Balli Kaur Jaswal

Nikki ist eine junge indischstämmige Londonerin. Sie hat ihr Jura-Studium aufgegeben, lebt und arbeitet in bzw. über einem Pub und nimmt einen Kurs in Southall an, einem großen von traditionellen Sikh geprägten Stadtteil. Dort soll sie Frauen lesen und schreiben lernen. Stadt dessen beginnen die Frauen im Kurs, die alle verwitwet sind, erotische Geschichten auszutauschen- und zwar wirklich heiße Geschichten! Die Frauen beginnen sich sachte zu emanzipieren, Nikki selbst versöhnt sich mit ihrer Vergangenheit und Zukunft und nebenbei löst sie noch einen Mordfall.
Man kann sich kaum vorstellen, dass sich Frauen zusammensetzen um sich derartig schlüpfrige Geschichten zu erzählen. Insgesamt ist es ein schönes und interessantes Buch, das ich gerne gelesen habe.… (més)

Now You See Us is the latest release from Singaporean author Balli Kaur Jaswal and — intrigued by the premise — I borrowed a copy from the library. Like Jaswal's other novels that I've read it's driven by social issues, this time with an exposé of life and working conditions for Filipina domestic servants in Singapore.

As guest workers in a country where they have few rights, the women have a tenuous place in their host country... and the justice system is stacked against them when one is accused of murdering her employer.

I was impressed by Inheritance (2013) and Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (2017) but Now You See Us is overloaded with issues and the plotting is a bit clunky. In 300-odd pages, Jaswal tackles the situation for the guest workers, with what makes a long list of social and political issues.

It's a lot to pack into a novel, and at times it's too obvious that Jaswal is writing for a foreign audience that needs to have matters explained.

To read the rest of my review, please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/07/04/now-you-see-us-2023-by-balli-kaur-jaswal/… (més)

Forgetting that I'd previously read Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows I read Inheritance as the debut novel of a thoughtful author, and was not surprised to learn that it won the SMH’s Best Young Australian Novelist Award.

The novel covers the development of Singapore an independent state while telling the story of a Punjabi family that settled there. Harbeen, a policeman, was posted to Singapore before its independence. He stays on because he hopes for greater opportunities, even although his wife Dalveer hates it.

The story is narrated in four time frames (1970-1, 1977, 1984-85 and 1990) from the perspective of the main characters: Harbeen, now a single-parent father; his adult children Gurdev and Narain; and his teenage daughter Amrit. There are also occasional enigmatic episodes featuring the wife Dalveer who 'exited' in obscure circumstances early in the story. Other characters of importance are Gurdev's wife Banu and his three daughters; and (like Singapore, orphaned from the Malaysian Federation) the orphaned cousin Karam, who does really well in spite of it.

The father's ambitions mirror those of Singapore's leadership: education, hard work, order and conformity as the route to success. Those who do not 'fit' suffer accordingly.

Narain is expelled from the army because he is gay, and to protect the all-important reputation of the family, his father sends him away to study in the US. It is supposed to 'make a man of him' but instead introduces him to more permissive ways and a resentment of Singaporean interference in its people's lives. When he eventually returns, he is empowered to reject his father's demands that he marry, but his relationships have to remain covert. The same is true of his tentative forays into political activity.

Narain's absence had left Amrit vulnerable, because she has an undiagnosed mental illness and it was Narain who was protecting her. When she disappears, Narain is summoned home, where he learns that shame had a blinding effect on Harbeer and that the police must not be involved because of the family's reputation.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/06/25/inheritance-2013-by-balli-kaur-jaswal/… (més)