Shame by Jasvinder Sanghera

[vodkafan]

book review:

 

Shame by Jasvinder Sanghera

 

This was a quick non-fiction read . Not wanting to go into too much details because if things had been slightly different somebody very close to me could have suffered a similar fate.

 

This is the true life story of Jas, a Punjabi girl growing up in Derby with her strict Sikh family. Always independent and questioning, Jas eventually rebels against an arranged marriage to an older man by running off with a forbidden lower caste boyfriend.

She tries to make the best of things with this man, marries him and has a child but knows she never really loved him and eventually the marriage breaks down.

 

She tells poignantly of being completely and irreversibly disowned by her family, and gives an insight of how Asian society is run on the notions of shame and honour.

I read many reviews on Amazon before purchasing this book, and some of them (by Asian women it has to be said ) were quite critical of her behaviour. I think they missed the point. Jas never holds anything back, nor tries to excuse herself or portray herself in a good light when she does behave badly. She tells her story with honesty. The second half of the book is different.

 

Eventually after some tragic circumstances within her own family, Jas throws off any vestiges of "shame" at her own situation and finds that she is able to help others, and is still helping them today with her own organisation

 

 

Laundry Fairy saw me reading this and told me that she had read it herself many years ago. As I said I won't go into any details there. I think this is an important book which highlights something that is still happening in Asian communities today.

Edited February 27, 2010 by vodkafan