"A Burning" by Megha Majumdar is a compelling debut that explores politics and power dynamics in contemporary India, drawing parallels to current events in the United States. Through the intertwined narratives of Jivan, PT Sir, and Lovely, the novel delves into societal injustices and moral dilemmas within a corrupt system. While the rich characterization and vibrant voice of Lovely stand out, the repetitive portrayal of systemic oppression may leave some readers wanting more nuance. Overall, "A Burning" is a thought-provoking exploration of urgent social and political issues.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I enjoyed A Burning. It was interesting to see the Indian world with the story dealing with themes of inequality and corruption, and you can't help but feel an emotional connection to Jivan, the stories protagonist.

I'll definitely be checking out more from this author.

I enjoyed the various points of view of the characters especially since they all had such different backgrounds. It was very character based but there was still good forward motion with the plot making it a smooth and enjoyable read.

A Burning by Megha Majumdar follows the connected stories of three very different characters. Jivan, who speaks out about a terrorist attack near her home and is falsely accused of being involved, PT Sir, a teacher at a local school who becomes involved in local politics and Lovely, a hijra, working to become a Bollywood actress. The lives of these characters have already become intertwined when we meet them and continue to do so.

The characters are what stood out for me the most in this book. They all felt so real and so distinct from each other, which I always imagine must be such a big challenge when writing multiple viewpoints but Megha Majumdar got it spot on. I look forward to reading more from this author.

I'd put off reading A Burning for a bit as I'd seen quite a few hit or miss reviews. If it's one you're in two minds about picking up I would suggest definitely giving it a chance, especially the audiobook.

The story centers around 3 major characters, Jivan who is imprisoned for a terrorist act she did not commit, Lovely a transgender woman chasing her dream to become an actress and PT Sir an opportunistic gym teacher with some very questionable morals. Through their eyes we get to see a heartbreaking story of corruption, oppression and intense manipulation unfold.

Megha Majumdar has written each character so distinctively and vibrantly that from within the first few moments I was immediately captivated and connected to the characters and their stories. This connection was definitely enhanced by the energetic and spirited audiobook narration which fully brought each character to life.

A thought-provoking, heart-breaking novel which looks at some complex issues without feeling overbearing.

A burning written by Megha Majumdar starts with a crime and the plot expand into politics, terrorism, corruption, desires, dreams, power, and fame. The book has been written in multiple POVs shuffling through three different characters and their changing lives. The author has also tried to shed light on social media influence and media trials which are unfortunately very common nowadays.
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Jivan - A 22-year-old Muslim girl gets arrested for sharing a video and questioning police action and the authorities. She quotes “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?” She gets arrested and her trial begins. The plot takes us through her struggle to prove her innocence, living in the jail, and the hope that one day she will be free.
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Lovely - a transgender woman who is pursuing her dream of becoming an actress and taking coaching classes for the same. She is also one of the two witnesses who can vouch for Jivan’s character and get her free. The author has done an honest job to portray a transgender’s life in India. While Jivan is on trial for a crime she has not committed, Lovely faces a moral trial, to choose her friend or her career.
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PT Sir - a school teacher of Jivan’s former school is the other witness who would prove her innocence. He has been living a simple life and it changes after Jivan’s arrest. Here the plot shed light on how the hunger of power blinds a person’s morality and can trap them forever.
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I loved this book for its complexity and the issues which has been addressed in a compact form. This book will make you cry and leave with questions to find answers around you. A must read if you’re into reading complex political and societal issues.

Thank you for the ARC, @netgalley

Thank you to NetGalley and S&S for this ARC

Loved this book, was a brilliant read, a fantastic to see a contemporary book from Indian author that doesn't include colonial India!

The Book is told from 3 POV's with great pace!

AMAZING! So so great to read an Indian author writing a contemporary and relevant book away from a colonial lens. And very very well-written.

A Burning by Megha Majumdar tells the story of three characters and their yearning for improved status in life, finding themselves connected by a horrific event that will leave a lasting impression. The story is told in three POVs that take us through their lives and showcase how interconnected their stories are as the story progresses. While the premise sounded promising and the synopsis offered a gritty look at the current political climate in India, the writing of the story fell flat for me. I couldn't get into the book despite trying several times. I know I am in the minority, and I wish I could appreciate the story as I hoped. I managed to get to 40 % of the story but eventually had to stop because the writing style was just not for me. The POVs and the storytelling would have been more effective for me if the style was different. I am just disappointed that I couldn't get through it. I have DNFed it, and I don't think I will be picking it up.

"A Burning" is a difficult book to rate: the subject matter is really interesting, but the writing style didn't really work for me and the characters didn't get enough development to really make me care.

Read this in one sitting - it's really propulsive but doesn't forgo depth of character for pace. A great debut!

A heart wrenching and impactful read.
This book was really well written and is full of emotion.
Recommend this book to all as it is a must read contemporary.
It is an important book that really hits home

We all know of my love for a thought-provoking novel. Books that have me thinking even after finishing are the best and this was definitely a book that did just that.

A Burning follows three characters whose fates all become entwined in the wake of a terrorist bombing in contemporary India. It's a story about fate, power, and class; about innocence and guilt, betrayal and love; and the corrosive media cycle that manufactures falsehoods masquerading as truths.

Politically driven stories are ones that I normally tread carefully around. Sometimes the balance can tip too far on one side and you can end up with a very meh story that has extreme political aspects or an amazing story with weak politics. In this case, I thought the story was incredibly interesting, but it did feel a bit overshadowed by the political commentary. The characters are stunningly written and Lovely was my absolute favourite to follow. Her story had me captivated as we were able to see her story grow and flourish. Jivan's experiences were incredibly hard to read yet it emphasizes the power of writing/sharing these stories.

I'm really glad that I picked this one up and it definitely isn't one that I'll be forgetting any time soon!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

A Burning is an immersive and powerful contemporary novel, told from the eyes of three distinctive characters who are all interconnected in some way. First is Jivan, a young Muslim girl who, after posting a rash comment on Facebook, incriminates herself and is arrested for being part of the terrorist gang that bombed a train station. Next is budding actress Lovely who plays a key part in Jivan's story as her only alibi; however, to strongly argue for Jivan's release will cost her own future, the one she has always dreamed of. Finally, we hear from PT Sir, Jivan's old teacher who initiates himself in politics and, like Lovely, is forced to choose between Jivan's freedom and his own steps up the prestigious political career ladder.

I really enjoyed the start of this novel and felt fully engrossed in the three different stories as they interweaved and started making connections. However, I felt the story start to slip from my grasp when the political side came into play, as it was something I struggled to connect to and follow. That is purely a personal disinterest of mine and no reflection on how the story was developed. I loved Jivan's chapters and felt her raw words and emotions pierce my heart. The ending was unexpected but something I appreciated as I felt it was realistic and reflective of real life. The parts with Lovely and PT Sir didn't grab me in the same way, and I think I would have enjoyed the story more if it focused solely on Jivan with the remaining narrators as secondary characters. That being said, that was not the direction or point of this book, and I can see why the author crafted it in this way, it just wasn't really for me. I also felt that the pacing was fast in the first half, then seemed to slow right down from the middle onwards which made it a bit more of a slog to get through.

I can see that the author was making a bold statement with this novel but for me, it was a bit too politically heavy rather than character-driven.

An impactful and heart wrenching read, A Burning is captivating and beautifully written. A must read for all!

This sensational novel opens in India, where a terrorist attack has seen over 100 people burn to death: Jivan, a Muslim girl living in the slums, and one of the book’s three narrators, shares a video on Facebook where a devastated woman questions the inaction of the local police, accusing them of watching the victims burn instead of rescuing them. An anonymous remark is posted, pointing out that Jivan’s shared video could be fake, and the stab of conflict thrills her: “wasn’t this a kind of leisure dressed up as agitation?” No-one rallies to her video’s defence and in the quiet of the night, Jivan adds an inflammatory comment about the government: “a dangerous thing, a thing nobody like me should ever think, let alone write,” she says, offering it up to us, pleading for forgiveness – but it’s too late, and events have been set in motion. We switch to Lovely, a gorgeously charismatic narrator, who bumps us into the now by speaking in the unusual present-progressive tense, flirtatiously swinging their hips on the way to acting class, dreaming of becoming a filmstar: as clouds start to gather we meet PT Sir, Jivan’s gym teacher, frustrated by his lot in life and opportunistically looking for more, whatever it might cost. These three narrators weave tales in and out, tying ever more complex knots and retelling stories from different perspectives, leading to questioning and doubting and pointing fingers – until the flames that Jivan sparked are whipped into a frenzy that no-one can control. As the saying goes: you might not be interested in politics, but as this book shows – politics is very much interested in you.

Featured in April's Book Club in Cambridge Edition Magazine

While I appreciate the quality of the writing, this novel doesn't quite work for me. It seems somehow to be less than the sum of its parts. Perhaps it's the structure - the stories of 3 loosely linked characters are told - but I never felt fully engaged. I felt it was underdeveloped - the bare bones of an amazing novel were there but the author didn't quite have the chops to deliver. The characters are superficially intriguing, especially Lovely, but I wanted more depth. The themes addressed are worthy and there are some poignant moments but because I found the characters so hard to warm to I remained largely unmoved. Mainly I feel disappointed that this could've been amazing but, for me, misses its mark.

A beautifully written novel about modern-day India. As someone who was born and brought up in the country, it really made me reflect on social issues in a way few other works of literature have done. I absolutely adored the characters and the way each of them were written -- and was very much drawn in by the unique narrative voices. Will be recommending this for years to come.

A powerful and devastating novel about discrimination, injustice, corruption, and the dark side of aspiration in modern India

Jivan, a young Muslim girl living in a slum in India, is hopeful to one day work herself up into the middle class. Using the wages, she earned from her job in a clothes shop, she buys a phone and innocently posts an angry comment on Facebook about a terrorist train bombing. “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?”. Before she knows it, she is arrested and sent to prison, accused of herself orchestrating the attack. As she is forced to live in fear waiting for her verdict, the testimony of two people may influence her fate – PT Sir, Jivan’s old gym teacher and Lovely, a hijra (transgender) who dreams of being an actress and who Jivan was teaching English. However, both PT Sir and Lovely aspire to their dreams and standing up for Jivan during a media onslaught against her may lead to their aspirations falling apart.

This was a deeply moving and politically charged novel about racial and religious discrimination, the power of the media in influencing peoples’ minds and the struggle for survival in a deeply unfair system, where saving yourself often means sacrificing others. The story is written from the POVs of three characters – Jivan, PT Sir and Lovely – all of whom have their unique voices, and their stories intertwine subtly throughout the novel. Jivan’s situation was truly heart-breaking and the injustice and hopelessness, she faced was both upsetting and enraging, made worse by the descriptions of the impact her imprisonment has on her elderly parents, who are already suffering in poverty. The violent and relentless media onslaught against Jivan felt all too familiar, and despite this story being set in India, certain aspects of it could have easily been happening in the UK, where all too often the media is out for blood and manages to successfully sway the masses against an individual. I also found PT Sir’s story quite chilling: a humble PE teacher who is inspired by a political rally finds himself rising the ranks of his party, but his ascent is sped up a little by the odd favour to the party leader – a false witness statement here, a bribe there – until he finds himself fully embedded in the lies and the political respect they have won him. It shows how easily someone can slip into corruption when offered even the smallest amount of power, and the dark side of human nature, where we are too easily ready to step on others to lift ourselves. The author does a fantastic job of exploring these themes in a thought-provoking way and her story and characters are a stark reminder of the deep-rooted unfairness and inequality that is endemic within humanity.

Whilst the powerful message of ‘A Burning’ was its main compelling feature, I also found the characters to be well-written and sympathetic. Lovely was a wonderfully engaging character, and her bubbly personality stood out in her chapters and her unique way of speaking. I felt both sympathy and hope for her, and she added some much-needed light-hearted moments in an otherwise quite dark story. Additionally, I always love reading about other countries and cultures, and the author excellently describes some of the settings richly and vibrantly, with smells, sights and sounds all adding to the vivid atmosphere. The book is quite short and concisely written, and therefore some events do occur a bit quickly without touching on too much detail, but that did not do much to hamper my enjoyment of the story, and the author has a talent for building up a lot of character and setting without lengthy descriptions. My one criticism would be that the story was overall quite depressing and bleak due to its nature and would not be popular with anyone looking for a happy, uplifting read.


In conclusion, I really enjoyed this story and its characters and themes resonated very strongly with me. My interest has been grabbed and I am keen to read more stories set in India that focus on these same issues and would certainly read more by this author. I would definitely highly recommend this book to anyone.


Daenerys


Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of this book to review.