Megha Majumdar

"After a fiery attack on a train leaves 104 people dead, the fates of three people become inextricably entangled. Jivan, a bright, striving woman from the slums looking for a way out of poverty, is wrongly accused of planning the attack because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir, a slippery gym teacher from Jivan's former high school, has hitched his aspirations to a rising right wing party, and his own ascent becomes increasingly linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely, a spirited, impoverished, relentlessly optimistic hjira, who harbors dreams of becoming a Bollywood star, can provide the alibi that would set Jivan free--but her appearance in court will have unexpected consequences that will change the course of all of their lives. A novel about fate, power, opportunity, and class; about innocence and guilt, betrayal and love, and the corrosive media cycle that manufactures falsehoods masquerading as truths--A Burning is a debut novel of exceptional power and urgency, haunting and beautiful, brutal, vibrant, impossible to forget"--

A Burning

Patrick Book

désirée

finally finished this monster. i just cannot appreciate a novel where the answers are right in front of you the whole time. this review is so negative but i just did not enjoy any part of this book. none of the characters managed to stir up any feeling in me, the plot was predictable, and the change in verb tense was weird. now i have to write an essay on this on wednesdayyy :D

A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! A New York Times Notable Book For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise--to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies--and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India. In this National Book Award Longlist honoree and "gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary" (USA Today), Jivan is a Muslim girl from the slums, determined to move up in life, who is accused of executing a terrorist attack on a train because of a careless comment on Facebook. PT Sir is an opportunistic gym teacher who hitches his aspirations to a right-wing political party, and finds that his own ascent becomes linked to Jivan's fall. Lovely--an irresistible outcast whose exuberant voice and dreams of glory fill the novel with warmth and hope and humor--has the alibi that can set Jivan free, but it will cost her everything she holds dear. Taut, symphonic, propulsive, and riveting from its opening lines, A Burning has the force of an epic while being so masterfully compressed it can be read in a single sitting. Majumdar writes with dazzling assurance at a breakneck pace on complex themes that read here as the components of a thriller: class, fate, corruption, justice, and what it feels like to face profound obstacles and yet nurture big dreams in a country spinning toward extremism. An extraordinary debut.

Valeria M

Jules

Aboobacker Sidheeq M

A Burning: Megha Majumdar

A journey of 3 people who related in different parts of their life.The wild & Cruel reality of most of unknown lives in Modern India.

Cheri McElroy

It’s not often that I end a book in tears, feeling wrecked. A Burning was one of those books.

It’s about the intersection of three lives in India-Jivan, PT Sir, and Lovely. All three with dreams. All caught in a web of circumstances that cause them to question everything. The heart of the book asks this question: will you do the right thing, no matter what it costs you? 

Read this moving debut. Learn about another country and culture. But mostly, learn about yourself.

A girl walks through the slums of Kolkata holding an armful of books. She returns home smelling of smoke, and checks her most prized possession: a brand-new smartphone, purchased in instalments. On Facebook, there is only one conversation. #KolabaganTrainAttack On the small, glowing screen, she types a dangerous thing... 'If the police didn't help ordinary people like you and me, if the police watched them die, doesn't that mean that the government is also a terrorist?' Set in contemporary India, A Burning is the story of three unforgettable characters, all dreaming of a better future, whose lives are changed for ever when they become caught up in the devastating aftermath of a terrorist attack. Jivan - a poor, young, Muslim girl, who dreams of going to college - faces a possible death sentence after being accused of collaborating with the terrorists. Lovely - an exuberant hijra who longs to be a Bollywood star - holds the alibi that can set Jivan free, but telling the truth will cost her everything she holds dear. PT Sir - an opportunistic gym teacher who once taught Jivan - becomes involved with Hindu nationalist politics and his own ascent is soon inextricably linked to Jivan's fall. Taut, propulsive and electrifying, from its opening lines to its astonishing finale, A Burning confronts issues of class, fate, prejudice and corruption with a Dickensian sense of injustice, and asks us to consider what it means to nurture big ambitions in a country hurtling towards political extremism. ABurning is a novel for our times and for all time.

elif sinem

I'm going to finish this tonight and this is the first time I'm preemptively rating anything, but lest I forget...

This is a novel where the overarching concept/theory and the execution seemingly run parallel to one another. Themes of class betrayal and islamophobia - well, anyone marginalized, the author seems to suggest - are good to great. All three POVs are fascinating in their own right, but it's as though the author realized that they need to have arcs etc only 60% in. And only two thirds in does the whole picture become clear and more importantly united. Especially at the start the plot seems to go nowhere and does nothing. It's a shame. It could've been so much better.

At least it's a quick read, I'll say this much. Blink and the whole book is through.

Mira McMahon

I’m giving it five stars based on the fact that I read it in less than two days on audio because I was so into the voices of these characters. I was surprised that I was so taken by this book but the pacing and story felt really refreshing.

tim h

Lovely is already one of my favorite characters I've ever read. Very relatable in spite of her life being not very relatable to mine.

I really loved this book-- for me the atmosphere had a bit of levity to it in spite of all of the events going on. I think Lovely helped a lot with this, as well as Javan's hopefulness. I completed this after reading Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketa Mehtu and I thought that helped immensely with my coming to terms with the motivations of the people living in the novel's Kolkata. 

If nothing else, the novel has a lot of great one-liners. It's also very easy to read.

Anyway, yeah, I love Lovely. This is a must-read.

Madhuri Gubbala

Would not recommend this book. It is riddled with stereotypes and misrepresentations. The writing style was weird as well, nobody in India who is learning English speaks the way Lovely does. It sounds just like the cliched Indian character from an American sitcom. So many aspects of this have made me angry. It’s the Slumdog Millionaire of books IMO.

Anyaconda


      I have to admit this book is a bit hard to rate for me. It is certainly well written and compelling. I did end up finishing it in like 3 sittings, but was altogether left unsatisfied and felt quite depressed and angry (if that was the author&apos;s intention, well done).<br/><br/>We&apos;re following three different ch
  

MEGHA. MAJUMDAR

A girl walks through the slums of Kolkata holding an armful of books. She returns home smelling of smoke, and checks her most prized possession: a brand-new smartphone, purchased in instalments. On Facebook, there is only one conversation. #KolabaganTrainAttack On the small, glowing screen, she types a dangerous thing... 'If the police didn't help ordinary people like you and me, if the police watched them die, doesn't that mean that the government is also a terrorist?' Set in contemporary India, A Burning is the story of three unforgettable characters, all dreaming of a better future, whose lives are changed for ever when they become caught up in the devastating aftermath of a terrorist attack. Jivan - a poor, young, Muslim girl, who dreams of going to college - faces a possible death sentence after being accused of collaborating with the terrorists. Lovely - an exuberant hijra who longs to be a Bollywood star - holds the alibi that can set Jivan free, but telling the truth will cost her everything she holds dear. PT Sir - an opportunistic gym teacher who once taught Jivan - becomes involved with Hindu nationalist politics and his own ascent is soon inextricably linked to Jivan's fall. Taut, propulsive and electrifying, from its opening lines to its astonishing finale, A Burning confronts issues of class, fate, prejudice and corruption with a Dickensian sense of injustice, and asks us to consider what it means to nurture big ambitions in a country hurtling towards political extremism. A Burning is a novel for our times and for all time.

Jane Krauss

Telling the story of a young woman who is falsely accused of an act of terrorism Megha Majumdar captures corruption in such a unique and clear way. The multiple points of view fill out this story and show what life is like for many types of people and how seemingly innocent, good, people can do wrong. 
I'm not usually into political fiction but this was really gripping. I wonder how many young people think about what they write online. So many thoughts. So many tears.

Les Reynolds

An engaging and sobering glimpse of life in India.

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Francine Corry

Pranav

Jennifer Forrester

Stefanie  Uwah

Christopher Malarick

Johanna Goossens

Shelby

jiaqi kang

A girl walks through the slums of Kolkata holding an armful of books. She returns home smelling of smoke, and checks her most prized possession: a brand-new smartphone, purchased in instalments. On Facebook, there is only one conversation. #KolabaganTrainAttack On the small, glowing screen, she types a dangerous thing… ‘If the police didn’t help ordinary people like you and me, if the police watched them die, doesn’t that mean that the government is also a terrorist?’ Set in contemporary India, A Burning is the story of three unforgettable characters, all dreaming of a better future, whose lives are changed for ever when they become caught up in the devastating aftermath of a terrorist attack. Jivan – a poor, young, Muslim girl, who dreams of going to college – faces a possible death sentence after being accused of collaborating with the terrorists. Lovely – an exuberant hijra who longs to be a Bollywood star – holds the alibi that can set Jivan free, but telling the truth will cost her everything she holds dear. PT Sir – an opportunistic gym teacher who once taught Jivan – becomes involved with Hindu nationalist politics and his own ascent is soon inextricably linked to Jivan’s fall. Taut, propulsive and electrifying, from its opening lines to its astonishing finale, A Burning confronts issues of class, fate, prejudice and corruption with a Dickensian sense of injustice, and asks us to consider what it means to nurture big ambitions in a country hurtling towards political extremism. ABurning is a novel for our times and for all time.

A Burning

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