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Rape of Sita
Sita is a strong woman, a living legend in Mauritian society. She has also buried a secret that threatens to overwhelm her very self. Raped by a 'friend' eight years before, Sita's search to come to terms with her past extends beyond her physical violation to encompass other forms of oppression.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 5, 2010
I'll start off by saying there were a lot of things I didn't like about this book. I didn't like the literary style. The narrator, Iqbal, has a habit of addressing the reader directly. He even says, "My publisher told me not to do this, but I feel like I must." And he addresses the reader at the most exasperating times: "So before we get to this next part, I'm going to leave you hanging over the edge of a cliff for five pages while I tell you the life story of a particular character you've seen mentioned several times already." I felt like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, at Scene 24: "GET ON WITH IT!!!!"
I also thought the author's use of symbolism - constantly comparing the rape of Sita, and rape in general, to the institution of colonization -- was really heavy-handed. After awhile I was like, "Yes, Lindsey Collen, I get the metaphor. It's very nice. Now...GET ON WITH IT!!!"
Iqbal is a very unusual choice for a narrator: a friend of Sita's, not involved in the rape, didn't find out about it for years, plays basically no role in the story except as an observer. I'm not sure what I feel about that, though it was interesting to read about rape from the perspective of a man.
The book redeemed itself in the last quarter, however, when we finally get to the part where Sita is raped. The rape scene was arrestingly authentic. The description of Sita's thoughts going everywhere at once: what is he going to do, is he going to kill me, how can I survive this, can I get away, the doors are locked, I haven't got good shoes, what will happen if I hit him, what will happen if I somehow get outside, can I talk him down, why is he doing this, I must minimize the damage, think of stories I've heard in the past about these situations, okay, I have to do something, let's try this..." All in about two seconds she is thinking this, while still half-disbelieving: this is stupid, this is ridiculous, how could this be happening? And then afterwards the superficial calm, cold rational thinking, the cleaning up, the deliberate donning of a "normal" mask to go out and face your obligations in the world. It looks like you, but it's a mask, and if you look closely you can see that it doesn't quite fit. And here Iqbal's addressing the reader again, second-guessing all of Sita's decisions and actions, speculating as to what the outcome might have been if this or that had happened differently -- not judging her, not even judging the rapist, only mulling over the entire episode. Much the way the rape victim does in the hours and days and weeks and the rest of her life after the attack. I know it all too well. Never before have I seen a rape portrayed in such detail, and every detail perfect.
I was left feeling conflicted and not a little uneasy. I think this will be a hard book to forget.
I also thought the author's use of symbolism - constantly comparing the rape of Sita, and rape in general, to the institution of colonization -- was really heavy-handed. After awhile I was like, "Yes, Lindsey Collen, I get the metaphor. It's very nice. Now...GET ON WITH IT!!!"
Iqbal is a very unusual choice for a narrator: a friend of Sita's, not involved in the rape, didn't find out about it for years, plays basically no role in the story except as an observer. I'm not sure what I feel about that, though it was interesting to read about rape from the perspective of a man.
The book redeemed itself in the last quarter, however, when we finally get to the part where Sita is raped. The rape scene was arrestingly authentic. The description of Sita's thoughts going everywhere at once: what is he going to do, is he going to kill me, how can I survive this, can I get away, the doors are locked, I haven't got good shoes, what will happen if I hit him, what will happen if I somehow get outside, can I talk him down, why is he doing this, I must minimize the damage, think of stories I've heard in the past about these situations, okay, I have to do something, let's try this..." All in about two seconds she is thinking this, while still half-disbelieving: this is stupid, this is ridiculous, how could this be happening? And then afterwards the superficial calm, cold rational thinking, the cleaning up, the deliberate donning of a "normal" mask to go out and face your obligations in the world. It looks like you, but it's a mask, and if you look closely you can see that it doesn't quite fit. And here Iqbal's addressing the reader again, second-guessing all of Sita's decisions and actions, speculating as to what the outcome might have been if this or that had happened differently -- not judging her, not even judging the rapist, only mulling over the entire episode. Much the way the rape victim does in the hours and days and weeks and the rest of her life after the attack. I know it all too well. Never before have I seen a rape portrayed in such detail, and every detail perfect.
I was left feeling conflicted and not a little uneasy. I think this will be a hard book to forget.
May 13, 2014
I really wanted to 'love' this book but there was something missing, a disconnect only leading me to 'like' the book. The narrative and/or the writing felt serrated taking away from the impact this story holds. A definite missing link in the chain.
I have mixed feelings about the narrator being a man discussing the rape of a female. I understand his message but what bothered me was the constant second guessing and questioning of the rape. What if? Should she have? I felt like Sita was being held responsible/accountable and it gave a sense of her being a victim again. It becomes clear towards the end, Iqbal (narrator) believes in male and female equality but the continual shoulda, coulda, woulda drove me crazy. How about asking why Rowan raped her? All the what if's should have been directed towards the perpetrator NOT Sita.
Sita, a woman of strength, a leader, reading the rape scene is intense. You want to climb through the pages and help her fend off her attacker. Collen paints a very vivid picture of a rape, and it's heartwrenching to read, leaves the reader disturbed. Once Sita's memory is triggered she deals with the rape, you feel her pain, her struggling deciding what to do. She goes through all the motions of handling the aftermath and once again the reader is swept up in the emotional roller coaster along with her. Sita considers murdering her attacker creating a tense moment in the narrative, along with her thoughts of suicide.
���Would this act of murder stop men thinking they could rape women the world over?���
Ultimately Sita becomes not only the voice of one woman but of all women oppressed. She didn't allow her rage and guilt to consume her thus a symbol for all women.
I will say Collen's multicultural elements, combining folktales and mythology as well as political dissent create quite a story on colonialism. Whatever the elusive missing ingredient, I wish I could have loved this book, poignant message but disjointed.
I have mixed feelings about the narrator being a man discussing the rape of a female. I understand his message but what bothered me was the constant second guessing and questioning of the rape. What if? Should she have? I felt like Sita was being held responsible/accountable and it gave a sense of her being a victim again. It becomes clear towards the end, Iqbal (narrator) believes in male and female equality but the continual shoulda, coulda, woulda drove me crazy. How about asking why Rowan raped her? All the what if's should have been directed towards the perpetrator NOT Sita.
Sita, a woman of strength, a leader, reading the rape scene is intense. You want to climb through the pages and help her fend off her attacker. Collen paints a very vivid picture of a rape, and it's heartwrenching to read, leaves the reader disturbed. Once Sita's memory is triggered she deals with the rape, you feel her pain, her struggling deciding what to do. She goes through all the motions of handling the aftermath and once again the reader is swept up in the emotional roller coaster along with her. Sita considers murdering her attacker creating a tense moment in the narrative, along with her thoughts of suicide.
���Would this act of murder stop men thinking they could rape women the world over?���
Ultimately Sita becomes not only the voice of one woman but of all women oppressed. She didn't allow her rage and guilt to consume her thus a symbol for all women.
I will say Collen's multicultural elements, combining folktales and mythology as well as political dissent create quite a story on colonialism. Whatever the elusive missing ingredient, I wish I could have loved this book, poignant message but disjointed.
September 16, 2011
Interesting narration perspective, but neither the story, nor the character development, nor the prose is worthwhile.
December 28, 2016
powerful writing, puts you in the moment. Every woman should read this book.
June 18, 2024
I think this is a 3.8ish out of 5 for me. It was a really good book to get me out of my reading slump, and since the novel is based in Mauritius, I thoroughly enjoyed recognizing places/ events/ words/ cultural context.
The narrative style is not necessarily traditional, with Iqbal the storyteller jumping between different characters throughout the book. hmm.. in some instances, I did not care about the random side characters that Iqbal would bring up. I felt like some of them were irrelevant to the story/plot (e.g the Sun/Moon wrestling match... idk). I also felt like the ending felt a bit rushed and could have been a bit more impactful, but at the end of the day, this is a revolutionary book for Mauritius.
I loved the concept of buried memories/burials throughout the book and the idea that women are r-worded not only physically but also by the system (!!!). I could really feel the frustration that Sita and other women felt when confronted with their choices once the incident has happened.
The narrative style is not necessarily traditional, with Iqbal the storyteller jumping between different characters throughout the book. hmm.. in some instances, I did not care about the random side characters that Iqbal would bring up. I felt like some of them were irrelevant to the story/plot (e.g the Sun/Moon wrestling match... idk). I also felt like the ending felt a bit rushed and could have been a bit more impactful, but at the end of the day, this is a revolutionary book for Mauritius.
I loved the concept of buried memories/burials throughout the book and the idea that women are r-worded not only physically but also by the system (!!!). I could really feel the frustration that Sita and other women felt when confronted with their choices once the incident has happened.
She saw herself trapped, or was it locked up, or tied down physically, or handcuffed, or ball-and-chained, or paralyzed, or perhaps with a rock on her chest under water. Or being buried alive. A weight on her. Gyves.(pg. 37)
What she had found: Rage. The rage of the history of wounded womankind. And with it: Slavery. The slavery of humans historically doomed to be unable to move.
July 11, 2025
I wanted to love this book. In fact, I loved many parts of this book, such as the headache splitting the antagonist in two, the descriptions of the field workers and even the portrayal of the women in Sita's family; but I personally find Colleen's endless run-on sentences and labyrinthine prose quite heavy to read. It's a matter of personal taste, but I do not enjoy this literary style, though I am sure many others do.
July 8, 2024
“women are two. mothers, wives, virgins, nuns, and sisters. whores, prostitutes, bad women, mistresses. why are women two? until women are one, there will be rape, because some rape is supposed to be less culpable than other.”
November 11, 2025
I have no idea what to rate it - it was an excellent exploration of the topic but did a questionable job of extending that to broader themes
August 2, 2016
Collen has an inspiring style-- a style which interestingly, I found myself using while writing a piece, soon after I had read her work. It's poetic, clear, and I feel she uses paragraphs masterfully.
In terms of the content, I am not sure whether it's wise to write about something one has no direct knowledge of. At least that's what I felt, when she depicted the rape from Iqbal's perspective. Maybe one has to sit down, interview a person who was in the actual situation, live, breathe and sleep with the person before one can do it properly, that is with feelings. I am reminded of Paulo Coelho's description of the prostitute's mind in "Eleven Minutes" and the close contact he had with one, before writing.
On a different note, what's admirable about Collen is that she has absorbed and internalized so much of Mauritian history that it shows itself at the right points in her writing. She also understands Mauritian habits, Mauritian obsessions, Mauritian-everything, and I'm saying this, with the knowledge of her South African origin.
I do think that this book did deserve the Commonwealth award.
In terms of the content, I am not sure whether it's wise to write about something one has no direct knowledge of. At least that's what I felt, when she depicted the rape from Iqbal's perspective. Maybe one has to sit down, interview a person who was in the actual situation, live, breathe and sleep with the person before one can do it properly, that is with feelings. I am reminded of Paulo Coelho's description of the prostitute's mind in "Eleven Minutes" and the close contact he had with one, before writing.
On a different note, what's admirable about Collen is that she has absorbed and internalized so much of Mauritian history that it shows itself at the right points in her writing. She also understands Mauritian habits, Mauritian obsessions, Mauritian-everything, and I'm saying this, with the knowledge of her South African origin.
I do think that this book did deserve the Commonwealth award.
October 17, 2013
This rating is tentative. I need to read the Afterword.
December 10, 2024
Fascinating writing style. This book is just powerful and it moves you. I think it will stay with me for a long time
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews