Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
W. W. Norton & Company (2019), Edition: Reprint, 288 pages
Description
In this stunning novel, prize-winning author Neel Mukherjee wrests open the central, defining events of our century: displacement and migration. Five characters, in very different circumstances-from a domestic cook in Mumbai, to a vagrant and his dancing bear, to a girl who escapes terror in her home village for a new life in the city-find out the meanings of dislocation and the desire for more. Set in contemporary India and moving between the reality of this world and the shadow of another, this novel of multiple narratives-formally daring, fierce, but full of pity-delivers a devastating and haunting exploration of the unquenchable human urge to strive for a different life.
User reviews
LibraryThing member nancyadair
As I was reading the last pages of this uncomfortable and upsetting novel, my eyes were streaming. My grief was overwhelming.
What story set in India is easy to read? E. M. Forster's Passage to India, depicting British racism and the confused heroine nearly destroying a native Indian man's life
No, India holds such poverty and cruelness next to its beauty and exotic attractions that it is not easy to encounter it. A family member by marriage went to India and talked about the beggars who sat n the traffic circle, obviously unprepared for what they would see.
"...but then he was hopeful and it's hope that kills you in the end"--from A State of Freedom
A State of Freedom is a novel in five stories that are interconnected by characters, each story revealing that character's life and challenges. The characters include native Indians crushed by poverty and desperately hoping for a better life, and those who have gone abroad and return to their homeland to see it with new eyes, the eyes of an outsider.
Can we go home again? We leave and the world changes us so that when we return we can not become again who we were. We know too much, we have assumed new values, or perhaps we just see with fresh vision what we had ignored before, familiar things we once accepted become horrors.
The first story concerns an native Indian who has brought his child to see the land of his nativity, and then is appalled by what they see, starting with a man falling from a tall building. He us upset knowing his child is being exposed to the harsh realities of poverty.
The second story concerns a man visiting his family who becomes overly friendly with the staff; invited to visit the cook's home village he realizes he "had failed to imagine how other people live."
The third story I could not read through; children find a bear cub and ask a man to teach it to be a dancing bear--which the father and son in the first story encounter. When they found the cub they were concerned for it, but the training is cruel and inhumane; the ending is horrifying.
The fourth story concerns Milly who works for the wealthy family in the second story, Her mother sent her away at age eight to be a domestic worker. When she asks when she will return home again, her mother tells her, you won't come back. The girl is desperate to learn, to find a better life. Every few years she is moved to a new position. She finds herself virtually imprisoned in never-ending work. Until rescued from her tower by a clever man.
The last story is stream-of-consciousness, the thoughts of an ailing construction worker desperate to complete his job, his mind wandering to the boy in a car he had seen, wishing he could be "the pampered son of a rich man." But he is betrayed, for neither he or the boy escape their mutual fate.
The novel is dark and painful. Why would I choose to endure such unhappiness? Why should one read this book?
One cannot change the way of the world, or the workings of a foreign society, but one can learn to see beyond the narrow limits of our comfortable world. We can understand how others live, we can learn mercy, pity and compassion.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
What story set in India is easy to read? E. M. Forster's Passage to India, depicting British racism and the confused heroine nearly destroying a native Indian man's life
Show More
because he was more attractive than her fiancé? Or Rumor Godden's novels and stories set in the India of her childhood, and where she returned to live with her children, their cook adding ground glass to their food? I have never forgotten her short story Mercy, Pity, and Love where a man of privilege is thinking about this thesis as his wife is on a buying spree, while on the street an starving woman holds her dying baby.No, India holds such poverty and cruelness next to its beauty and exotic attractions that it is not easy to encounter it. A family member by marriage went to India and talked about the beggars who sat n the traffic circle, obviously unprepared for what they would see.
"...but then he was hopeful and it's hope that kills you in the end"--from A State of Freedom
A State of Freedom is a novel in five stories that are interconnected by characters, each story revealing that character's life and challenges. The characters include native Indians crushed by poverty and desperately hoping for a better life, and those who have gone abroad and return to their homeland to see it with new eyes, the eyes of an outsider.
Can we go home again? We leave and the world changes us so that when we return we can not become again who we were. We know too much, we have assumed new values, or perhaps we just see with fresh vision what we had ignored before, familiar things we once accepted become horrors.
The first story concerns an native Indian who has brought his child to see the land of his nativity, and then is appalled by what they see, starting with a man falling from a tall building. He us upset knowing his child is being exposed to the harsh realities of poverty.
The second story concerns a man visiting his family who becomes overly friendly with the staff; invited to visit the cook's home village he realizes he "had failed to imagine how other people live."
The third story I could not read through; children find a bear cub and ask a man to teach it to be a dancing bear--which the father and son in the first story encounter. When they found the cub they were concerned for it, but the training is cruel and inhumane; the ending is horrifying.
The fourth story concerns Milly who works for the wealthy family in the second story, Her mother sent her away at age eight to be a domestic worker. When she asks when she will return home again, her mother tells her, you won't come back. The girl is desperate to learn, to find a better life. Every few years she is moved to a new position. She finds herself virtually imprisoned in never-ending work. Until rescued from her tower by a clever man.
The last story is stream-of-consciousness, the thoughts of an ailing construction worker desperate to complete his job, his mind wandering to the boy in a car he had seen, wishing he could be "the pampered son of a rich man." But he is betrayed, for neither he or the boy escape their mutual fate.
The novel is dark and painful. Why would I choose to endure such unhappiness? Why should one read this book?
One cannot change the way of the world, or the workings of a foreign society, but one can learn to see beyond the narrow limits of our comfortable world. We can understand how others live, we can learn mercy, pity and compassion.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Beamis12
Stories connected by both a common theme and recurring characters in some, five stories in total. He should us an India, where the wealthy can live down the block from the slums, though the slums are hidden behind a sea wall. Where people are trying to better their lives grabbing at chances for
The third is the hardest to read, a man finds a bear cub and decides to train it so that he can take it on the road and make money for his family and his brothers family. This is a graphic and abusive depiction of what it takes to make the bear obedient. I skimmed much of this, in fact almost put the book down but this man can write, his words so impactful and I continued on. The desperation of this man trying to do anything to make money, to rise above himself by whatever means was emotionally stirring. Things do not go as well as planned, but the man feels free on the road.
This author does not spare the reader, the utter hopelessness so many of these people feel. Food is a key theme, either the cooking of it where there is plenty, or the lack of it, the desperation to feed a family with no money no resources. Lack of education and wanting to better oneself, in one story a man who takes his wife to the hospital but cannot read feels a hopelessness that is searing when he cannot read the signs telling him where to go.
The last story is all new sentence and relates back to the first. This is a magnificent collection, albeit one that is hard emotionally to read. Yet, so often these are the stories that stick with the reader, make the greatest impression. For me, this one did and will.
ARC from Edelweiss.
Show More
either themselves or their children. The second story is by far the easiest, at least emotionally to read. A young man return from America for a month with plans to write a regional cookbook of recipes from his Homeland. While there he makes friend with the cook, a woman who he find our PT after visiting her village, that cooks for multiple families sending most of the money home so that a nephew can go to college in America and better himself and his family. The third is the hardest to read, a man finds a bear cub and decides to train it so that he can take it on the road and make money for his family and his brothers family. This is a graphic and abusive depiction of what it takes to make the bear obedient. I skimmed much of this, in fact almost put the book down but this man can write, his words so impactful and I continued on. The desperation of this man trying to do anything to make money, to rise above himself by whatever means was emotionally stirring. Things do not go as well as planned, but the man feels free on the road.
This author does not spare the reader, the utter hopelessness so many of these people feel. Food is a key theme, either the cooking of it where there is plenty, or the lack of it, the desperation to feed a family with no money no resources. Lack of education and wanting to better oneself, in one story a man who takes his wife to the hospital but cannot read feels a hopelessness that is searing when he cannot read the signs telling him where to go.
The last story is all new sentence and relates back to the first. This is a magnificent collection, albeit one that is hard emotionally to read. Yet, so often these are the stories that stick with the reader, make the greatest impression. For me, this one did and will.
ARC from Edelweiss.
Show Less
LibraryThing member c.archer
Parts of this I really liked and other parts were just OK. Overall, I would give it 3.5 stars for the succinct and spare but lovely writing. If you are interested in India and Indian life, I would suggest giving it a try.
LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35
I'm sure that in certain literary circles, this novel is considered brilliant, and all those other similar accolades, but it's just not my cup of tea. I'm certain this isn't a bad book, I just didn't like it at all. The story seems to meander between characters, whose connections are not always
Show More
readily apparent and for me, the writing was not especially compelling. Several of the characters were sympathetic and had good stories, but I felt like I didn't get the opportunity to get to really know them before the book moved on to another character and story. And as I'm not typically a fan of stream-of-consciousness literature, the last ten pages were particularly torturous for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member brangwinn
I felt despair as I read the short stories of people searching for more. The stories are set in India and have a subtle connection. This wasn’t light reading. Using short stories is an excellent way to show a variety of points of view.
LibraryThing member fulner
I was really pretty disappointed by this audibook. Contrary to what the subtitle says this is not a novel, but a collection of short stories. I kept hopting they would all come together in the end, but alas no. One of the characters from teh second story takes a leading roll for the last story, but
Most of the stories just kind of end, no climax, and certainly no happy ending. From rich man's kid dies, to servant girl gets fired, to someone MIGHT have found out wear the dancing bear guy lives.
The best story was the second story about an Indian guy who lives in Britain who gets his employer to pay for his annual trip home under the guise of writing an authentic Indian breakfast cook book travel to each state and sampling their unique cuisine. It was interesting and made me hungry but alas no good ending.
Show More
nothing satisfactory occurs. Most of the stories just kind of end, no climax, and certainly no happy ending. From rich man's kid dies, to servant girl gets fired, to someone MIGHT have found out wear the dancing bear guy lives.
The best story was the second story about an Indian guy who lives in Britain who gets his employer to pay for his annual trip home under the guise of writing an authentic Indian breakfast cook book travel to each state and sampling their unique cuisine. It was interesting and made me hungry but alas no good ending.
Show Less
LibraryThing member arosoff
The five stories interconnect in various ways--some more obvious than others--but overall, it didn't quite hang together.
LibraryThing member juniperSun
I'm going to have to find a print copy to improve this review. I didn't realize at first that these were separate stories, or how different sections related to each other. It took longer than I expected to get used to the accent of the reader, but once I did I felt it strongly supported the sense
I did visit India for 2 weeks in my early 20's, and was completely unprepared for the Delhi streets. Reading this book made me look back on my experience and wonder how much of the ceremony I was there for was another attempt to bilk the white visitors, as profit to an upper caste man.
The first story, about a father's sense of dissociation when he has brought his young son to tour his homeland of India, was not that interesting, but as the book progressed and presented more stories about the impoverished people of India, I began to wonder if there was some meaning in presenting this experience of an emigrant Indian first. Definitely need the print book to study this, as I also wonder how much of this story is autobiographical.
The story of a man who trains a bear did not engender much sympathy for the man, but as I heard another story of a man trapped in paying off debt, I began to understand the motivation for the bear story.
The story about Indian cooking, and the descriptions of food in some of the other stories, had me longing to eat them.
What seemed to be a long story (or maybe it was 2 related stories) about a tribal girl who is raped and beaten by the local police and later joins guerillas connected in my mind with the treatment the native persons in my country also receive. There is no way we can stand as 'holier than thou' and condemn practices in another country if we can't take care of our own.
Shortly after reading this, I picked up a missionary's book which was essentially describing life in modern India to induce guilt and donations from Euro/American readers. It made a big deal about the caste system limiting people. The book did not inspire me, but did cause me to ponder how much the caste system is still active in India. Mukherjee barely mentioned any sense of caste by the people in his stories; one just picks up on a vague impression of the Indian emigrant likely being and upperclass educated person, versus the barely literate forest dwellers. Based on our American culture it was easy to see the difference as economic classes (which play a major role here) as a religio-oppressive caste belief.
Show More
of a different culture.I did visit India for 2 weeks in my early 20's, and was completely unprepared for the Delhi streets. Reading this book made me look back on my experience and wonder how much of the ceremony I was there for was another attempt to bilk the white visitors, as profit to an upper caste man.
The first story, about a father's sense of dissociation when he has brought his young son to tour his homeland of India, was not that interesting, but as the book progressed and presented more stories about the impoverished people of India, I began to wonder if there was some meaning in presenting this experience of an emigrant Indian first. Definitely need the print book to study this, as I also wonder how much of this story is autobiographical.
The story of a man who trains a bear did not engender much sympathy for the man, but as I heard another story of a man trapped in paying off debt, I began to understand the motivation for the bear story.
The story about Indian cooking, and the descriptions of food in some of the other stories, had me longing to eat them.
What seemed to be a long story (or maybe it was 2 related stories) about a tribal girl who is raped and beaten by the local police and later joins guerillas connected in my mind with the treatment the native persons in my country also receive. There is no way we can stand as 'holier than thou' and condemn practices in another country if we can't take care of our own.
Shortly after reading this, I picked up a missionary's book which was essentially describing life in modern India to induce guilt and donations from Euro/American readers. It made a big deal about the caste system limiting people. The book did not inspire me, but did cause me to ponder how much the caste system is still active in India. Mukherjee barely mentioned any sense of caste by the people in his stories; one just picks up on a vague impression of the Indian emigrant likely being and upperclass educated person, versus the barely literate forest dwellers. Based on our American culture it was easy to see the difference as economic classes (which play a major role here) as a religio-oppressive caste belief.
Show Less
Awards
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature (Shortlist — 2018)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction — 2018)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults (Top Ten — 2018)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2017
Physical description
8.3 inches
ISBN
0393356698 / 9780393356694