevitable British pullout of India in 1947.

I adored the history of Sikkhism, politics, and daily life in Punjabi households, great and poor. The last two chapters include scenes of violence that may be very disturbing to some; however, I feel they had to be there, to truly make the story believable and as haunting as it turned out to be.