Shame: A Novel Hardcover – October 1, 1997

Had to read it for class. Sigh. While it is not my kind of reading but I do have to say they book does a great job of conveying the fear and issues that the family faces. However, I had to give this book 3 stars because the main character is soooo infuriating and unsympathetic. I should feel sympathy for the injustice he is facing BUT the way he handles the situation is selfish and childish. It does not matter how unjust a situation is. Your family's safety should always come first, not your own self-pity. If you end up reading the book, try not to let the main character's unjustified selfishness and self-pity distract you from the overall message.Spoiler!!!: I just cannot get over his sister's kidnapping. That guy, I can't even type his name, I am so upset. He knows what is going on around him and what could (and unfortunately did) happen to his family and instead of going to a friend's like his mother begged he just sulked around until it was too late. It was almost like he was waiting for something bad to happen as to justify his violence as retaliation?! His sister had been abducted once before and the family was so lucky to get her back but for some reason did not learn their lesson afterwards.

This is an epic book, nothing less. It should be read by anyone interested in the problem of communalism also known as sectarianism or in plain English - the infusion of religion into politics. Shame is a novel about the atrocious suffering of Hindus in Bangladesh in 1992 in the aftermath of the destruction of the Babri Mosque by Hindu fanatics in neighboring India. In response to that act of Hindu sectarianism, Muslims occupied nearly the next two weeks with pogroms directed at Bangladesh's non-Muslim minorities. The issue goes much deeper, however, than such occasional outbursts of fanaticism. Underlying these outbursts are religious power structures that feed off of such mass fanaticism and that have been more and more infiltrating into established politics in country after country in the last 40 years or so. But not only is this book an excellent expose of the evils of religious politics in Bangladesh or in the SubContinent, but the scenarios depicted in the book have subsequently become 'norms' following US and NATO interventions in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Syria and elsewhere. But a crucial feature of "Shame" is the psychological study by Ms Nasrin of secular Hindu Bangladeshis, ground down by the relentless and utterly brutal sectarianism of their Muslim fellow-citizens. This psychological study of the effects of communalism/sectarianism on persecuted minorities is particularly interesting and has relevance to any situation - and alas there are many around the world - in which persecuted minorities are driven to reverse sectarianism. For readers around the world, SHAME is perhaps more topical and relevant now than when it was written over 20 years ago, because the universal relevance of the story is now unfortunately becoming more obvious by the day.

In 1992, some Hindus in India destroyed the Babri mosque. In retaliation, violence against Hindus spread across Bangladesh. Thug violence is not uncommon in Bangladesh (particularly around election time), and Bangladesh is not a high-profile country, and so little comment was made about these events internationally.Naslim - originally a muslim herself (although now she claims to be an athiest) - wrote Shame in protest. It took her 7 days, and it shows by being a raw, occasionally awkward book. It follows the activities of the hindu anti-hero Suranjan, and his family, during the period of violence. This is not a particularly extreme book. In no way does it suggest that hindus are good and muslims are bad. Instead, it explores the effect of violence and oppression on the psychology and relationships of people. It feels very real. It reminds me of David Grossman's writing on Israel: that the oppression contaminates both sides. Grossman describes the situation there as two apples pressed together and rot spreading on both.Nasrin does not lie or exaggerate what happened in Bangladesh. True, she does not include the full politics of India, Pakistan, British rule, partition etc., but that's because this is a novel about a family in Bangladesh. Its scale is intimate.While Nasrin's novel is not extreme, the reaction to it is. Islamic fundamentalists have offered a large cash reward to anybody who murders her. She now lives outside Bangladesh.I like Nasrin. I like her honesty, intense intelligence and courage, all of which come through in this book. Elsewhere, she has made comments about abolishing Quranic law because of its discrimination of women. I like that too.Bangladesh is a forgotten country. Inside it, controversial, informed voices (especially women's) are rarely heard. The country needs people like Nasrin. People should read books like hers, whether or not their views are the same. It's intelligent to do so.

The book demonstrates how religion divides people unnecessarily and provides a good argument for secularism and humanism. Unfortunately I found myself skipping several pages sometimes because they were full of endless statistics and found them to be a distraction from the story of the Hindu patriarch Sudhamey and the rest of his family. The book excels at portraying the different way each member of the family deals with tragedy. However the story is frequently jarred to a halt by the introduction of minor characters whose only purpose is to present textbook style information on cases of abuse and destruction in a rather didactic manner. I can understand why the writer took this approach but I think a "show don't tell" approach with a greater focus on specific examples with more context and background would have been more effective. One thing I think the author should be praised for is that she does not single out the Muslim extremists. The Hindu extremists who demolished the Babri mosque and organizations such as Bharatiya Janata Party receive as much condemnation as the Islamic fundamentalists.

Wonderful