Book Review: Karma: A Verse Novel, by Cathy Ostlere (Razorbill, 2011)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.


I was immediately drawn into Cathy Ostlere's stunning debut novel, Karma, written in free verse and set in India during the turbulent period immediately after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.  Her 15-year old heroine, Maya, a Canadian teenager who’s half-Hindu, and half-Sikh, is traveling with her grief-stricken father to India with the ashes of her mother and a new diary to record her thoughts.  On the night they arrive, the prime minister is killed in her own garden by her Sikh guards, and In the turmoil and harrowing violence that erupt immediately after the assassination, Maya and her father are separated.  With no time to think, Maya cuts off her hair and disguises herself as a boy, running to the train station to try to find her father.  When he doesn’t arrive, she gets on a train anyway, not knowing exactly where she is headed in the chaos.  On the train journey, she witnesses unimaginable horrors, and is so traumatized she is unable to speak.  


Taken in by a kind doctor’s family, where no one knows who she is or where she comes from, Maya struggles to come back to life, with the help of Sandeep, an orphan boy who she’s just met.  She has lost everything--but she will find love, open her heart, and recover her voice with Sandeep, who eventually takes her back to Dehli to try to find her father.  While Maya is mute, Sandeep takes over the narration in the second half of the novel, giving the book two distinct voices.  Toward the end of the novel, Maya resumes the narration.  


This is a deeply romantic story of young love, passion, family, and trauma, where the evocative poetry serves to heighten the drama and suspense of the story.  Because of the suspense of the story line, you will want to hurry along to find out what happens, but don’t forget to take the time to admire Ostlere’s elegant poetry, sometimes written in two columns.  Asked often why the novel is written in free verse, she eloquently replies:  “The best answer I have to this question is that Karma’s poetic form suits the emotional lives of Maya and Sandeep. Their feelings are intense, their insights into the world are sharp and critical, and their understanding of what it means to be human is fresh, ragged, not yet smoothed by maturity, not yet smoothed by conventional narrative. Poetry is the perfect medium for their age. The short sentence. The precise image. The outbursts of feeling. Maya and Sandeep invite the reader to look inside their diaries where they reveal an intimate world of secrets, confessions and longings, and where poetry is a fire.”


Although this book looks imposing at over 500 pages, it is actually a relatively quick read because of the free verse format, and like the books of YA authors Ellen Hopkins and Sonya Sones, would be a good recommendation for reluctant readers.  With its exotic setting, it’s also a great fit with this year’s One World, Many Stories summer reading theme.  


Ostlere’s website gives additional background on the genesis of this novel, which took root during her own travels in India in 1984, and the origin of the character of Maya, who is inspired by a young Indian girl she knew growing up in Canada, as well as some stunning photographs evoking the brilliant colors of India.

Tween Tuesday Book Review: Small Acts of Amazing Courage, by Gloria Whelan (Paula Wiseman Book, 2011)

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

In her newest novel, National Book Award winner Gloria Whelan returns to India, also the setting for her award-winning novel, Homeless Bird.   She tells the story of kind-hearted but independent-minded Rosalind, an English girl living in 1919 colonial India.

She is constantly doing things not fit for a proper young English girl.  For example, she finds the club, populated with proper young girls her age, boring, and prefers going to the colorful local bazaar and spending time with Isha, her Indian friend.

Her father returns from military service in the war horrified to discover that Rosalind is picking up a Hindi accent from spending too much time with servants and not enough time at the club.  But when Rosalind takes an interest in Gandhi and his attempt to free India from British rule, and gets involved with rescuing an orphan Indian baby, her father insists that she be sent to her maiden aunts in England, far from trouble.

Aunt Ethyl and Aunt Louise, Rosalind's mother tells her, are "like chalk and cheese," Ethyl "stiff-necked" and cold and Louise and the other warm but frightened to death of her older sister.  England seems a cold, foreign land to the unhappy Rosalind until she meets up with the handsome Lieutenant Max Nelson, a friend from India.  Rosalind will soon shake up their household in unexpected ways, and the surprising ending leaves room for a possible sequel.

This story is told in the first person by Rosalind, who is a likable and sympathetic protagonist.  I found this to be an enjoyable coming-of-age story with a colorful setting, suitable for tween or even teen readers.  There's a smidgen of potential romance developing between Rosalind and the dapper and progressive Max.  I was disappointed with the characters of the two maiden aunts, who with their opposite personalities I found to be lacking in the depth seen in Rosalind and some of the other characters.

An author's note provides some background on the situation in India in 1919, particularly on Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.  Whelan writes that she was inspired to write this novel by her own experience participating in the U.S. civil rights movement, which was heavily influenced by Gandhi's ideas, as well as by a book, Children of the Raj, which tells the story of the children of British civil servants stationed in Indian.   The book also includes a glossary of Indian expressions used throughout the text.


Disclosure:  Review copy provided by publisher.