A Burning

A BURNING

by Megha Majumdar

 

Nominations: Carnegie Finalist 2021, National Book Longlist 2020, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2020

 

Date Read: May 18, 2022

 

A Burning follows the travails of three people in the cut-throat survival world of India. Jivan, from a Muslim family, has dropped out of school to get a job to support her parents. Her father broke his back in a police altercation and now cannot work. Lovely is a trans woman who has her heart set on an acting career and would do just about anything to get on the screen. Finally, PT Sir is a schoolteacher with loftier ambitions as he falls in with a new political party that is slowly gaining steam.

 

These are the characters Majumdar presents us with as she grapples with religion, identity and class. What launches these three into each others’ orbits is a bomb that goes off near Jivan’s house. She later posts on Facebook that the police, with their do-nothing attitude, might as well be terrorists. Not long after that post, Jivan is visited by the police and thrown in jail for conspiracy in the bombing. What she didn’t know, is she was responding to a terrorist leader’s post and people had identified her near the train station at the time of the blast carrying a package in her arms.

 

Initially, Lovely comes to her defense, arguing that Jivan was in route to her house to give her the English books from school that she no longer needed. She testified that there was no way Jivan would have been involved. But shortly after the blast, Lovely’s career takes off as a demo of hers goes viral on social media. As she gains popularity and a film role, the producers argue that a rising star can’t be associated with a terrorist. So Lovely recants her testimony in order to get ahead.

 

About the same happens with PT Sir. As he becomes the voice of the new party and works his way up the ladder to greater and greater responsibility, the powers that be determine that the public doesn’t want precious resources spent on keeping a terrorist alive. They essentially scuttle Jivan’s appeal for mercy and speed up her execution.

 

Jivan’s only crime is an ill-advised posting on social media but she executed nevertheless. Not helping her cause or gaining her sympathy is that she is Muslim. Muslim’s in India are considered an underclass and backwards. Ignorance breeds contempt. 

 

The three characters are well-developed and I felt invested in the outcomes of all of their lives. The plot was a little stark for me but I found the writing superb. Not surprised it got the nods it did. 

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