“I saw my mother then as a woman. I felt her humiliation. And where I had always felt shame, I now felt white-hot anger” – Megha Majumdar

Power. A word so often used that the depth of its meaning is no longer felt. An expression of authority. A privilege. Our downfall.

‘A Burning’ is the story of three characters: Jivan, Lovely, and PT Sir, whose fates were intertwined in the circumstance that changed their lives. Not that they didn’t know each other, but they pretended not to for the sake of theirs and their family’s well-being. But that’s how the world works, isn’t it? We mind our own business and look after our lives, without an iota of care for the lives that are being affected. Our civilization is built on this principle.

The book highlighted a fictional tale of true events that happen in India now and then. A person is guilty when the government and the people say they are, and not because of the truth. Broken foundations lead to the crumbling of even a grand structure; which is exactly what’s happening to our country. The book was well written, except for the fact that the grammar was changed for each person, making it seem like Lovely didn’t know English and Jivan knew very little; something that I did not appreciate. Other than that, the book was a masterpiece, nay a memoir, of some lost soul.

While not being especially plot driven, this novel explores corruption and justice in modern India through multiple POVs. It's a very promising debut from Majumdar. The voices of each POV character come through as distinct, which many seasoned authors struggle with. I found some of the prose gorgeous:

"He falls back into the delicious sleep of ten more minutes"
"All day rain drips and drops, and when it pauses for break, it is replaced by the false rain of fat water from ledges and leaves"

I especially enjoyed Lovely's sections, a Hijra training to be an actress. The section about her friend Raghi's operation I found to be completely harrowing but I liked how Lovely found strength from it.

Lovely is quite well realised as a character, but the other two POVs, Jivan and PT Sir, I found much less developed and compelling to read about. This was the main issue which prevented me from loving it more, but if you enjoy cultural fiction, I'd highly recommend this book.

A Burning is a novel about injustice, corruption, and the different ways three characters view events in India. In Kolkata, a terrorist train attack becomes viral news, and Jivan, a young Muslim girl living in the slums, posts on Facebook to complain about the police response. However, she was on the train platform that night, with an armful of books, and suddenly she is being accused of being part of the attack. Two people from her life—Lovely, a hijra trying to become a famous actress who Jivan was teaching English, and PT Sir, a teacher who once taught Jivan and finds himself involved in politics—become tied up in her trial and whether or not she'll be sentenced to death.

The novel unfolds by following the three main characters and how their lives change as they are caught up in the events, for better or for worse. The way sympathy is presented is really interesting, with Jivan obviously a sympathetic character caught up in a furore that makes her even less likely to get justice, but more complexity around the others, especially Lovely who just wants to make it as a star and be treated better, but standing up for Jivan might threaten that. It becomes clear that justice isn't simple, and that any justice system cannot claim to be looking solely at the facts when you have to take other people's lives and motivations into account. The political rise of PT Sir brings another dimension, thinking about nationalist politics and how people justify their actions to themselves even when morally suspect.

A Burning is a tense novel that leaves you with a real sense of injustice and the ways that class and position in society can deeply affect people's lives. It is a fast-paced read would probably work well adapted into a film, as the different narratives running through the book already feel like they cut between the main characters to really get across how they impact each other.

A Burning is an apt title for this book. It begins with hundreds dying in a blaze – but it’s more than that. The tension in this book simmers before eventually boiling over. At the start, I had sympathy and hope. By the end, I was just angry.

What I loved most about A Burning is how it throws all these questions of morality at you disguised as the way characters act, react and are treated. Questions like are we complicit in a crime if we stand back and say nothing?

It comes across as a bleak and brutal piece of fiction but it’s super important to recognise the dangers of social media and corruption. While I did thoroughly enjoy A Burning, I wouldn’t recommend it to readers who are sensitive to graphic violence. (There’s one scene in particular that I suspect will traumatise me forever.)

CW/TWs: Transphobia, sexual assault, murder, lynching, death by burning, death by hanging, graphic violence, surgery trauma

Three memorable characters get caught up in the story of a terrorist explosion on a train and highlight the injustices and corruption in society.
Which sounds a bit dry,when actually from Lovely especially I felt nothing but warmth.
An incredibly good debut,I look forward to seeing how it does.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this story. I found it to be a bit of a mixed bag. I loved the character development and the vivid descriptions. Struggled to workout the speaker of the chapter. Quick, enjoyable read.

This is a fascinating book, one that you read and feel like it will stick out in your memory as something you havent read before. Its split between three different characters, and i personally found Jivan the most enjoyable, the one i connected to and empathised with more. Connecting Lovely and PT Sir together was very clever, However i would have loved a more connecting ending that included Lovely. The fate of Jivan was heartbreaking and offered me to think deeply about why the book ended the way it did and what the meaning of this story is. I still dont know, but it has made me think, and to want to know more about Indian politics, so i can see this book in a different light.

<i>What can words do? Not very much.</i>

Well, I thought this was pretty incredible. I wanted to read this book because of the James Wood review in the New Yorker, and I was IMPRESSED. I read it in almost a single session, a testament to the book's energy and vibe. The voice, the pace, the details... it's all so wonderfully done. The themes - how to be a moral person, how to hold onto your self-respect in face of a society that tries to shame you, the rise of rightwing nationalism and how this connects to the exciting desire to belong, to feel part of something greater, to have control over your life - it's all executed very well. You can really tell that the author is an editor in her IRL job, and must have edited the shit out of this book to make it tight, tight, tight.

This is definitely the kind of book I would recommend to people in terms of 'this is how you can pull off a first-novel.' It reminded me of <i>Hurricane Season</i> in terms of its energy and readability.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.