Peggy Herring

This is going to be a mixed review, to match my mixed and conflicted thoughts on the story. The first half of the story is our lead character Robin as a University exchange student in Dhaka in 1970, in the lead up to and start of the Bangladesh Liberation War. The social-political-economic landscape of then East Pakistan is vividly presented. One gets a feel for the intellectual and emotional impact those times had on different segments of the population - the language wars of Udru and Bangla, the conflicts between the Biharis and the Bengalis - as well as the at time huge cultural divide between Robin and Luna, a same age daughter of Robin's exchange family, the Chowdhury family. That part of the story was excellent.

Robin is a character that I just cannot relate to. She has a fierce stubborn streak in her that while at time not surprising for her 20-year old self to have, but not something that should carry on well into middle life. I mean, it does explain why she experiences some of the difficulties she encounters but overall, it was impossible for me to feel any form of sympathy for her.

The second half of the book jumps us forward 30 years and to Robin's return trip to Bangladash and then back to Salt Spring Island, BC, Robin's current situation and the memories she brings up. This part of the story didn't work for me as well as the first part did. The latitude and naivety I was willing to grant to young Robin had me wanting to grab the older Robin by the shoulders, give her a good shake and ask her what planet she thinks she is living on. I am not a big fan of 'what is wrong with me' introspective stories and definitely not when they carry a stubborn "I am right" approach to the analysis. That is how the second half of this book came across to me. I mean, there is pride and then there is just down right stupidity. Older Robin's response when she is offered a job that could help her out of a very tight financial predicament:

"I know who I am: a semi-retired middle-aged widow with little income, whom it pleases to manage on her own, thank you very much.

Seriously!? Lastly, the book doesn't really have an ending. It kind of just losses momentum and then stops without closure on any of the major themes. That annoys me.

Overall, a good book for providing impressions of the lead up to the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War but other than that, this was not my kind of read, so I am probably not the best person to write the first review to be posted regarding this book on LT. Other readers will have to make their own judgement calls on this one.… (mere)