শরম

by Taslima Nasrin

'My name is Suranjan. You don't recognize me? You wrote a novel about me. It was called Lajja.' One day in Calcutta, Taslima suddenly finds herself face to face with Suranjan, the principal character from her controversial novel Lajja. Persecuted in their native Bangladesh, Suranjan and his family have, like Taslima, moved to the city across the border. But is life for a Hindu family from an Islamic nation any better in a country where a majority of the population happens to be Hindu? Leading poor, unmoored lives, exploited and frustrated at every step of the way, and always carrying with them the memories of a scarred communal history, Suranjan and so many others like him seem to lead incomplete lives in their so-called 'safe haven'. Shameless, the explosive sequel to Lajja, is an uncompromising, heart-breaking look at ordinary people's lives in our troubled times.

271 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Taslima Nasrin (Bengali: তসলিমা নাসরিন) is an award-winning Bangladeshi writer, physician, secular humanist and human rights activist, known for her powerful writings on women oppression and unflinching criticism of religion, despite forced exile and multiple fatwas calling for her death. Early in her literary career, she wrote mainly poetry, and published half a dozen collections of poetry between 1982 and 1993, often with female oppression as a theme. She started publishing prose in the early 1990s, and produced three collections of essays and four novels before the publication of her 1993 novel Lajja (Bengali: লজ্জা Lôjja), or Shame. Because of her thoughts and ideas she has been banned, blacklisted and banished from Bengal, both from Bangladesh and West Bengal part of India. Since fleeing Bangladesh in 1994, she has lived in many countries, and lives in United States as of July 2016. Nasrin has written 40 books in Bengali, which includes poetry, essays, novels and autobiography series. Her works have been translated in thirty different languages. Some of her books are banned in Bangladesh.'

Reviews

[Ashkin Ayub · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dear Taslima Nasrin,

> Surround yourself with people that make you better.
> In a relationship you're supposed to do things to make each other happy because it makes you happy to see them happy not because you have to.
> REAL is rare.
> Don't look back and wonder why things went wrong. Everything happens for a reason. Your better days are ahead of you.
> Lajja > Shorom

Thank you.

> ইহা রিভিউ নহে
> আমার কাছে অটোগ্রাফ আছে

[Soumyabrata Sarkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is nothing extraordinary. In simple terms, it is the extended story of the family, that was left at the end of author's previous controversial novel Lajja.

At any other time, I may have rate this novel a mediocre 2 or at-much 3 stars. I have not did so, because of the lucid flow and the emotions that the writing of this novel invoked in me. The writing is very much contemporary, neglecting all types of boundaries, not withholding any kind of harsh reality that this society nowadays are facing - the wide divide between Hindu and Muslims and in between that is present in there, yet not visible to the naked eye, the shuddering pain of losing a family, the unforgettable guilt of not being capable to support your near ones, the brutal politics and rapes, the unashamed and unbridled love among two people, the betrayals of and by common men, divorces and adulteries, and broken families. Yet life moves on.

The characters living in this story are countable. Suranjan, Kiranmoyee, Maya, Zulekha, Sohbaan and author herself. We get point of view from these characters only. We were given a peek at every one of them, their lives, dreams, wants, sufferings, loss, patience, joys, retrospects and sacrifices they make for others.

An irresponsible yet caring and guilt-ridden man, a suffering mother lost in retrospect of her bygone home and her expired husband, a rape-victim guilt-ridden and searching for hope among one of the people who made her so, a sister carrying her past and her coping up with the present are some of the people you come across in this novel and they are with you, even after you are finished with this novel.

A recommended read. Not because of the story, but because of the writing. A passionate yet practical one.

[Mim Mahjabin · Rating 3 out of 5]

তসলিমা নাসরিন এর নাম শুনে আৎকে উঠা ছেড়ে দিয়ে বইটা পড়েছি। এটা ওনার 'লজ্জা' বইটার পরবর্তী অংশ।
নাস্তিকতা অবশ্যই রয়েছে এতে। কেবল এই ব্যাপারটা যদি বাদ দিয়ে চিন্তা করি, তাহলে বলবো ভালো একটা বই৷ জীবনের অনেক অলিগলি ফুটে উঠেছে বই এ। ভারতে লেখিকার জীবনের কিছু অংশ ও প্রতিফলিত হয়েছে।
বইটা মূলত লেখিকার নিজের জবানীতে লিখা।
বেসিক কাহিনী সুন্দর।বাংলাদেশ এ গণধর্ষণের শিকার মায়া নামক মেয়েকে কেন্দ্র করে তার পরিবার এর সদস্য, আরো কয়েকজন এর জীবনী, মেয়েদের পদে পদে হোঁচট খাওয়া,সেই মায়ার ভাই এর দ্বারা গণধর্ষণের শিকার হওয়া অন্য এক বধূর ধর্ষকের সাথে প্রেম, বিচ্ছেদ,ঘুরে দাঁড়ানোর সাথে সাথে সমাজের বাস্তব রূপ প্রত্যক্ষদর্শীস্বরুপ তুলে ধরার চেষ্টা করা হয়েছে বইটাতে।
কাহিনী সত্য না মিথ্যা, তা পাঠক হিসেবে আমার ভাবার বিষয় না। পড়ার জন্য বইটা খারাপ না।

[MD Moshiur · Rating 1 out of 5]

অখাদ্য,ফালতু

[অনাবিলা অনা · Rating 5 out of 5]

তসলিম নাসরিন বরাবরই প্রিয় লেখিকাদের মধ্যে একজন।আর "শরম" উপন্যাসটির কথা কি বলবো মজাদার খাবারের মতো যা বারবার খেতে ইচ্ছে হয়।এই উপন্যাসটিও ঠিক সেরকম।