Series
Collection
Publication
Harper (2011), Edition: Reprint, 309 pages
Description
"From prize-winning Bangladeshi novelist Tahmima Anam, her deeply moving second novel about the rise of Islamic radicalism in Bangladesh seen through the intimate lens of a family"--
Media reviews
User reviews
LibraryThing member kidzdoc
This brilliant novel about the Bangladeshi independence movement, its aftermath, and the subsequent Islamic movement is one of my ten favorite novels of 2011. It is centered around the relationship of two siblings, each of whom made significant decisions before and after the war of independence
The novel begins in 1971, just after Bangladesh, formerly known as East Pakistan, has triumphed over West Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Sohail Haque is a young soldier in the freedom movement who is returning to his family's home in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. He travels alone, and while seeking shelter he makes a startling discovery that disturbs and transforms him. Weeks later he is greeted joyously by his mother Rehana and his sister Maya, who had feared the worst. Sohail is glad to be back home, but is reluctant to talk about details of the war, and he refuses to tell them the reason for his tardy return to Dhaka.
Sohail, a political activist at his university before the war, was imprisoned and brutally tortured by the Pakistani Army in his student days. During his long mental and physical recovery at home upon his release he takes solace in the Koran verses that his mother reads to him, and he soon embraces the Muslim faith. Unlike his sister, who is diligently studying for her medical degree, Sohail was an indifferent student, and he abandons his studies at the end of the war to become a religious leader. He marries a young widow who lives nearby, and they occupy the top floor of his mother's house, converting it into a center of worship.
Maya leaves home shortly afterward due to a family argument. She completes her medical degree and finds work as an OB-GYN in a small distant town. Years later, she receives word that her brother's wife has died, while her life is simultaneously threatened by men in the small town, and she returns to Dhaka for the first time since she originally left. She moves back home with her mother, but is soon dismayed by her brother's religious activities, including his abandonment of his young son Zaid to the streets. Maya embraces Zaid as if he were her own child, and the two siblings vehemently disagree about his upbringing, and their different views of religion and responsibility to family and society. Although they maintain their love for each other, their positions harden, which leads to tragedy.
"The Good Muslim" is a superb and exquisitely crafted novel, with fascinating and compelling characters and subplots, set in a country that struggles to form an identity after gaining its independence. It was included amongst the best novels of 2011 by The New Yorker, and has been longlisted for this year's Man Asian Literary Prize; despite the presence of other novels by heavyweight authors such as Haruki Murakami and Amitav Ghosh on the longlist, "The Good Muslim" would be an excellent choice for the award. The author's first novel, "The Golden Age", won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in 2008 and was shortlisted for two other major literary awards that year. Tahmima Anam is a major talent who is worthy of greater recognition, and I eagerly await her next book.
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that affected their individual lives, their close relationship with each other, and the fates of those closest to them.The novel begins in 1971, just after Bangladesh, formerly known as East Pakistan, has triumphed over West Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Sohail Haque is a young soldier in the freedom movement who is returning to his family's home in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. He travels alone, and while seeking shelter he makes a startling discovery that disturbs and transforms him. Weeks later he is greeted joyously by his mother Rehana and his sister Maya, who had feared the worst. Sohail is glad to be back home, but is reluctant to talk about details of the war, and he refuses to tell them the reason for his tardy return to Dhaka.
Sohail, a political activist at his university before the war, was imprisoned and brutally tortured by the Pakistani Army in his student days. During his long mental and physical recovery at home upon his release he takes solace in the Koran verses that his mother reads to him, and he soon embraces the Muslim faith. Unlike his sister, who is diligently studying for her medical degree, Sohail was an indifferent student, and he abandons his studies at the end of the war to become a religious leader. He marries a young widow who lives nearby, and they occupy the top floor of his mother's house, converting it into a center of worship.
Maya leaves home shortly afterward due to a family argument. She completes her medical degree and finds work as an OB-GYN in a small distant town. Years later, she receives word that her brother's wife has died, while her life is simultaneously threatened by men in the small town, and she returns to Dhaka for the first time since she originally left. She moves back home with her mother, but is soon dismayed by her brother's religious activities, including his abandonment of his young son Zaid to the streets. Maya embraces Zaid as if he were her own child, and the two siblings vehemently disagree about his upbringing, and their different views of religion and responsibility to family and society. Although they maintain their love for each other, their positions harden, which leads to tragedy.
"The Good Muslim" is a superb and exquisitely crafted novel, with fascinating and compelling characters and subplots, set in a country that struggles to form an identity after gaining its independence. It was included amongst the best novels of 2011 by The New Yorker, and has been longlisted for this year's Man Asian Literary Prize; despite the presence of other novels by heavyweight authors such as Haruki Murakami and Amitav Ghosh on the longlist, "The Good Muslim" would be an excellent choice for the award. The author's first novel, "The Golden Age", won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in 2008 and was shortlisted for two other major literary awards that year. Tahmima Anam is a major talent who is worthy of greater recognition, and I eagerly await her next book.
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LibraryThing member bookmagic
The Good Muslim is a continuation of Anam's first book, The Golden Age. It continues to look at Bangladesh after it's war for independence through the Haque family. This novel picks up about ten years after the first one, in 1984. Maya had left home to work as a country doctor because she can not
Now Maya has returned home after the death of her brother's wife. She discovers she has a young nephew, Zaid whom she wants to enroll in school and her brother, now a religious leader wants him to instead attend a madrassa on a remote river island. (This last part I got from the back cover).
The reason I had to get some of the info from the book synapses is 1- I did not read the first book. 2- I did not finish this novel.
I usually give a book about 50 pages before DNF'ing it. Because this was a review copy from Amazon Vine and the author has won awards, I gave it 100 pages. Then I DNF'd it.
There wasn't anything really wrong with the book, I just was bored. Maybe if I had read the first one I would better understand the dynamics which cause Maya to be so upset at her brother becoming Muslim. But I hadn't connected with any characters, I didn't know enough about Bangladesh to pick up on the subtle issues that seemed to upset Maya. For instance, there is a scene where she is buying vegetables from the vegetable vendor. But there is some issue with the greeting that causes him to give Maya her money back and ask her not to return. This isn't translated into English nor is it explained, so how can I empathize with her?
It's possible that trying to show the issues the country is facing using only one family as an example is too small. Maybe the rest of the book was very good and will also win awards. I just know I have too many books I want to read and am not likely to pick this back up and try to finish.
It just may have been me. I suggest keeping this book on your radar and check out other reviews
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accept that her brother Sohail has returned from the war to become a devout Muslim.Now Maya has returned home after the death of her brother's wife. She discovers she has a young nephew, Zaid whom she wants to enroll in school and her brother, now a religious leader wants him to instead attend a madrassa on a remote river island. (This last part I got from the back cover).
The reason I had to get some of the info from the book synapses is 1- I did not read the first book. 2- I did not finish this novel.
I usually give a book about 50 pages before DNF'ing it. Because this was a review copy from Amazon Vine and the author has won awards, I gave it 100 pages. Then I DNF'd it.
There wasn't anything really wrong with the book, I just was bored. Maybe if I had read the first one I would better understand the dynamics which cause Maya to be so upset at her brother becoming Muslim. But I hadn't connected with any characters, I didn't know enough about Bangladesh to pick up on the subtle issues that seemed to upset Maya. For instance, there is a scene where she is buying vegetables from the vegetable vendor. But there is some issue with the greeting that causes him to give Maya her money back and ask her not to return. This isn't translated into English nor is it explained, so how can I empathize with her?
It's possible that trying to show the issues the country is facing using only one family as an example is too small. Maybe the rest of the book was very good and will also win awards. I just know I have too many books I want to read and am not likely to pick this back up and try to finish.
It just may have been me. I suggest keeping this book on your radar and check out other reviews
Show Less
LibraryThing member mtrumbo
Follow-up novel to Anam's A Golden Age. It takes place several years after the Bangladesh War of Independence and focuses on two siblings who have gone opposite ways in their beliefs. While I did enjoy it, I didn't feel drawn in the way I did with the first book.
LibraryThing member DubaiReader
The second book in the Bangladesh trilogy.
I have just come back from a book group where we discussed this book, and the overall impression was that the shifting time frames had caused quite a bit of confusion. Added to this was the fact that, within the more recent time frame, there were also
However, I did learn a lot about Bangladesh, a country that rarely appears in fiction, and for this reason I gave the book four stars.
Although I had read the first book of the trilogy, A Golden Age, it was four years ago and I struggled to remember the details. Many of our book group members had not read the first book and felt that a short precis at the beginning would have helped. In addition, a brief history of the time would also have clarified certain points.
Rehana Haque was a central character in A Golden Age, where her children, Sohail and Maya, were young. Here we meet them in 1971, as the war for independence is ending and the soldiers and casualties of war make their way home. The second time frame is thirteen years later, when the long term effects of the war have stamped themselves on all the survivors.
Sohail has become devoutly Muslim, while Maya rejects all the trappings of religion. The relationship between these siblings is the central issue of the book and incorporates all the after-effects of war.
One of my favourite characters was Zaid, the mischievous, but lonely son of Sohail. Maya takes Zaid under her wing, but is unable to overrule Sohail when he decides that his son will be educated in a madrassa.
Although the war lasted only nine months, there were a million dead, ten million exiled and thousands of abused women left behind. It is a truly tragic piece of history, given a human slant by Tahmina Anam.
I didn't enjoy this book as much as A Golden Age but I will certainly be on the lookout for the third episode of the trilogy.
Also read:
A Golden Age by Tahmina Anam - 4 stars
I have just come back from a book group where we discussed this book, and the overall impression was that the shifting time frames had caused quite a bit of confusion. Added to this was the fact that, within the more recent time frame, there were also
Show More
flash-backs to the earlier time. Kindle readers, in particular, found this problematic.However, I did learn a lot about Bangladesh, a country that rarely appears in fiction, and for this reason I gave the book four stars.
Although I had read the first book of the trilogy, A Golden Age, it was four years ago and I struggled to remember the details. Many of our book group members had not read the first book and felt that a short precis at the beginning would have helped. In addition, a brief history of the time would also have clarified certain points.
Rehana Haque was a central character in A Golden Age, where her children, Sohail and Maya, were young. Here we meet them in 1971, as the war for independence is ending and the soldiers and casualties of war make their way home. The second time frame is thirteen years later, when the long term effects of the war have stamped themselves on all the survivors.
Sohail has become devoutly Muslim, while Maya rejects all the trappings of religion. The relationship between these siblings is the central issue of the book and incorporates all the after-effects of war.
One of my favourite characters was Zaid, the mischievous, but lonely son of Sohail. Maya takes Zaid under her wing, but is unable to overrule Sohail when he decides that his son will be educated in a madrassa.
Although the war lasted only nine months, there were a million dead, ten million exiled and thousands of abused women left behind. It is a truly tragic piece of history, given a human slant by Tahmina Anam.
I didn't enjoy this book as much as A Golden Age but I will certainly be on the lookout for the third episode of the trilogy.
Also read:
A Golden Age by Tahmina Anam - 4 stars
Show Less
LibraryThing member snash
An engrossing and excellently portrayed story of the effects of war upon the individual, the variety of coping mechanisms and the disaster wrought by silence. The characters are well developed.
Awards
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature (Shortlist — 2013)
Man Asian Literary Prize (Longlist — 2011)
Language
Original publication date
2011