Waiting on Wednesday – 1/4/2023

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme originally hosted on Breaking the Spine but has since linked up with “Can’t Wait Wednesday” at Wishful Endings now that the original creator is unable to host it anymore. This is a great way to share upcoming releases you’re excited about!

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Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree / Translated by Daisy Rockwell

US Release Date: Jan 31, 2023

Winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize, that too the first Indian translated book, Tomb of Sand or originally titled Ret Samadhi took the literary circles by storm with it’s achievement. I was also personally very overjoyed because I am part of a book club one of whose participants happens to be the author’s sister and it felt like a celebration in our group the day it won. So, I’ve been eager to read this book but couldn’t actually buy the English copy because I only encountered it in the airport while returning to the US and it was just too heavy for my bag. I have bought the original Hindi version since then, but now that the English translation is releasing here in the US and I should probably be able to find it fairly easily, I’m confused which version I should pick up. I haven’t read even small articles in Hindi for years now and I worry how long it will take me to read a book, but I also don’t want to lose my touch with the language. But anyways… enough about my woes… I’m just too excited for this book release and had to share with you all…!!!

Synopsis:

A playful, feminist, and utterly original epic set in contemporary northern India, about a family and the inimitable octogenarian matriarch at its heart.

“A tale tells itself. It can be complete, but also incomplete, the way all tales are. This particular tale has a border and women who come and go as they please. Once you’ve got women and a border, a story can write itself . . .”

Eighty-year-old Ma slips into a deep depression after the death of her husband. Despite her family’s cajoling, she refuses to leave her bed. Her responsible eldest son, Bade, and dutiful, Reebok-sporting daughter-in-law, Bahu, attend to Ma’s every need, while her favorite grandson, the cheerful and gregarious Sid, tries to lift her spirits with his guitar. But it is only after Sid’s younger brother–Serious Son, a young man pathologically incapable of laughing–brings his grandmother a sparkling golden cane covered with butterflies that things begin to change.

With a new lease on life thanks to the cane’s seemingly magical powers, Ma gets out of bed and embarks on a series of adventures that baffle even her unconventional feminist daughter, Beti. She ditches her cumbersome saris, develops a close friendship with a hijra, and sets off on a fateful journey that will turn the family’s understanding of themselves upside down.

Rich with fantastical elements, folklore, and exuberant wordplay, Geetanjali Shree’s magnificent novel explores timely and timeless topics, including Buddhism, global warming, feminism, Partition, gender binary, transcending borders, and the profound joys of life. Elegant, heartbreaking, and funny, it is a literary masterpiece that marks the American debut of an extraordinary writer.