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Scenes from Early Life
“At that time, there were children you weren't supposed to play with. You knew why. Their parents had been informers during the war. And it hadn't been long since you could have got into trouble for singing a song. My grandfather hid all his Bengali poetry in the cellar.
“I was a baby during the war. We stayed inside for months. All my aunts took turns in feeding me. I couldn't be heard to cry. You see, there were soldiers in the streets. They would have known what a crying baby meant. So I had to be kept silent. No, not everyone came out of the war alive.”
One family’s life, and a nation – Bangladesh – being created through conversation, sacrifice, songs, bonds, blood, bravery and jokes. Narrated by Philip Hensher’s husband Zaved, ‘Scenes from Early Life’ is in part a memoir, part fiction and part a history of one of the most savage of twentieth-century civil wars. Heartbreaking, funny and gripping, it is a unique novel by one of our finest writers.
“I was a baby during the war. We stayed inside for months. All my aunts took turns in feeding me. I couldn't be heard to cry. You see, there were soldiers in the streets. They would have known what a crying baby meant. So I had to be kept silent. No, not everyone came out of the war alive.”
One family’s life, and a nation – Bangladesh – being created through conversation, sacrifice, songs, bonds, blood, bravery and jokes. Narrated by Philip Hensher’s husband Zaved, ‘Scenes from Early Life’ is in part a memoir, part fiction and part a history of one of the most savage of twentieth-century civil wars. Heartbreaking, funny and gripping, it is a unique novel by one of our finest writers.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
23 people are currently reading
592 people want to read
About the author
Philip Hensher
41 books111 followersHensher was born in South London, although he spent the majority of his childhood and adolescence in Sheffield, attending Tapton School.[2] He did his undergraduate degree at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford before attending Cambridge, where he was awarded a PhD for work on 18th century painting and satire. Early in his career he worked as a clerk in the House of Commons, from which he was fired over the content of an interview he gave to a gay magazine.[1] He has published a number of novels, is a regular contributor, columnist and book reviewer for newspapers and weeklies such as The Guardian, The Spectator , The Mail on Sunday and The Independent.
The Bedroom of the Mister’s Wife (1999) brings together 14 of his stories, including ‘Dead Languages’, which A. S. Byatt selected for her Oxford Book of English Short Stories (1998), making Hensher the youngest author included in the anthology.http://literature.britishcouncil.org/...
Since 2005 he has taught creative writing at the University of Exeter. He has edited new editions of numerous classic works of English Literature, such as those by Charles Dickens and Nancy Mitford, and Hensher served as a judge for the Booker Prize. From 2013 he will hold the post of Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.[3]
Since 2000, Philip Hensher has been listed as one of the 100 most influential LGBT people in Britain,[4] and in 2003 as one of Granta's twenty Best of Young British Novelists.[1]
In 2008, Hensher's semi-autobiographical novel The Northern Clemency was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In 2012, Hensher won first prize -German Travel Writers Award, and is shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize. He also won the Stonewall Prize for the Journalist of the Year in 2007 and The Somerset Maugham Award for his novel Kitchen Venom in 1996. He wrote the libretto for Thomas Adès' 1995 opera Powder Her Face. This has been his only musical collaboration to date.
His early writings have been characterized as having an "ironic, knowing distance from their characters" and "icily precise skewerings of pretension and hypocrisy"[1] His historical novel The Mulberry Empire "echos with the rhythm and language of folk tales" while "play[ing] games" with narrative forms.[1]
He is married to Zaved Mahmood, a human rights lawyer at the United Nations.
You can find out more about Philip on his author page at 4th Estate Books: http://www.4thestate.co.uk/author/phi...
The Bedroom of the Mister’s Wife (1999) brings together 14 of his stories, including ‘Dead Languages’, which A. S. Byatt selected for her Oxford Book of English Short Stories (1998), making Hensher the youngest author included in the anthology.http://literature.britishcouncil.org/...
Since 2005 he has taught creative writing at the University of Exeter. He has edited new editions of numerous classic works of English Literature, such as those by Charles Dickens and Nancy Mitford, and Hensher served as a judge for the Booker Prize. From 2013 he will hold the post of Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.[3]
Since 2000, Philip Hensher has been listed as one of the 100 most influential LGBT people in Britain,[4] and in 2003 as one of Granta's twenty Best of Young British Novelists.[1]
In 2008, Hensher's semi-autobiographical novel The Northern Clemency was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In 2012, Hensher won first prize -German Travel Writers Award, and is shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize. He also won the Stonewall Prize for the Journalist of the Year in 2007 and The Somerset Maugham Award for his novel Kitchen Venom in 1996. He wrote the libretto for Thomas Adès' 1995 opera Powder Her Face. This has been his only musical collaboration to date.
His early writings have been characterized as having an "ironic, knowing distance from their characters" and "icily precise skewerings of pretension and hypocrisy"[1] His historical novel The Mulberry Empire "echos with the rhythm and language of folk tales" while "play[ing] games" with narrative forms.[1]
He is married to Zaved Mahmood, a human rights lawyer at the United Nations.
You can find out more about Philip on his author page at 4th Estate Books: http://www.4thestate.co.uk/author/phi...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
March 30, 2018
Scenes from Early Life has been touted as a possible candidate for this year's Booker Prize longlist. It's a biographical novel about the author's husband, Zaved Mahmood, who was born in East Pakistan in 1970, a year before the war of independence that led to the creation of Bangladesh. The young Saadi is the book's narrator, and he lovingly details his family of middle class Bengalis, focusing mainly on his father and maternal grandfather, both successful lawyers in separate practices who are dedicated but stubbornly independent, his mother and her sisters, and his maternal uncle, a ne'er do well who brings shame and causes rifts in the otherwise close knit extended family, who live together in the large home of his maternal grandparents in Dacca (now Dhaka), the major city of East Pakistan.
Saadi also describes the effects of the liberation war on his relatives and their neighbors. The conflict that led to the war began when the politically dominant West Pakistanis forcefully imposed their language and religious beliefs upon their eastern neighbors in the 1960s. A state of crisis was reached in early 1971, when the party of Bengali leader Shiekh Mujibur Rahman, referred to as Shiekh Mujib in the book, won a majority of the vote in Pakistan's first general election. The standing president of the country refused to permit Shiekh Mujib's party to form a government, and the Pakistani Army detained him and brutally suppressed his supporters in their homes and in the streets.
Despite the violence that surrounds them, Saadi's family remains largely intact, though strained by the disagreement between his father and his uncle. The novel shines brightest in its descriptions of Saadi's daily life and the relationships of the members of his family and those who come into their lives, particularly the musicians Amit and Altaf.
Scenes from Early Life, written with the help of Zaved Mahmood and his family, is a beautifully written and interesting glimpse into the life of a young child in an ordinary family touched but not destroyed by war. Hensher's ability to capture the language and feel of Bengali culture is very impressive, and indicative of the amount of work he put in to get the story right. I'll give it 4-1/2 stars, and I think it deserves a place on this year's Booker longlist.
Saadi also describes the effects of the liberation war on his relatives and their neighbors. The conflict that led to the war began when the politically dominant West Pakistanis forcefully imposed their language and religious beliefs upon their eastern neighbors in the 1960s. A state of crisis was reached in early 1971, when the party of Bengali leader Shiekh Mujibur Rahman, referred to as Shiekh Mujib in the book, won a majority of the vote in Pakistan's first general election. The standing president of the country refused to permit Shiekh Mujib's party to form a government, and the Pakistani Army detained him and brutally suppressed his supporters in their homes and in the streets.
Despite the violence that surrounds them, Saadi's family remains largely intact, though strained by the disagreement between his father and his uncle. The novel shines brightest in its descriptions of Saadi's daily life and the relationships of the members of his family and those who come into their lives, particularly the musicians Amit and Altaf.
Scenes from Early Life, written with the help of Zaved Mahmood and his family, is a beautifully written and interesting glimpse into the life of a young child in an ordinary family touched but not destroyed by war. Hensher's ability to capture the language and feel of Bengali culture is very impressive, and indicative of the amount of work he put in to get the story right. I'll give it 4-1/2 stars, and I think it deserves a place on this year's Booker longlist.
September 6, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes/stories of warm, rich and complex family life in Dacca in East Pakistan/Bangla Desh during the years when East Pakistan struggled for its independence, and where Zaved Mahmood (Saadi in the novel) spent his childhood.
It’s difficult to know how to describe this book - it’s called a novel, but it is drawn from the family stories told to the author by his husband Mahmood, whose memories are vividly retold. It is impossible to know how much detail was in the recall, and how much Hensher invented, but it was clearly a collaborative project.
A great discovery in the fiction section of the library shelves.
It’s difficult to know how to describe this book - it’s called a novel, but it is drawn from the family stories told to the author by his husband Mahmood, whose memories are vividly retold. It is impossible to know how much detail was in the recall, and how much Hensher invented, but it was clearly a collaborative project.
A great discovery in the fiction section of the library shelves.
October 7, 2014
Scenes From Early Life is based on the life of Philip Hensher's husband, and an affection for the characters permeates the narrative. That doesn't mean the writing suffers, however. Saadi, the protagonist, born just before the war that gave birth to Bangladesh, is the baby of his upper-class family, surrounded by aunties, brothers and sisters, cousins, servants, and guests in his lawyer grandfather's crowded but lively house. Much of this novel really is "scenes," poignant early memories from Saadi's life. Many are comical, such as Saadi and his brothers and sisters playing a street game based on the TV miniseries "Roots," recently imported to Bangladesh. Others are more dramatic, as when the whole family takes refuge during the war in the grandfather's house as silently as possible, so as to avoid attracting the attention of Pakistani soldiers. Saadi's father, due back at the house before the imposition of a curfew under which all found out on the streets will be shot, is late returning. Saadi, too young to be trusted to keep quiet, is fed and cosseted to prevent him from crying.
The family at the center of the novel is a contentious one, but the atmosphere is one of love and closeness. The grandfather, or "Nana" is so lawyerly and courteous even to his own family that the instances where he raises his voice are remembered by the family for years. The chapters devoted to Amit and Altaf, two musicians who serve as Saadi's Nadira-aunty's music teachers, are some of the most affecting. The depiction of the brotherly closeness between the two friends, the unspoken bond that remains even when Amit, fearing for his safety during the Pakistani crackdown on Bengali art, flees to Calcutta and returns five years later. One wishes those sections had been either given more space or given a book of their own. Scenes From Early Life doesn't claim to be a comprehensive account, even a fictional one, of the rupture between Pakistan and Bangladesh. It succeeds as a vivid account of childhood memory.
The family at the center of the novel is a contentious one, but the atmosphere is one of love and closeness. The grandfather, or "Nana" is so lawyerly and courteous even to his own family that the instances where he raises his voice are remembered by the family for years. The chapters devoted to Amit and Altaf, two musicians who serve as Saadi's Nadira-aunty's music teachers, are some of the most affecting. The depiction of the brotherly closeness between the two friends, the unspoken bond that remains even when Amit, fearing for his safety during the Pakistani crackdown on Bengali art, flees to Calcutta and returns five years later. One wishes those sections had been either given more space or given a book of their own. Scenes From Early Life doesn't claim to be a comprehensive account, even a fictional one, of the rupture between Pakistan and Bangladesh. It succeeds as a vivid account of childhood memory.
April 11, 2013
Beautifully written memoir about the author's partner's childhood in Bangladesh. I've never read any Hensher before, but on the strength of this, I will be checking out his other books. I thought this was really evocative of Asia, and written with a gentle and loving eye towards the quirks and follibles of the family at the centre of it. Each chapter is almost like a mini story, so can be dipped in and out of, but the book as a whole is also satisfying and moving.
April 7, 2021
I gave up. The book was very lukewarm, the story of a privileged childhood in an 'exotic' country. I'm tired of gardeners and cars and maids and the many such.
September 26, 2014
This book is described as a novel but on closer examination it is the author adapting the memories of his husbands life and family history in Bangladesh before and after its independence from Pakistan in 1971,and creating a novel from them. What I liked about the book is that whilst the family are middle class; Saadi the childs father and grandfather are lawyers, live in a big house in Dacca, and are friendly with laeding artists and even the eventual president, it is not a tale of dramatic privations and suffering for them, but it tells you enough to realise what a dramatic period this was and doesn't shy away from some horrible situations. So there is the contradiction of a family wedding as people are starving and begging in the streets and through individual stories we learn of the violence of the Pakistani army/police towards the Bengalis often with images which are observed by children, the persecution of a culture through educational oppression (a wonderful chapter about a state appointed teacher coming into a school and requiring that Bengali poetry not be taught), and the effect upon a society where some Bengali's have betrayed their neighbours made more poignant when children are told not to play with other children. The narrative is disjointed as we move back and forth around the period however it doesn't feel so and I really enjoyed the read. Some characters are very well drawn particularly the two musicians, and the family relationships are brilliantly portrayed. I certainly came away feeling I had learnt a lot about the Bengali society and culture and interested to read more about that period of history. An interesting and entertaining book with a heart portraying an image of Bangladesh society not often seen in western culture.
August 13, 2018
I will admit to judging a book by it’s cover. My eyes were drawn to this one at a book fair because of its lovely colour and the summary was interesting enough to give it a try.
This book is a memoir but also belongs to the historical fiction category. The story is about a family in Bangladesh and their daily life as narrated by the author’s husband, from when he was a young boy. On the top of it he talks about the people he encounters in his life.. his family members.. neighbours and acquaintances. As the title suggests, it is a recollection of “scenes” from his childhood and these vary from simple leisurely afternoon games with the neighbourhood children and his pet baby chick to more dramatic political events unfolding in the country.
The underlying narration of life in Bangladesh amidst the political tension is very interesting. It offers an insight into the savage civil war of the time without the book becoming too political or violent.
The writing flows well and keeps you hooked. A recommended read for sure.
This book is a memoir but also belongs to the historical fiction category. The story is about a family in Bangladesh and their daily life as narrated by the author’s husband, from when he was a young boy. On the top of it he talks about the people he encounters in his life.. his family members.. neighbours and acquaintances. As the title suggests, it is a recollection of “scenes” from his childhood and these vary from simple leisurely afternoon games with the neighbourhood children and his pet baby chick to more dramatic political events unfolding in the country.
The underlying narration of life in Bangladesh amidst the political tension is very interesting. It offers an insight into the savage civil war of the time without the book becoming too political or violent.
The writing flows well and keeps you hooked. A recommended read for sure.
January 27, 2014
A story that is both funny & sad about a little boy named Saadi who was born into a large, close Bengali family in Pakistan. Soon after he is born, the country is divided by a civil war. It goes thru his life, the family traditions, the people they knew. He tells of his beloved Grandfather, a man who is respected by all, hiding his books & music in a wall. He tell how his aunts kept feeding him sweets so he wouldn't cry while soldiers were checking out their house. He talks of games he & his friends would play, based on American television shows.
This book includes a lot of history of Bangladesh & Pakistan. I found out that eastern Pakistan became Bangladesh, how the Bengali's fought to keep their language, their way of writing, their poetry, their music.
Beautifully written book, the author fashions little Saadi's life with his partner's life story. I found it very good, I loved his writing of the family life, the closeness, the gossipy aunts, the food, the parents, all of it!
This book includes a lot of history of Bangladesh & Pakistan. I found out that eastern Pakistan became Bangladesh, how the Bengali's fought to keep their language, their way of writing, their poetry, their music.
Beautifully written book, the author fashions little Saadi's life with his partner's life story. I found it very good, I loved his writing of the family life, the closeness, the gossipy aunts, the food, the parents, all of it!
June 22, 2014
Absolutely fantastic read. Hensher writes in the voice of a child, which is not easy to do, but he strikes such a fine balance between the seriousness of situations and what a child sees, that it was a brilliant read.
March 12, 2013
I’m not quite sure why but apparently a writer needs to pop out a subject that’s exotic, a little exotic or maybe from somewhere that’s just simply exotic. The rest really doesn’t matter much. Scenes from an Early Life is just that – a bland story set in interesting times from somewhere most people can barely find on a map – Bangladesh! I read Brick Lane a few years ago and Monica Ali got it spot on! Her story was brilliantly heartbreaking and culturally complex but her Bangladeshi characters were mostly staged in London! Philip Hensher’s book is the real thing, set in Dhakka during Independence when there’s a pretty nasty spat going on between East and West Bengal. It’s biographical (clearly relayed via his husband, re: something all the reviewers seemed to be proud to mention – a same sex married interracial (Asian/British) married couple – adding to the exoticism, no doubt) and well, I hate to say it, just boring. If the story was set during similar events in the West and flowed at the same tempo it would be slated as simply trite, poorly understood and, well, gift wrapped!
I got the impression that readers were supposed to be moved into states of marked impression by just the mention of mangos, saris and endless family members with difficult to pronounce names, all under the guise of being a liberal, well educated, upper middle class, well connected family in some sweltering hot country.
I can’t even provide a spoiler alert here as there really wasn’t a hefty storyline to relay! There’s a big family, some useless siblings/cousins, marriages, family spats, music ……oh, and a nasty war with some atrocious human rights issues, but as the ‘hero’ of the story was 3 at the time I got the impression that he might have misunderstood the events and wouldn’t be the most trustworthy of storytellers.
Isn’t there any Bangladeshi (even expat) who’s slightly insulted by the idea of a ‘foreigner’ coming in and romanticizing about a brutal period of their recent history, all told by, what read like a series of entertaining dinner party conversations by a third person?
I got the impression that readers were supposed to be moved into states of marked impression by just the mention of mangos, saris and endless family members with difficult to pronounce names, all under the guise of being a liberal, well educated, upper middle class, well connected family in some sweltering hot country.
I can’t even provide a spoiler alert here as there really wasn’t a hefty storyline to relay! There’s a big family, some useless siblings/cousins, marriages, family spats, music ……oh, and a nasty war with some atrocious human rights issues, but as the ‘hero’ of the story was 3 at the time I got the impression that he might have misunderstood the events and wouldn’t be the most trustworthy of storytellers.
Isn’t there any Bangladeshi (even expat) who’s slightly insulted by the idea of a ‘foreigner’ coming in and romanticizing about a brutal period of their recent history, all told by, what read like a series of entertaining dinner party conversations by a third person?
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June 11, 2013It's called a novel but the title feels more accurate - scenes from an early life - during the 1970 violent separation of Pakistan into Pakistan and Bangladesh. The author, Philip Hensher, is married to Zaved Mahmood, a Bengali who was born just as the war for independence was beginning. The novel is written as vignettes told by Saadi (representing Zaved) about his huge, extended family's experiences during that time period. Some vignettes are personal memories, some are family stories and some are memories of other people later interviewed for the novel. The style can feel a little choppy and sometimes one wonders why a particular story made it into the novel but usually a connection can later be found. I knew absolutely nothing about the creation of Bangladesh so I learned a lot while reading this unique story. I will be processing both this and Partitions (by Amit Majmudar) for some time.
March 17, 2014
The story of the author, Philip Hersher's husband, Saadi's early life in Bangladesh is both heartwarming and intriguing. From a middle class family background Saadi's story follows the lives of his close and extended family during the conflicts within Pakistan (incl. Bangladesh) during the late sixties and early seventies. I really enjoy delving into another culture and someone else's own life story so I was already bound to enjoy this memoir. The wiring style is easy to follow and captures every moment beautifully. What's annoying is that Hersher is now a professor of creative writing at my old university! (He joined staff in 2012, the year after I graduated) I would love to have been able to have a chat with him! I'll be keeping an eye out for his other works in the future!
July 10, 2013
This is a mix of a biography, novel and history book - which is intriguing. Saadi is born just before the nation of Bangladesh is born and the book jumps skillfully between the run up to the war with Pakistan and the life after it. Saadi and his family and the associated people around them are warmly portrayed and there are really funny moments in here too (ie it's not just about the war) about families and relations. The family knew Sheikh Mujib and it is very much an account of an upper middle-class family's experience of East Pakistan/Bangladesh - fascinating stuff.
February 17, 2013
Reminds me a bit of the novels of Narayan in style. Loved the quirks and foibles of this family and the background of the formation of Bangladesh is fascinating. I will definitely be rereading this in the future.
November 7, 2020
This novel is actually a memoir - the narrator being the author's husband, Zaved Mahmood, who grew up against the background of Bangladesh's struggle for independence from Pakistan in the early 1970s. The fact that these are real memories made the narrative all the more interesting for me, and the fact that they're the memories of someone the author loves make for some beautiful, tender detail that bring the characters - the narrator's extended family - vividly to life.
The 'scenes' do not follow chronological order during the first half of the novel, which is mildly confusing initially - though as more pieces of the jigsaw fall into place it become less so, and of course this is the way memories work, one sparking off another with scant regard to the Arrow of Time. The later chapters do follow chronologically, and tie everything up with a final 'What happened to them all?' as a finale.
I'm not reading Hensher's books in order of publication, so I'd already enjoyed 'The Friendly Ones' which also involves a Bangldeshi family and delves into the country's turbulent birth and recent history. This meant that I was excited when, near the end of the novel, Nadira-Auntie leaves with her new husband for Sheffield, where 'The Friendly Ones' is set - a nice piece of dovetailing!
I've learnt a lot about Bangladeshi history and culture from reading these two books, and in Scenes From Early Life there are even some photos included to give visual clues to the streets, parks and buildings described. It was a privilege to meet this family of quirky, brave and memorable characters and to share the narrator's remarkable story, courtesy of his husband's equally remarkable writing skill.
The 'scenes' do not follow chronological order during the first half of the novel, which is mildly confusing initially - though as more pieces of the jigsaw fall into place it become less so, and of course this is the way memories work, one sparking off another with scant regard to the Arrow of Time. The later chapters do follow chronologically, and tie everything up with a final 'What happened to them all?' as a finale.
I'm not reading Hensher's books in order of publication, so I'd already enjoyed 'The Friendly Ones' which also involves a Bangldeshi family and delves into the country's turbulent birth and recent history. This meant that I was excited when, near the end of the novel, Nadira-Auntie leaves with her new husband for Sheffield, where 'The Friendly Ones' is set - a nice piece of dovetailing!
I've learnt a lot about Bangladeshi history and culture from reading these two books, and in Scenes From Early Life there are even some photos included to give visual clues to the streets, parks and buildings described. It was a privilege to meet this family of quirky, brave and memorable characters and to share the narrator's remarkable story, courtesy of his husband's equally remarkable writing skill.
June 13, 2022
Based on the childhood experiences of the author's husband, this book tells one family's story of the birth of the nation of Bangladesh. Saadi, the narrator, was an infant during the war for independence, but earlier events are known to him through family stories repeated over and over. There is work involved in reading the story, due to the large extended family, each of whom had given names, relationship titles, and sometimes nick-names. But one peculiarity of the narrative helps, in that some events are also repeated in the book, as if they are remembered in a slightly different context, thus reinforcing for the reader the identities and connections among family and friends. Chronological order is not imposed, so Saadi is known to us initially as a child after the war has taken place. What I loved was the portrait of this large family, the mix of personalities, the conflicts and the love they shared across generations, and the sacrifices they made to preserve their Bengali heritage.
October 27, 2018
This book bumbled along nicely and was fairly entertaining. The bits about the war were more interesting. It would have been interesting to also here from a poorer person’s perspective. Bit confused with all the different characters.
May 28, 2021
Historical, fascinating and sympathetic, just like being regaled by an elderly relative who forgets when they’ve already told you a story and repeats themself. Is it forgivable though when related by Hensher?
March 10, 2017
, Highly recommended, an insight into the culture of the Bangladesh life and fine detail on a period of history I knew very little about.
February 4, 2020
The best of the six Hensher novels that I've read. Maybe someday he'll write a sequel, carrying his husband's story forward.
September 21, 2021
Loved it
September 30, 2021
This was a fascinating read, with some parts very challenging - stories about people and happenings drawn from Philip Hensher's husband's Bengali childhood.
June 17, 2024
I loved the descriptions of childhood in a 1970 Bengali neighborhood, but somehow this didn't quite live up to my expectations... not sure why.
Once again, an unhelpful review, yw!
Once again, an unhelpful review, yw!
October 25, 2024
DNF. Yes I'm on a proper run of books I don't like. I just wasn't getting this at all. I didn't realise I'd be reading a biography and didn't want to.
May 2, 2015
What do reviews signify for me? Well, I write them, because I want to properly send a book off and start a new one. So, I’ll be sending off Scenes from early life in this review so that I can start reading one of the nine books from my TBR pile.
What can I say? I thought I wasn’t ever going to finish SFEL at first. It made me feel comfortable, but often a little bit too comfortable. I fell asleep every time I read it! My fucked up sleep schedule is also to blame :( However, there was a moment the book really hit me and when I started to get really into it. This always happens to me when I’m reading good stuff (I’m glad it also happens with my compulsory reading for school! It’s a sign that philosophy is the study for me ! yay! ). Let’s call this my ‘breaking point’ (? Or something) from now on. The moment when the book just hits me and when I start devouring the book. This immediately happens with Murakami books, but those are , you know, Murakami books, my freaking favorite author. Can’t expect that to immediately happen with every book I pick up, you know? I was at page 80 first and after hitting that breaking point, I was suddenly at page 240 and I was like: “Wow, how did I even get here? Did I even read every page till this page?” such a weird feeling!
This book is MUCH better than Kader Abdolah. I thought this book would be like a Kader Abdolah novel 2.0: pretty descriptions about a country I don’t know anything about and a lot of fucked up shit afterwards. Well, this book was kind of like that, but I didn’t mind how it was done. I lost my shit in a bad way when I hit the contrast in Kader Abdolah’s Het huis van de moskee.
I like how this book really is a collection of scenes. I dig this style! I don’t want every book I read to be like this, but it’s refreshing to read something with this format once in a while ! :)
I seem to have been paying attention to the packaging of books lately. Scenes from early life has a GORGEOUS design. I like the cover and the colors a lot. It’s just.. I DON’T EVEN HAVE THE WORDS FOR IT. GO READ IT AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELVES. GAAAH.
I thought this book would be another contemporary book I wouldn’t be interested in when someone IN DA CLUB proposed we read this for our next meeting. However, SFEL was a pleasantly surprising ride to be on! I LOVED IT! Getting to the breaking point took me a while – this book took me AGES to freaking finish – but I loved reading it. Another reason why I loved reading it, is that my life is really shitty right now. Me getting the points I need to be able to continue next year isn’t certain, so this was good book to calm me down, make me forget about the world, make me see that there’s beauty in a surprising place: Bangladesh!
P.S.
P.P.S. I loved this book and it’s dear to my heart, but it isn’t one of my absolute favorites. It misses the je ne sais quoi factor (for me, Murakami has that, but every reader has his/her own je ne sais quoi author) you know? It’s too chill and needs more pizzas! But I loved reading this when I felt super shitty, so, thanks a lot for writing this, Philip Hensher! Such a pity I won’t be seeing you in heaven (since I’m convinced I’m an awful human being that came from hell and will return to it someday). Did you see that subtle, but not less shameless self-promotion I did there? I said something similar in my not-so-great review on Ulysses *sighs*. My reviews come a little more to life every time I write a new one. They come alive and start living in their own little story, their own little world.
What can I say? I thought I wasn’t ever going to finish SFEL at first. It made me feel comfortable, but often a little bit too comfortable. I fell asleep every time I read it! My fucked up sleep schedule is also to blame :( However, there was a moment the book really hit me and when I started to get really into it. This always happens to me when I’m reading good stuff (I’m glad it also happens with my compulsory reading for school! It’s a sign that philosophy is the study for me ! yay! ). Let’s call this my ‘breaking point’ (? Or something) from now on. The moment when the book just hits me and when I start devouring the book. This immediately happens with Murakami books, but those are , you know, Murakami books, my freaking favorite author. Can’t expect that to immediately happen with every book I pick up, you know? I was at page 80 first and after hitting that breaking point, I was suddenly at page 240 and I was like: “Wow, how did I even get here? Did I even read every page till this page?” such a weird feeling!
This book is MUCH better than Kader Abdolah. I thought this book would be like a Kader Abdolah novel 2.0: pretty descriptions about a country I don’t know anything about and a lot of fucked up shit afterwards. Well, this book was kind of like that, but I didn’t mind how it was done. I lost my shit in a bad way when I hit the contrast in Kader Abdolah’s Het huis van de moskee.
I like how this book really is a collection of scenes. I dig this style! I don’t want every book I read to be like this, but it’s refreshing to read something with this format once in a while ! :)
I seem to have been paying attention to the packaging of books lately. Scenes from early life has a GORGEOUS design. I like the cover and the colors a lot. It’s just.. I DON’T EVEN HAVE THE WORDS FOR IT. GO READ IT AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELVES. GAAAH.
I thought this book would be another contemporary book I wouldn’t be interested in when someone IN DA CLUB proposed we read this for our next meeting. However, SFEL was a pleasantly surprising ride to be on! I LOVED IT! Getting to the breaking point took me a while – this book took me AGES to freaking finish – but I loved reading it. Another reason why I loved reading it, is that my life is really shitty right now. Me getting the points I need to be able to continue next year isn’t certain, so this was good book to calm me down, make me forget about the world, make me see that there’s beauty in a surprising place: Bangladesh!
P.S.
P.P.S. I loved this book and it’s dear to my heart, but it isn’t one of my absolute favorites. It misses the je ne sais quoi factor (for me, Murakami has that, but every reader has his/her own je ne sais quoi author) you know? It’s too chill and needs more pizzas! But I loved reading this when I felt super shitty, so, thanks a lot for writing this, Philip Hensher! Such a pity I won’t be seeing you in heaven (since I’m convinced I’m an awful human being that came from hell and will return to it someday). Did you see that subtle, but not less shameless self-promotion I did there? I said something similar in my not-so-great review on Ulysses *sighs*. My reviews come a little more to life every time I write a new one. They come alive and start living in their own little story, their own little world.
March 9, 2013
After reading a chunk of Philip Hensher’s Scenes From An Early Life, I had to check the cover: yes, it was a novel. No it was not a precious remembrance of a childhood. Generally I am quite fond of Hensher’s books, but this account of his partner’s growing up in “East Pakistan” is not a solid book. It certainly isn’t novelistic enough. Plot, characterization, theme are quite parsed out of the sentence. You do have a sense of the times, but only filtered through a family –and for some reason occasionally someone else. What he has is an afterword about names which should have been a forward. The reading would have been much more meaningful. For after 300+ pages he reveals the ways the people call themselves and each other. But only after 300+ pages. Now, who was that? Who?
See, the idea is we are witnesses to history from the eyes of a –well, he isn’t quite born yet—child who lives in this nutty family full of hi-jinks and drying mango pickle as the world crumbles around them in an orgy of genocide.
The fabric of the novel is supposed to be the revolution that created Bangladesh and the reasons for this creation, i.e. mostly religious reasons. Although some elements are certainly there, I felt there was not enough emphasis on the “differentness” that created the bloodshed and this new nation.
Usually Hensher is wildly inventive –and many times over the top in his descriptions of gay sex. This book will disappoint. For views of the subcontinent I’ll stay with Naipaul, Mistry, Ghosh, Deasai, Sinha, Lahiri, Narayan, Monica Ali, and Agida. (Missing is Rushdie, whom I also do not get.) What Hensher does get right is the worship and near deification of the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagor. Otherwise, very forgettable.
See, the idea is we are witnesses to history from the eyes of a –well, he isn’t quite born yet—child who lives in this nutty family full of hi-jinks and drying mango pickle as the world crumbles around them in an orgy of genocide.
The fabric of the novel is supposed to be the revolution that created Bangladesh and the reasons for this creation, i.e. mostly religious reasons. Although some elements are certainly there, I felt there was not enough emphasis on the “differentness” that created the bloodshed and this new nation.
Usually Hensher is wildly inventive –and many times over the top in his descriptions of gay sex. This book will disappoint. For views of the subcontinent I’ll stay with Naipaul, Mistry, Ghosh, Deasai, Sinha, Lahiri, Narayan, Monica Ali, and Agida. (Missing is Rushdie, whom I also do not get.) What Hensher does get right is the worship and near deification of the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagor. Otherwise, very forgettable.
February 22, 2020
Philip Hensher's fictionalised memoir is predominately set during the years proceeding the birth of Bangladesh. With a large array of characters, and a plot that jumped around quite a bit, I found this novel to be as frustrating as it was enjoyable.
October 11, 2015
Disappointing.
I really enjoyed "The Mulberry Empire" with its deft, funny, and adventurous narrative. "Scenes from Early Life" doesn't measure up.
The first half isn't bad, actually: it's a fairly entertaining piecemeal depiction of life Dacca [Dhaka], which would eventually become the capital city of Bangladesh, as told (mostly) from the point of view of a young boy. The "Early Life" of the title is both that of this boy and of Bangladesh. This part of the novel is lively, although unoriginal if you've read any Mistry or the like.
However, this fragmented and homey narrative stumbles badly when confronted with having to tell the story of civil war and attempted genocide. These events actually come off as banal and uninteresting. It's hard to imagine a more serious failure of storytelling, to render the horrifying humdrum.
I really enjoyed "The Mulberry Empire" with its deft, funny, and adventurous narrative. "Scenes from Early Life" doesn't measure up.
The first half isn't bad, actually: it's a fairly entertaining piecemeal depiction of life Dacca [Dhaka], which would eventually become the capital city of Bangladesh, as told (mostly) from the point of view of a young boy. The "Early Life" of the title is both that of this boy and of Bangladesh. This part of the novel is lively, although unoriginal if you've read any Mistry or the like.
However, this fragmented and homey narrative stumbles badly when confronted with having to tell the story of civil war and attempted genocide. These events actually come off as banal and uninteresting. It's hard to imagine a more serious failure of storytelling, to render the horrifying humdrum.
April 15, 2013
I rated this as average. It has the feel of a Miss Read story (very bland) but the setting is anything but rural England, and should have been a bit more lively. I had a hard time staying involved even though the timeframe was the struggle for Bangladesh independence, and I knew that all was not peaceful then. Probably with all the perspective coming from a young child, I should not have expected much depth. I did appreciate the minute details of life and did get a sense of how life was then for a reasonably well-off family.
January 2, 2014
There is some gorgeous writing here, and the narrative is always controlled, but unfortunately it gets repetitive and a bit dull and you lose track of who is who in the extended family. It was interesting to learn more about East Pakistan becoming Bangladesh, but I had to force myself to keep reading after two thirds of the way. The musician characters Amit and Altaf are beautifully realised and their friendship/subplot interested me more than Saadi the central character. I would give three and a half, worth reading but didn't in my opinion live up to the glowing reviews I had read.
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