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Days and Nights in Calcutta
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
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First published January 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 7, 2022
Beyond nostalgia of a Bengali upbringing in Kolkata, this book hits the right places when it comes to analyzing the characteristics of the Bengali upper-middle-class/upper-caste society and the role of women in the society. It was rather interesting to get Clark Blaise's perspective as a westerner married to a Bengali woman - observing the nuances of the Bengali society.
September 4, 2013
I Loved Loved Loved this book. I don't think i've read a single book by her that I haven't liked. Being Indian I could easily relate to Bharati's experience and the annoyance with certain aspects of the family interactions, which is why I loved the fact that it was written by both of them about the same trip. It's funny to read about the same trip from two very different point of views. I really enjoyed reading Clark Blaise's description of his views on the Bengali culture. It's always fun to see things from the outsiders point of view.
July 31, 2008
This book is actually written by Clarke Blasie and Bharati Mukherjee - husband and wife. Blaise's portion of the book was horrible. Mukherjee's I liked. Therefore the "It was o.k." review.
March 27, 2022
“Days and nights in Calcutta“ is the description of Clark Blaise and his Bengali wife, Bharati Mukherjee, of their year in Calcutta, consisting of a first part written by Clark and then a second by Bharati – both telling about the complete period of their stay.
I rather quickly rejected the thought of recommending this book to a friend of my daughter who thinks of visiting India (Corona postponed the plan anyway) because it seemed rather deterrent to me.
Anyway, of course it was really interesting, for me being the first part the by far more informative. Probably it is because it is the view of an outsider and as such it would rather be my view, but mainly because it is more diverse than Bharatis.
While Bharati mainly tells about her (female) former school friends and their life as wives of successful men, organizing parties and charity events and this way is rather gossip than anything else, Clark also describes the lives of other people, like the driver of Bharatis family and the servant boy. I am not sure if Bharati is just not interested in the lives of lower classes (castes) or if it would be inadequate for her to talk with these people, but anyway she actually seems to see them only within their function as servants. Even refering to the wedding at the end Clark depicts people with a more detailed view.
Sad, I thought a womans and insiders view might be more multifaceted.
I rather quickly rejected the thought of recommending this book to a friend of my daughter who thinks of visiting India (Corona postponed the plan anyway) because it seemed rather deterrent to me.
Anyway, of course it was really interesting, for me being the first part the by far more informative. Probably it is because it is the view of an outsider and as such it would rather be my view, but mainly because it is more diverse than Bharatis.
While Bharati mainly tells about her (female) former school friends and their life as wives of successful men, organizing parties and charity events and this way is rather gossip than anything else, Clark also describes the lives of other people, like the driver of Bharatis family and the servant boy. I am not sure if Bharati is just not interested in the lives of lower classes (castes) or if it would be inadequate for her to talk with these people, but anyway she actually seems to see them only within their function as servants. Even refering to the wedding at the end Clark depicts people with a more detailed view.
Sad, I thought a womans and insiders view might be more multifaceted.
April 14, 2025
Excellent wonderful nonfiction book; Clark and Bharati each write half the book; after a housefire ruins their home in Canada, they head back to Bharati's family in Calcutta. There are many cultural lessons and outsider observations, from Clark, and Bharati shares thoughts upon going back, what she misses, what she doesn't. Excellent and interesting.
August 17, 2025
This gave me great insight of an India in the 70's, directly told from inside of an Indian family. It was very interesting to read this book, written from two differnt angles, Indian wife and Canadian husband.
January 12, 2017
I found this book at my local library on the for-sale shelf, for a buck. I purchased it because we, my wife and I, had recently been partnered with an Indian girl attending Middlebury College and I thought that perhaps it would increase my general understanding of Indian culture, and be able to ask her intelligent-sounding questions. Well, for whatever reason, that relationship has been worthless, I don't know why, and it is beside the point to this review. I started reading the book a week or so before taking off for a month of travel in India with my wife, younger son, who lived and worked in India for two years and his future wife and her younger sister. We had planned to visit Kolkata and I had written a paper on the city in a course in graduate school: Housing in Emerging markets. Even though it was published 40 years ago a lot of it is still relevant and provides a deeper perspective about the country, its people and its amazing and complex diversity, if you are able to read between the lines and ask the right questions of the right people.
I found the book, a memoir, written by a husband-wife team of professional writers to be intimately satisfying. The wife, an Indian, born in Kolkata is married to a Canadian born in America, return to live in India, Kolkata, to be exact, with their two children after some personal family disasters. The wife has been living a modern western life-style and has basically been away for 14 years, returning sporadically to visit family, every year or two for a summer vacation. She writes about what her life could have been, had she stayed and pursued a more traditional life as a Bengali woman from an upper middle-class family. Many of her friends, from her private Catholic School, not associated with Mother teresa, have stayed, and embraced that lifestyle and its expectations, rather than flee for education, a job and ultimately marriage and family as she did. His writing examines India, and Indians, his wife's smothering extended family in particular, in all its complexities and contradiction sand with good-natured humor coupled with disdain, incredulity and exasperation all at the same time. I do think Indians are their own worst enemy. We had a wonderful trip, visiting Amritsar on the Pakistani border to the west to Kolkata, on the border with Bangladesh to the east. It is an enormous country, home to more than a billion people, and it manages to work, certainly not to Western standards and expectations, but it seems to work for them. This book does as good a job as anything, but naturally the ultimate is to immerse yourself in the county: see it, smell it, feel it, taste it, hear it. Words are truly inadequate and a weak attempt at trying to explain this place, which in all honesty is beyond explanation.
I found the book, a memoir, written by a husband-wife team of professional writers to be intimately satisfying. The wife, an Indian, born in Kolkata is married to a Canadian born in America, return to live in India, Kolkata, to be exact, with their two children after some personal family disasters. The wife has been living a modern western life-style and has basically been away for 14 years, returning sporadically to visit family, every year or two for a summer vacation. She writes about what her life could have been, had she stayed and pursued a more traditional life as a Bengali woman from an upper middle-class family. Many of her friends, from her private Catholic School, not associated with Mother teresa, have stayed, and embraced that lifestyle and its expectations, rather than flee for education, a job and ultimately marriage and family as she did. His writing examines India, and Indians, his wife's smothering extended family in particular, in all its complexities and contradiction sand with good-natured humor coupled with disdain, incredulity and exasperation all at the same time. I do think Indians are their own worst enemy. We had a wonderful trip, visiting Amritsar on the Pakistani border to the west to Kolkata, on the border with Bangladesh to the east. It is an enormous country, home to more than a billion people, and it manages to work, certainly not to Western standards and expectations, but it seems to work for them. This book does as good a job as anything, but naturally the ultimate is to immerse yourself in the county: see it, smell it, feel it, taste it, hear it. Words are truly inadequate and a weak attempt at trying to explain this place, which in all honesty is beyond explanation.
February 4, 2013
Read this many years ago. Loved it, because I thought Blaise captured the approach I think many non-Indians take when they visit India--especially with their Indian spouses/friends. He was having a cross-cultural experience and she was drowning in the petty squabbles of nosy relatives who have an opinion on all of her actions. India is a lovely place; but my goodness can it by trying if you have family there! I suppose many places are like this; but I just liked the book because it reflected my own experience.
December 12, 2011
Two talented writers, married to each other, write separately about their joint visit to Kolkata/Calcutta. Such different accounts and both intriguing.
July 4, 2012
It was ok. I really wish I had the energy to finish this. I've heard that the second half is really good, so I might give it another go and just skip straight to the second half.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews