Este sitio utiliza cookies para ofrecer nuestros servicios, mejorar el rendimiento, análisis y (si no estás registrado) publicidad. Al usar LibraryThing reconoces que has leído y comprendido nuestros términos de servicio y política de privacidad. El uso del sitio y de los servicios está sujeto a estas políticas y términos.
Growing up in the Fiji Islands in the late 1960s, Kalyana Mani Seth is an impressionable, plump young girl suited to the meaning of her name: blissful, blessed, the auspicious one. Her mother educates Kalyana about her Indian heritage, vividly telling tales of mischievous Krishna and powerful Mother Kali, and recounting her grandparents' migration to the tiny, British colony. While the island nation celebrates its recently granted independence, new stories of the feminist revolution in America are carried over the waves of the Pacific to Kalyana's ears: stories of women who live with men who are not their husbands, who burn their bras, who are free to do as they please. Strange as all this sounds, Kalyana hopes that she will be blessed with a husband who allows her a similar sense of liberty. But nothing prepares her for the trauma of womanhood and the cultural ramifications of silence and shame, as her mother tells her there are some family stories that should never be told.… (más)
Rajni Mala Kwelawan is an Indo-Fijian author now living in Canada. She brings us a story about Kalyana, a girl raised in Fiji. The story begins in 1970 when Kalyana is five and her mother is telling her traditional Hindu stories of powerful goddesses. Aunt Manjula also shares their home, rejected by marriage suitors because of her limp. Manjula defies tradition and learns to drive, which takes her life in a different direction. Kalyana is a happy, possibly somewhat spoilt child, and enjoys her island life until a traumatic event steals her youthful innocence and ruins her relationship with her mother. During the 1980s tensions between ethnic Fijians and Indo-Fijians Kalyana, along with many other Indians, leaves Fiji for Canada. In 1987 there was a coup d’état when the Fijian military deposed the elected prime minister and declared itself a republic which would only be ruled by Indigenous Fijians. This book gives insight into life in Fiji, in particular the difficult life the Indian women lead, and also shares many traditional Hindu stories. Ultimately the women find a voice and a power. I enjoyed the book but found the audio narration by Saara Chaudry mildly irritating. ( )
Growing up in the Fiji Islands in the late 1960s, Kalyana Mani Seth is an impressionable, plump young girl suited to the meaning of her name: blissful, blessed, the auspicious one. Her mother educates Kalyana about her Indian heritage, vividly telling tales of mischievous Krishna and powerful Mother Kali, and recounting her grandparents' migration to the tiny, British colony. While the island nation celebrates its recently granted independence, new stories of the feminist revolution in America are carried over the waves of the Pacific to Kalyana's ears: stories of women who live with men who are not their husbands, who burn their bras, who are free to do as they please. Strange as all this sounds, Kalyana hopes that she will be blessed with a husband who allows her a similar sense of liberty. But nothing prepares her for the trauma of womanhood and the cultural ramifications of silence and shame, as her mother tells her there are some family stories that should never be told.
)
Google Books — Cargando...
(3.33)
1