A History of Burning

by Janika Oza

This epic, sweeping historical novel full of "wondrous complexity” spans continents and a century, and reveals how one act of survival can reverberate through generations (Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin). ​ “Remarkable….a haunting, symphonic tale”— New York Times Book Review In 1898, Pirbhai, a teenage boy looking for work, is taken from his village in India to labor for the British on the East African Railway. Far from home, Pirbhai commits a brutal act in the name of survival that will haunt him and his family for years to come.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Africa, Historical, Literary Fiction, India, Audiobook

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 2, 2023

Reviews

[Andrea Gagne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautifully crafted novel with an ambitious (and well-executed) multi-generational tale of of family, sacrifice, heartbreak, and identity spanning a century and four continents. 

I always approach these types of sweeping multi-generational sagas with caution. I like to get deeply invested in characters and their story arcs. Sometimes with multi-generational books I can get really drawn into the first story, then wrenched out, and dropped into the next generation, and so on - it can make it hard for me to connect. I quickly realized I'd had nothing to fear!

Janika Oza's writing drew me in from page 1, and I found the introduction of each new character and generation flowed seamlessly. The immersive prose along with the depth she gave each character kept me drawn into the family story. I particularly appreciated how she would take the older characters' pasts, what they survived in their youth, and tie that directly into how they responded to the hopes and dreams of their children. Each person longed to establish their own place in the world, and sometimes their ideas of how to do so were in direct opposition to one another. When they butted heads - sometimes in deeply significant ways - it was so clearly out of love for one another rather, and that complexity of family relationships shone through. It was incredibly well crafted.

In terms of the plot, the novel opened at the turn of the 20th century with a young Indian boy named Pirbhai looking for work to support his mother and sick sister. He comes across a man advertising work - just sign this contract with a thumbprint, don't worry if you can't read English. Pirbhai is then swept away across the sea to East Africa where he is forced to labor in grueling conditions building a railroad for the British colonial rulers. He survives, marries, and tries to create a life for the generations to come. His children and later grandchildren witness the toppling of the colonial regime, a country surging towards military dictatorship, and brutal expulsion into exile.

I basically devoured the first half of the book. I didn't know much about the history of Indian immigrants who settled in East Africa and the communities that sprung up there. It was not only fascinating to learn about the individual characters, but also the political situation, and how their Indian culture melted together with the local cultures in Kenya, Uganda, and the rest of the region. I loved how the author used words from Gujarati, Hindi, and Swahili woven into English to describe foods, traditions, and concepts like independence and freedom - it felt like the author truly wanted to write something authentic for this community and their experiences, while still giving readers like me enough context clues to not break the flow of the prose.

About halfway through the book there was a major tone shift after an incredibly traumatic event (or series of events) that left the family scarred and scattered. After that, I had to slow my reading down somewhat due to the emotional toll. I thought that Oza handled this part of the story well, with family members each coping in their own ways, finding it hard to connect with one another and open up about what they're going through - it felt very honest and raw. The struggles of the immigrant experience in places like Canada were incredibly difficult as well, and the blatant discrimination they faced was an added layer of heartache on top of everything else they'd lost. That being said, the trauma and grief did change the tone and pace of the story a bit.

I think the first half was a clear 5 stars - second half, maybe 4.5, so I'd average that out to a 4.75 overall.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC to read and review.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own

This is the story of a family spanning over one hundred years taking readers from India, Uganda, under British Colonial Rule, England, and finally to Canada. The story is carried out and told from the perspective of different members of the family.

First, I chose this book because it was named the most anticipated book of 2023 by the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, OprahDaily, and Goodreads. Second, because I had never read about the Indian minority's experience in Uganda. I had never learned about their expulsion in 1972 from that country. I also learned about the Yonge Street riots of 1992. A piece of Ontario and Canadian history that I had never been aware of.

Honestly, I had a hard time at first with this book. I almost declared it a "dnf" because I felt the jumping from one character and different decades between paragraphs was jarring. Yet by 20% into the book, I was able to capture the rhythm of the narrative and read it to the end in one sitting. I am so glad that I did because it was a rich history and deserved my attention. Yes, there were a lot of characters but each individual voice captured my heart. This would make a very compelling limited series on a streaming service.

Expected Publication Date 02/05/23
Goodreads review published 16/04/23

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the saga of a very resilient family. It begins in 1898, when a teenaged boy is tricked into leaving his home in India. He winds up working in Africa, where he establishes a new family. Between 1898 and 1992, the book covers British colonialism, the Partition, the Idi Amin dictatorship, racial cleansing, and anti-immigrant prejudice. The family ends up being spread over several continents.

The book jumps around among several family members. At times, I found the jumps a little jarring, particularly since the chapters usually skipped ahead a few years. The most vivid part of the book, and the part in which I was most engaged, was the period in Uganda. Overall, the book was very skillfully and cohesively written, especially considering that this is the author’s first novel.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Hannah Greendale (Hello, Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweeping family saga studded with gorgeous sensory details.

Check out my BookTube review on Hello, Bookworm . 📚🐛



"Sometimes holding on required letting go."

A History of Burning is multi-generational historical fiction about a family in India and charts their family's growth from the 1890s to the 1990s.

The story opens with thirteen-year-old Pirbhai searching for work to help support his struggling family. He accepts a job that he thinks is local work but find himself taken across the ocean to work on the East African Railway for the British.

When it comes to unexpectedly relocating, this is just the beginning for Pribhai and his descendants. The family is continually forced to migrate and adapt to lives in drastically new places as factors ranging from the Partition to colonialism to ruthless dictators displace them.

The story often leaps ahead in time immediately after the family encounters a new hardship, jumping to a different character after the family has settled in a new home/country. This made it difficult to connect with the characters, so I found myself instead drawn to all of the sumptuous details woven throughout the book: the sticky sweetness of dates, the sweltering heat, the air scented with spiced food. For me, those alluring details brought this sweeping tale of displacement to life.

My heartful thanks to the Carol Shields Prize for sending me a finished copy of this book to celebrate the prize.

--

ORIGINAL POST 👇

So keen to read this! A multigenerational saga that begins in 1890s India and charts a family's attempts to "secure their own place in the world" across multiple decades and continents as various hardships—ranging from trickery to a military dictatorship—continually force them to relocate.

[CM · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I loved some parts of this book, and some just did not work for me. I loved reading about the content, but I didn't really connect strongly to any of the characters.

I really enjoyed learning about the history of India and Uganda and the rule of Idi Amin. I had previously known nothing about this subject matter, and I really enjoyed learning about it; although it was all very heartbreaking. I loved the descriptions of the settings and places, and overall, the writing was just very well done.

The problem I had personally was with how the book jumped from character to character over the generations. I think that multi generational stories may just not be for me, as I find it hard to get really connected to the characters. The characters were very well written, I just couldn't connect for some reason.

If you are a fan of epic generational stories such as Pachinko, I think you would really love this book and should definitely give it a read.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Shereadbookblog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beginning in 1898 with a young boy, Pirbhai, being tricked into traveling from India to Africa to help build the East African Railway, this sweeping saga traces the story of four generations told in snapshots through the years. This family is representative of Asians settling in Uganda during British Colonial Rule and, following the country’s independence and ascendence of Idi Amin, their expulsion in 1972 and worldwide resettlement.

I wasn’t sure about this book. It did take me a few chapters to settle in, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down; I was totally captivated by it. Beautifully written, I learned a lot of history of which I was only vaguely aware. There is so much here, but it is not overwhelming. Well written, there is warmth, love, benevolence, brutality, resilience.

Whenever I read books that tell stories like this one, I am left aghast about how helpless the world is when confronting dictators, the inhumanity of mankind in how it often treats others and how unwilling some are to assist refugees. This book will stay in my head for a while.

This is an incredible work from a debut author.


Thanks to #netgalley and #Grandcentralpublishing for the ARC.

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was an exercise in thinking about a story from multiple point of views where a lot of the characters fail to act on their gained insight. That made a lot of the characters somewhat frustrating but the style was generally pleasant so it wasn't too hard to stick with.

3.5 rounded up.

[AndiReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you loved Pachinko, Homegoing, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow or Half of a Yellow Sun this is a book for you! It's hard to believe that Janika Oza is a debut author! She has skilfully woven together a generational saga that expands over continents and includes vivid descriptions of foods and traditions.

The book starts with the story of Pirbhai, a young Indian boy looking for work who is essentially kidnapped and forced into a labor camp in East Africa. The majority of the story, however, focuses upon his three grandchildren as they navigate the political uprisings in Uganda and make personal decisions on based on their experiences.
This novel is going to be well read and very much talked about! Grab it when you can!
#Ahistoryofburning #jankikaOza #GrandCentral Publishing

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sweeping historical fiction and, multigenerational saga is one that I won’t soon forget. In her debut novel, Oza explores so many themes including, the sacrifices we make for our family, identity, and the resilience of the human spirit. The most unforgettable part to me was how refugees who are escaping the most horrific conditions are often poorly treated and denied help.

Even though this book shines a light on some dark parts of history, the story is also filled with so much love. A History of Burning is not only beautifully written but it shocked me to learn that this is Oza’s debut novel. She writes just like any seasoned author and I see a bright future for her in the literary world.

A History of Burning by Janika Oza was published on May 2. A massive thanks to Grand Central Pub for the gifted copy!

[Ming · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is very solid and beautiful and poetic at times. The author is strong and confident in the writing.

This book is structurally a collection of short stories. They are inter-connected but each chapter reads like a short story--with a punchline (that climax or zinger) that is so iconic of short stories.

There is breadth given that each chapter reflects a specific character's viewpoint across time or generation. This does, however, create a certain start-and-stop effect. The writing itself is affecting but only within the limits of a chapter. The depth can only go so far per chapter, per character.

The book is about trauma, serial occurrences of trauma across generations. Yes, it is about survival and reckoning with loss and regret. Moreso, it is about surviving under oppressive systems, i.e., poverty, colonialism, and racism.

I did not like the ending (before the epilogue). It felt abrupt and "convenient." I also did not like the epilogue for being opaque or vague. It was an attempt at hopefulness but missing the mark, it fell flat...that short story "wrap-up" suddenly absent or unachievable.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Several quotes:

He remembered a girl. A baby in his arm, eyes so large and black and wet, moving like the sea.

...This wasn't gossip, where the telling made you feel wretched and powerful, but an offering, a diminishing of weight that left you more open to the world....

...Rajni kept her cardigan pulled over herself, her back pooling, aware that she was allowed only certain kinds of mess.

...In this second life, I had kept myself apart, every us whittled down to just me....

...They left to keep their family whole, something their ancestors had understood. But this time, it was their choice. Vinod's grandparents had known it, and his parents, and Rajni's too. Even Latika. How the leaving was protection, a kind of survival....

...What was love but one long act of forgiveness, of choosing to return, again and again.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could write a review worthy of this extraordinary,heartbreaking, uplifting,full of lyrical prose book.

[Letitia | Bookshelfbyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot believe this is a debut novel.

This will easily be in my top 5 reads of the year.

‘A History of Burning’ follows 4 generations within a family starting from India in 1898 to Uganda to modern-day Canada. Pirbhai was a teenage boy looking for work to support his family when he was tricked and taken from his village in India to work for the East African Railway for the British. To survive, he commits an act that haunts him and defines his family for generations to come.

Honestly, no summary can do it justice. You have to read and embark on this journey for yourself.

This is an important, honest, moving story about survival, empathy, the acts you do to protect your family including your chosen family, the lasting effects of colonialism, disruption and displacement, activism, racism, and how to rebuild your life.

I didn’t know much about East Africa and Indian immigrants so this also was extremely eye-opening and opened a door for me to learn more.

You feel for the characters so much. They each have to make difficult decisions that I couldn’t fathom having to make or experience. I empathized with each character, even Latika (IYKYK). Especially with immigrant families, generational trauma is a dark cloud that feels unshakeable. When you are removed from a situation, it is hard to grasp why certain stories and histories despite their impact, go unspoken within families. However, it often feels like the only way to move forward is to try to block out the memories of the past. Especially when your past life was ripped away from you without your consent.

Janika is a phenomenal writer. I was engrossed with the story from the very first chapter. In life, it is impossible to see the lives of those who live before you and after you and to be able to see how each generation was formed including their commonalities and differences was special.

Great for fans of ‘Homegoing’ by Yaa Gyasi. Thank you so much for the copy. I am forever grateful!

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 5 out of 5]

With debut novels, you are never quite sure what to expect, but I absolutely adored this book. A multi-generational story of one particular Indian family and their trials and triumphs over a number of different epochs and continents, A History of Burning is the author's stunning initial entry/opening gambit into, hopefully, a forthcoming oeuvre with just as much of a beguiling and beautiful tone.

Fiction set against the backdrop of other cultures that have managed to maintain their customs and traditions and cultural identity has a special pull for me, partly because the west seem to have lost their identity somewhere along the way, and this did not disappoint with an intricate story layered atop of real events and their repercussions throughout Asia and parts of Africa. Putting it down, I found, was rather a tricky prospect.

Oza writes with such beauty that you cannot fail to be hooked by the narrative from the first few pages. This is the first fiction book I have gotten rather excited about in a while; it truly deserves to be widely read. A compelling, incisive and often breathtaking work of literature which examines the vast struggles of life and the burdens we all bear. Highly recommended.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Janika Oza’s ambitious debut novel, A History of Burning, is a compelling intergenerational story that follows one family over 100 years, beginning in 1898 India, and across four continents. The story explores themes of displacement, migration, erasure, and colonialism. However, at its heart, the story is about family relationships, family secrets, choices, survival, and shared memory.

"At its core, this is really a novel about the ways that one family comes apart and back together over and over." JANIKA OZA

In this novel, there is not one protagonist. The entire family is the voice of the story, each individual, or combinations of characters, given chapters titled with their names and dates.

I particularly enjoyed the way the author explored family dynamics and relationships within the family itself, including husband-wife, siblings, and children-grandparents.

The story is based on real histories of exile, loss and resettlement and provides a glimpse into the lasting impacts of colonialism still reverberating in families across the world today.

Janika’s passion about her own family history is one of the reasons she was inspired to write this novel. Through her family, she connected to many people in their community now scattered across the globe who were eager to share their own family stories as part of her research for the book. The trauma of exile and separation was explored, particularly around the 1972 expulsion of the entire South Asian population from Uganda ordered by then dictator Idi Amin, giving them just 90 days to leave. Over 60,000 people were forced to leave everything behind as they struggled to find a home in a new country. Even though many South Asians were born in Uganda, they became stateless, and their property confiscated.

The story itself does not focus on geo-political drama taking place at any one time, but rather the various reactions, emotions and responses of the individual family members and of the family as a whole.

An early incident involving fire results in a family secret tightly held by the patriarch until he decides to share it with his oldest granddaughter on his deathbed, a “girl unafraid to bear witness” he tells himself. He needed this memory to survive. “I made choices to stay on the side of the living.” However, this one act “looms over his descendants as a sort of original sin.”

The motif and theme of the book include fire, flame and burning. The African flame tree is mentioned repeatedly. The flame tree is also known as the African tulip tree and produces exquisite red and yellow blooms. The incredibly beautiful cover art portrays flames, matunda vine, and passion fruit. The color orange signifies not only heat but the color of sunrise in Uganda. Matunda is Swahili for fruit. I learned a few Swahili words while reading this book, including uhuru which means freedom.

Scattered throughout the text of the book, there were unfamiliar words or phrases. After doing some research and listening to several interviews with Janika I discovered this placement was intentional on her part.

“It felt very important for me to also have lines and phrases be Swahili and Gujarati and to not give away a distinction between these languages, because the way that I learned them was very mixed. So, it felt necessary for me to honor that hybrid language throughout the book.”

Needless to say, I spent a lot of time looking up the meanings of words.

Of the fire theme, Janika shared this in an interview article:
“I wanted a title that spoke to the themes of complicity and resistance running through the book. I landed on burning because when we think of a burning, what usually comes to mind is something that’s destructive or harmful or violent. Very often that’s true. But a burning can also be something that is purposeful or regenerative, like a controlled burning of a forest to encourage new growth. Throughout my novel, both of those possibilities are there.”

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too large a narrative scope, too many barely contoured characters and not enough time spent with each to care about their individual story. A very solid start, but if I know from the very beginning that you’re withholding information from me, you need to make the rest of the 300 pages worthwhile and the “secret” not be so anticlimactic. The writing is strong though, so I’m excited about what Janika Oza has next in store for us readers.... provided it’s not another multigenerational saga.

[Korcan Derinsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bir Yangının Tarihçesi, dört kuşak süren, Hindistan’dan Doğu Afrika’ya, oradan Kanada’ya uzanan bir göç yolculuğun hikayesi. Göç etmek durumunda kalan ailenin kaderi, tarihsel olaylarla iç içe geçerken, kimlik, aidiyet ve travmaların nesiller boyu nasıl aktarıldığını görüyoruz. Yazarın dili akıcı, anlatımı sürükleyici; özellikle atmosfer yaratma konusunda oldukça başarılı. Ancak ilk bölümler o kadar hızlı geçiyor ki, karakterlerin yaşadıklarını tam anlamıyla hissedemeden bir sonraki yıla / karaktere / hikayeye atlıyoruz. Bu da ister istemez bağ kurmayı zorlaştırıyor. Keşke tüm macerayı başlatan Pirbhai’nin yolculuğunu onun bakışından daha uzun süre okuyabilseydik diye sık sık düşündüm. Yine de bir ilk roman için oldukça güçlü, yer yer eksik hissettirse de anlatacak çok şeyi olan bir metin kesinlikle. Oza’nın ileride daha da oturmuş metinler yazacağını ve kesinlikle takibe değer bir yazar olduğunu düşünüyorum.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down one of the most stunning, beautiful, and heartbreaking books I’ve read this year. Absolutely no questions asked my favourite of 2023. A book that takes you through multiple generations of one family’s struggle to live in just one place, displaced for one reason or another. Whether family sagas rich with history are your thing or not, this is a must read.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars! Rtc.

[Tanwi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am…… utterly speechless. I think this will probably be the best book I read this year. I am shaken to my core. A History of Burning touches on so many histories and experiences. The story stretches from British rule over India to the legacies of colonialism in Uganda and touches on the South Asian and African diasporas and even briefly explores how they relate to race and police brutality in Canada. The author offered so many actually novel and meaningful reflections on love, family, generational trauma, and more… and yet it worked so well. Usually a book that tries to pack this much in just doesn’t feel genuine. But this one was mind-bogglingly graceful in how it tackled and integrated all these ideas.

Honestly at times this book was really hard to get through. It forced me to think about so many things that I actively try not to linger on and I thought it would be easier to leave those thoughts untouched than bring them into conscious recognition. So many times I just put the book down and thought "I should just return this before I'm in too deep." Umm well here we are. I read the whole thing in two sittings (much like how I read Pachinko). I think part of this book’s importance lies not only in shamelessly bringing forth various kinds of pain, but also exploring how recognizing and sitting with them can be productive. Regardless I still cried through all 387 pages. Like I was sobbing cover to cover. HOWEVER!! It did not feel like the book was capitalizing on the grief and misery of its characters to keep me in. It wasn't *shudders* pure trauma page after page. I think the historical context helped a lot with this, but I really appreciated how family dynamics and traumatic situations were written and leveraged in ways that did not meaninglessly contribute to characters' suffering, objectively horrible things weren't romanticized, and trauma was written in a way that you knew it wasn't there just for the reader to marvel at. Not that any amount of suffering is necessary, but none of the suffering in this book felt unnecessary.

Janika Oza said a lot of things that I should probably think about but probably will not for the sake of maintaining my sanity and my relationship with my family. It's incredible how seen and called out I feel despite the ocean between my experience and the experiences of the main characters in this book as Indian-Ugandan refugees. It's a part of history I know more about (and want to learn more about) than I did before and yet another testament to the brutality and cruelty of British empire. In short, I hate the British, no exceptions. "'Come, poor exiles, enjoy the riches of my nation, grown wealthy on your backs.' Lakita snickered, deepening her voice. 'We left our broken systems behind there, now come enjoy ours here.' ... 'Isn't it funny, after everything, we move to the master's house.'" Isn't in funny!! Hilarious. Much to think about. The book asks you to spare your ancestors a certain type of sympathy that can be dangerous in its ability to break your image of them, but also offers the opportunity for a kind of healing most people have abandoned. Oza describes it perfectly: the loneliness of mourning something you've never known, be it a person, a place, or a memory. Despite the foreignness of the setting and story, it felt so incredibly familiar. Hindi isn't even my first language. I know enough to get by, but the way Hindi and Swahili words were used and described transcended familiarity with language. I knew exactly the feeling and the meaning behind a word without knowing exactly what it meant. That being said it was a mind-bending experience to read a full-length book that featured such a diversity of Indian people, names, places, and foods. Like WOAH. I've never seen that in a book before.

"...you could pluck out one hurt, turn it around in your fingers, but who knew which would be the one to bring all the others tumbling down."

I think my only complaints are about the end of the book. It felt a little sudden, and it wasn't the clean/messy ending I expected, but I don't think I missed out on much. Everything that needed to be said came across through the duration of the story. It was a flawlessly written book, and all the Hindi and Swahili and everything in between was integrated in a way that didn't feel cheesy or awkward. I think books that are really introspective can struggle to integrate dialogue in an organic way but it was pulled off really well here.

Ultimately I would say that everyone is legally required to read this book but I would especially recommend it to people who enjoyed Pachinko, and also to people who couldn’t get through Pachinko for whatever reason. It’s similar in many ways (an intergenerational historical fiction that acts as a playground to explore family and love and histories that aren’t well known) but more fast-paced, a bit of an easier read, and a little less depressing. At the very least this book won't leave you sobbing for hours and hours the way Pachinko did. This one had a bit of a cleaner ending. Or maybe it will break you!

AND TO ALL THE REVIEWERS COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW MUCH FOREIGN LANGUAGE IS USED IN THIS BOOK: GOOGLE EXISTS! I DON’T SEE ANYONE COMPLAINING ABOUT ALL THE FOREIGN WORDS IN LORD OF THE RINGS OR HARRY POTTER. AND THOSE ARE LITERALLY MADE UP WORDS IN MADE UP LANGUAGES!!! GROW UP AND FIGURE OUT THAT THE BURDEN OF LEARNING IS ON YOU SOMETIMES, AND BOOKS ARE WRITTEN FOR PEOPLE OTHER THAN YOURSELF WHO SPEAK LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH EXIST (SURPRISE! THEY DO EXIST! PEOPLE STILL USE THEM!) AND YOU CAN UNDERSTAND AND ENJOY THESE BOOKS IF YOU TAKE A MINUTE OF YOUR TIME TO GOOGLE A FEW WORDS.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel treats a subject that is not frequently the heart of a story – namely the lives and plights of displaced Asians. Three (really four) generations of one family are important characters in the novel. The “grandfather” is a poverty stricken young Indian man (1898), who is deceived (by the promise of a job and good wage) and basically kidnapped and indentured by the British to work on the British railroad in Kenya and Uganda. His wife is an Asian immigrant to Kenaya. They settle in Uganda where, although there are legally prohibited from owning land, they begin a business. Their son wishes to pursue an education in India or Europe, but family issues result in his staying in Uganda, where he continues the business. In 1948, he marries (unseen) a Hindu woman living in what has just become Pakistan - - the marriage to an unknown man on another continent is the means by which her parents ensure her survival. This couple has three daughters, each of whom becomes a major character. Civil unrest is becoming an issue. One of the daughters becomes involved in the movement to change the government. As we know, the government does change, and the Idi Amin regime gained full control. As a result, all Asians were subject to forced exile from Uganda. The life, brutality, heartache and emotions leading up to, and including, the exile of this Asian family the reader has grown to know so well is heart-wrenching. But, of course, the story of exile does not end with the exile itself. Most of the family moves to Toronto, where they try to start over, but the cloud of the life, loves and family they have lost is inescapable. In the end, there is some redemption, but the great loss of being exiles is never gone. I was deeply moved by this novel.

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was well-written, but because it spans close to 100 years and the chapters were relatively short it made it difficult to connect with the characters.

I felt like Part 1 was too rushed because of large gaps in years to introduce the reader to multiple members of the family. Part 2 was where the real meat of the story took place. Part 3 was an uneventful wrapping up.

[Desiree Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

IN A WORD:
Enjoyable.

THE GOOD: Exotic locales and interesting cultural changes due to location and timeframe.

THE BAD: Often too much use of non-English words that context didn't explain.

RECAP:
An tale of one family's generational goal to improve their status.
From India to Uganda to Canada. Pushed from one new life to the next.
Told through the eyes of multiple characters - a child, a parent, a grandparent, sisters, and brothers.
Ultimately a tale of familial love and faithfulness.

[Olga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Зворушлива сімейна сага про життя та виживання чотирьох поколінь однієї сім'ї на трьох континентах, про збереження відчуття дому, родини, ідентифікації, почуття обов’язку, вибору... Дізналася багато нового про історичні передумови еміграції багатьох сімей з Азії та Африки в минулому столітті для розуміння багатьох подій сьогодення.
Мої зауваги до художнього оформлення тексту в плані переключення між багатьма персонажами та роками, що заважало проникнутися характерами та особистими історіями, не завадили високо оцінити цю книгу.

[Fanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

a century of history as felt through generations of a family, spanning across continents. this debut is brutally honest and sentimentally cynical. rtc.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A HISTORY OF BURNING by Janika Oza is a fantastic debut! This is an emotional and sweeping family saga that follows multiple generations. We first meet Pirbhai who leaves his home in India to work in Uganda and then his grandchildren who must also leave their home. This book is about family bonds, forced displacement, and the meaning of home. There were several very emotional scenes that brought me on the verge of tears. I loved the epic linear timeline and multiple perspectives from different family members. It’s an engaging journey through time and across continents. I loved how one of the settings is Toronto. I especially loved the focus on the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. That made me miss my grandparents.

Thank you to McClelland & Stewart for my advance review copy!

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Multigenerational family saga that covers almost one hundred years. It starts with Pirbhai in 1898 in Gujarat, India. He needs work and is fooled into signing up for a grueling project in British East Africa (now Kenya), where he builds railroads for the colonial powers. He commits an act that will reverberate through the family for generations. The storyline follows his descendants after a move to Uganda, the family’s successful business, and the expulsion of Asians by Idi Amin in 1972. The family is scattered, with some ending up in Toronto, Canada.

It is organized chronologically, occasionally leaping forward in time. For me, the heart of the novel is in the experience of the family living in Uganda under the dictatorship of Idi Amin. It sheds light on a part of world history that may not be widely known. Once expelled, the family must adapt to a new way of life, facing the many challenges experienced by those seeking refuge in other countries, who are often misunderstood or stereotyped.

It explores intergenerational family trauma, and the manner in which family members must face the same issues and concerns though separated by time and place. It spans three continents, with segments set in India, Kenya, Uganda, England, and Canada. Themes include colonialism, the plight of refugees, the impact of family secret-keeping, belonging, and memory. This is quite an accomplished debut and I look forward to reading more from Janika Oza.

[Collette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Janika Oza’s debut novel, A History of Burning, is a nuanced and layered epic that spans a hundred years, four generations and four different countries. It is a generational tale that begins in 1898 with Pirbhai, a 13-year-old from India who crosses the Arabian Sea with a crew of young boys who are promised work. The work is the brutal job of building the East African Railway for the British. This experience shapes his identity and future, and he goes on to settle in Uganda with the drive to make this foreign country a home for he and his family.

The story goes on to describe the lives of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. During the 1970’s, the military dictatorship of Idi Amin forces South Indian residents in Uganda to flee or be killed in an often-overlooked act of genocide and terrorism. Communities and families are broken apart and dispersed throughout England, India, and North America, with Pirbhai’s descendants ending up in each of these places.

Told in alternating character points of view, this story moves through time and place with different family voices lending insights and fullness to the narrative. At its heart, this story is one of family and memory; what can be left behind and what is always with you. The plotline ebbs and flows much like water on the shores or memory in streams of human consciousness. It is a story of starting over and rebuilding, with love and community being the only stable foundation.

Oza’s writing is stirring and descriptive, infused with well-researched historical events. While the length of the novel offers up some scenes and character actions that tend toward banal, it complements the ebb and flow of the overall arch of the story. I am looking forward to more beautiful work from this talented author. Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the chance to read and review an advanced copy.

[Lilisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweeping multi-generational saga that takes the reader across several countries and across four continents. The book starts in 1898 in India with the teenage boy Pirbhai seeking work and is tricked into leaving the country and runs through to 1992 where he and his family are grappling with the past, present and future. The book takes us from India to Kenya to Uganda; from Uganda to India briefly, and from Uganda to Canada and the U.K. This was an engrossing read. The book touches on many themes - the most prominent being that of the immigrant - where and what is home, the harsh realities of what it means to belong and “be from a place.” Sadly, not everyone has the same definition based on looks and culture despite the deep roots many generations of a family have in a country - sadly, they are still seen as “others.” I cannot begin to fathom the devastation experienced by all who were forced to leave, or rather flee, Uganda - the country they were born and raised in, and which they always knew as home. I enjoyed the historical backdrops against which this book is set making this true to its genre as historical fiction. I thought the characters were well portrayed and multidimensional. I read this book immediately following The Covenant of Water, which is also a sweeping multigenerational historical fiction. I enjoyed this debut novel by Janika Oza so much more - this one had depth, breadth, complex characters, and conveyed so much more emotion to connect with the reader. I’m hoping the author is knee deep in her next book and look forward to reading it. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Melanie Caldicott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an ambitious, beautifully-written novel about the Indio-Ugandan experience. I have read a couple of other books surrounding this part of Indian history, but felt I learnt the most from this book and that it gave much more detail and context to the situation. The novel follows a family across several generations depicting each of the different generations' experience of displacement and sense of home masterfully. I really connected to some of the individual characters' stories and read these parts of the book compulsively. However, the switch of narratives felt jarring and brought me out of feeling immersed in the story. This led to the overarching narrative feeling fragmented even though the author was trying to tell not only the story of a family, but also of a nation. This book was an accomplished work about themes which the author is clearly passionate. But a little hard to keep going at times as a reader.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hundreds upon hundreds of Indian words but no glossary at the end.
Three generation of a family with Indian names in the first 150 pages with no family tree to guide us.
Three generation of family in 150 pages with not enough to know them very well. More family to come in the next few hundred pages?

Normally this would have been my favorite kind of book, but I had to subtract one star for each of these faults. I could not finish the book.