What do you think?
Rate this book
The Children of This Madness
In The Children of this Madness, Gemini Wahhaj pens a complex tale of modern Bengalis, one that illuminates the recent histories not only of Bangladesh, but America and Iraq. Told in multiple voices over successive eras, this is the story of Nasir Uddin and his daughter Beena, and the intersection of their distant, vastly different lives.
As the US war in Iraq plays out a world away, and Beena struggles to belong to Houston's tony Bengali American community-many of whom serve the same corporate masters she sees destroying Iraq-recently widowed engineering professor Nasir Uddin journeys to America not only to see Beena and her new husband but the many former students who make up the immigrant community Beena has come to view with ambivalence. With subtlety, grace, and love, Wahhaj dramatizes this mingling of generations and cultures, and the search for an ever-elusive home that define the Bengali American experience.
As the US war in Iraq plays out a world away, and Beena struggles to belong to Houston's tony Bengali American community-many of whom serve the same corporate masters she sees destroying Iraq-recently widowed engineering professor Nasir Uddin journeys to America not only to see Beena and her new husband but the many former students who make up the immigrant community Beena has come to view with ambivalence. With subtlety, grace, and love, Wahhaj dramatizes this mingling of generations and cultures, and the search for an ever-elusive home that define the Bengali American experience.
- GenresFiction
286 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 5, 2023
2 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 1, 2024
I was so, so excited to read this. Leftist work feels like a large gap in the South Asian-American canon. Popular discourse still hasn’t moved past “chai tea”/“naan bread” and mango tree diaspora poetry. I feel the prescient moral issues of our communities are deeper, such as caste, religious fundamentalism, and pursuit of profit and self-interest over collective good. I was excited for this book to criticize the war in Iraq and the profit-driven culture that has often developed in these communities.
Unfortunately, this book fell short of my hopes. Many of the characters and relationships were flat and unlikeable—primary example, Beena, the main character. I finished this book knowing nothing about her personality other than her being reactive and often mean. I’m also very confused about her relationship with Roberto. I see no reason for either of them to like each other and it feels like some type of stereotype that this random, empty relationship with a white (sorry, “Italian”) boy was thrown in.
The book could’ve also benefited from tighter editing. There were at least a couple instances of repeated sentences in the same paragraph or page, and there was a level of detail that, at many points, seemed irrelevant and grating (although at some, it was quite beautiful).
Oftentimes, the dialogue felt grating as well, and it seemed like the author was trying to over-explain things for a white American audience by including dialogue more reminiscent of Wikipedia articles than naturally flowing speech.
The plot arc had great potential. I feel this book had great ideas with poor execution.
Unfortunately, this book fell short of my hopes. Many of the characters and relationships were flat and unlikeable—primary example, Beena, the main character. I finished this book knowing nothing about her personality other than her being reactive and often mean. I’m also very confused about her relationship with Roberto. I see no reason for either of them to like each other and it feels like some type of stereotype that this random, empty relationship with a white (sorry, “Italian”) boy was thrown in.
The book could’ve also benefited from tighter editing. There were at least a couple instances of repeated sentences in the same paragraph or page, and there was a level of detail that, at many points, seemed irrelevant and grating (although at some, it was quite beautiful).
Oftentimes, the dialogue felt grating as well, and it seemed like the author was trying to over-explain things for a white American audience by including dialogue more reminiscent of Wikipedia articles than naturally flowing speech.
The plot arc had great potential. I feel this book had great ideas with poor execution.
October 7, 2023
This book I received as a ARC copy for an honest review.
This book is the journey of Dr Uddin and how he escaped his village for a better life.
How he earned his doctorate degree.
He moved to canana and Iraq where he loved with his wife and children.
The life of an Islamic Bengali family.
This book is very well written the author uses simple words which made the book easy to understand and very enjoyable. I enjoyed it very much and I highly recommend it. I am new to this author and I am very impressed with this book.
This book thought me about another culture which I enjoyed.
This book is the journey of Dr Uddin and how he escaped his village for a better life.
How he earned his doctorate degree.
He moved to canana and Iraq where he loved with his wife and children.
The life of an Islamic Bengali family.
This book is very well written the author uses simple words which made the book easy to understand and very enjoyable. I enjoyed it very much and I highly recommend it. I am new to this author and I am very impressed with this book.
This book thought me about another culture which I enjoyed.
January 22, 2024
My interview with Gemini can be found here. She shares a number of insights about her process and writing from multiple points of view:
https://christinesneed.substack.com/p...
https://christinesneed.substack.com/p...
November 6, 2024
“If it was a cloudless sky with a full moon, then each crater and ridge was visible on the bright disc with its soft, bleeding circumference. On moonless nights, the sky burst into a thousand stars.”
Gemini Wahhaj’s debut novel “Children of This Madness” is a beautifully time-braided narrative of a Bangladeshi family whose trajectories take them from Bangladesh to Canada to Iraq to America. The novel begins in Houston, Texas in 2003, at the start of the ill-fated War on Iraq. Beena is a doctoral student at a dinner party thrown by young professional Bangladeshis. She had grown up in Mosul, but her shock and sorrow at the US invasion is overshadowed by the jingoist capitalist leanings of her wealthy dinner companions.
“Mejo Chachi was my mother’s shoi. Shois share everything, including secrets they would never tell anyone else.”
Interleaved with Beena’s chapters is the story of a young boy growing up in a village in Bangladesh in the 1940s. Nasir Uddin is Beena’s father who follows a difficult and unlikely path to becoming an engineer and a beloved professor across 3 continents.
“With each new ailment, he smoked with more contentment, embracing the act of dying, as if he had been waiting all along for the cold sleepy lap of death.”
I was agog at the novel’s sweep of time and space, from pre-partition rural Bengal to Ottawa, Canada to Mosul, Iraq to Dhaka, Bangladesh to Texas, America. Each of these places comes alive with Wahhaj’s writing. I was especially moved by her depictions of the past: how village schools and patriarchal joint families functioned in 1940s India; what it was like to be a young immigrant couple in grad school in Canada in the 1960s; the life of an expat family in Iraq in the 1970s; struggling to make a difference in a corrupt social, political, and academic system in Dhaka in 1980s.
“Her aunt’s bony frame bound in a loosely worn cotton sari, a long, taut, sunburnt face that shone like cinnamon bark.”
Children of This Madness tells an intergenerational transnational story of conflicted family dynamics, political and social corruption, uneasy friendships, and troubled romance. But underneath it all is the often tragic struggle to make a life of connection and meaning, as seen through the very different lenses of Nasir Uddin and his daughter Beena. I’ll leave you with my favourite passage from the novel:
“The children ran ahead of us and reached the water in a rush. “Stop!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, mad with panic. Kazi stopped one step short of the waters of the Tigris. “Why?” he asked. “Will the water get dirty from my shoes?””
Gemini Wahhaj’s debut novel “Children of This Madness” is a beautifully time-braided narrative of a Bangladeshi family whose trajectories take them from Bangladesh to Canada to Iraq to America. The novel begins in Houston, Texas in 2003, at the start of the ill-fated War on Iraq. Beena is a doctoral student at a dinner party thrown by young professional Bangladeshis. She had grown up in Mosul, but her shock and sorrow at the US invasion is overshadowed by the jingoist capitalist leanings of her wealthy dinner companions.
“Mejo Chachi was my mother’s shoi. Shois share everything, including secrets they would never tell anyone else.”
Interleaved with Beena’s chapters is the story of a young boy growing up in a village in Bangladesh in the 1940s. Nasir Uddin is Beena’s father who follows a difficult and unlikely path to becoming an engineer and a beloved professor across 3 continents.
“With each new ailment, he smoked with more contentment, embracing the act of dying, as if he had been waiting all along for the cold sleepy lap of death.”
I was agog at the novel’s sweep of time and space, from pre-partition rural Bengal to Ottawa, Canada to Mosul, Iraq to Dhaka, Bangladesh to Texas, America. Each of these places comes alive with Wahhaj’s writing. I was especially moved by her depictions of the past: how village schools and patriarchal joint families functioned in 1940s India; what it was like to be a young immigrant couple in grad school in Canada in the 1960s; the life of an expat family in Iraq in the 1970s; struggling to make a difference in a corrupt social, political, and academic system in Dhaka in 1980s.
“Her aunt’s bony frame bound in a loosely worn cotton sari, a long, taut, sunburnt face that shone like cinnamon bark.”
Children of This Madness tells an intergenerational transnational story of conflicted family dynamics, political and social corruption, uneasy friendships, and troubled romance. But underneath it all is the often tragic struggle to make a life of connection and meaning, as seen through the very different lenses of Nasir Uddin and his daughter Beena. I’ll leave you with my favourite passage from the novel:
“The children ran ahead of us and reached the water in a rush. “Stop!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, mad with panic. Kazi stopped one step short of the waters of the Tigris. “Why?” he asked. “Will the water get dirty from my shoes?””
Read
November 26, 2023Not rating this because i didn't like it and that makes me think I'm not the target audience
October 2, 2023
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Voracious Readers, and I really enjoyed it. Books have the power to expose you to new learning and new experiences and that is what Gemini Wahhaj provides for her readers. Her characters remind you that living a happy life has many avenues and is a complex concept that not everyone needs to understand; as long as you understand it yourself.
November 8, 2023
Children of This Madness is a compelling look at the often conflicting pulls of opportunity and family heritage/homeland; as well as the pushes of geopolitical and cultural conflict that create refugees and immigrants.
Told in alternating chapters between a Bangladeshi father who becomes an engineer and his daughter in America, the novel fosters a great deal of empathy for the struggles and hardships that many face seeking opportunity and safety. We go through the shifting feasibility of academic careers in places like Bangladesh and Iraq as factions like Hussein's Baath party disrupt conditions for all but their most loyal followers.
Similarly in America, the daughter is torn by feelings about the Gulf War, having ties to the people while many around her mainly see opportunity in rebuilding the oil industry once Saddam is out. She also struggles with losing family and trying to help her father from a great distance, as well as very different perspectives and priorities once they are together.
These are very well-developed characters, and relatable situations.
I received a complimentary copy through Voracious Readers in exchange for an honest review.
Told in alternating chapters between a Bangladeshi father who becomes an engineer and his daughter in America, the novel fosters a great deal of empathy for the struggles and hardships that many face seeking opportunity and safety. We go through the shifting feasibility of academic careers in places like Bangladesh and Iraq as factions like Hussein's Baath party disrupt conditions for all but their most loyal followers.
Similarly in America, the daughter is torn by feelings about the Gulf War, having ties to the people while many around her mainly see opportunity in rebuilding the oil industry once Saddam is out. She also struggles with losing family and trying to help her father from a great distance, as well as very different perspectives and priorities once they are together.
These are very well-developed characters, and relatable situations.
I received a complimentary copy through Voracious Readers in exchange for an honest review.
June 15, 2024
A powerful probing of life among immigrants to the US, examining remembering, class and money, adjustment, search for a partner who you can admire, and loss.
The novel is especially interested in characters’ values, gender roles, and resistance or acceptance of conventions. Are you a sellout or a stooge for corporate interests?, is a frequent implied question behind many encounters in the fiction.
Being careful to not give spoilers or name the characters, I can say that Wahhaj’s handling of death scenes is one of the most potent memories of the book for me, taking it into the realm of literature. The questions of Who Is Not Here? and How Have Their Traces Been Left Upon Me? are keen ones in this novel.
I am delighted to own a signed copy of the novel from the author’s reading of it at Basket Books & Art in Houston.
The novel is especially interested in characters’ values, gender roles, and resistance or acceptance of conventions. Are you a sellout or a stooge for corporate interests?, is a frequent implied question behind many encounters in the fiction.
Being careful to not give spoilers or name the characters, I can say that Wahhaj’s handling of death scenes is one of the most potent memories of the book for me, taking it into the realm of literature. The questions of Who Is Not Here? and How Have Their Traces Been Left Upon Me? are keen ones in this novel.
I am delighted to own a signed copy of the novel from the author’s reading of it at Basket Books & Art in Houston.
October 14, 2023
The book showcases a mini saga of an Islamic Bengali family, their triumphs and struggles as they cope up with Bangladesh's period of political instability. The narrative highlights the life journey of Dr. Nasi Uddin as he escapes poverty in a small village and manifested his love for math by earning a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering. He traveled to Canada for a higher education and stayed in Iraq with his wife Rahela and three children, Beena, Lenin and Kazi for the money and to earn a living as a professor in the University of Mosul.
The novel uses the third person point of view to tell Beena's goal to pursue further academic training in Houston, Texas in the United States and shows how she eventually settled down with an Italian husband. Uddin's backstory was relayed utilizing the first person point of view. It is interesting to note that this method blended and transected wonderfully near the climax to create a stirring and honest account of cultural immersion and adjustment for Beena and her father.
This is an absorbing and engrossing read! The writer's style of narration was straightforward and unembellished. The simplicity of her words along with the introduction to Bangladesh culture will beguile the reader to appreciate the book for its uniqueness and ethnic authenticity.
The novel uses the third person point of view to tell Beena's goal to pursue further academic training in Houston, Texas in the United States and shows how she eventually settled down with an Italian husband. Uddin's backstory was relayed utilizing the first person point of view. It is interesting to note that this method blended and transected wonderfully near the climax to create a stirring and honest account of cultural immersion and adjustment for Beena and her father.
This is an absorbing and engrossing read! The writer's style of narration was straightforward and unembellished. The simplicity of her words along with the introduction to Bangladesh culture will beguile the reader to appreciate the book for its uniqueness and ethnic authenticity.
January 23, 2024
I loved everything about this novel, which starts on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a massive crime that is rarely handled in literature. It’s set in Houston, rural and urban Bangladesh, Ottawa, Mosul and is a work of unusual skill, creativity, and humanity. I haven't stopped thinking about it.
Read
May 7, 2024Read quickly but not sure how much I enjoyed it. The characters, times and places got confusing along the way. There was a lot of sadness and I wanted the characters to learn/flip/evolve but they kinda just remained the same. I did learn a lot about a culture and experience very different from my own. I definitely want to see what the author writes next!
Read
April 1, 2024There was so much potential but this fell flat for me and felt kinda scattered at some points. Beena's whole houston life felt like underbaked. All mentions of Iraq and war felt weird in a not so great way.
November 16, 2023
This book is very poorly written. The plot is slow and uninteresting. I would not recommend.
February 29, 2024
It’s impossible not to fall in love with the culture after reading this book. I cried many times.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews