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Shameless
'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.
296 pages, Paperback
Published March 9, 2020
23 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Taslima Nasrin
130 books430 followersTaslima 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.'
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 21, 2025
I loved this!! It was brutally honest, and more relatable than Lajja, the prequel, because it didn't just spout facts, but gave you knowledge through the stories of real people!
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January 12, 2021“Your reality and our reality are different.”
This is so different but so similar to my Kolkata. The characters are flawed and their struggles feel so real. It was very hard to read and I almost left the book countless times.
And I absolutely hated the translation. There’s a stark difference between the feelings of the first novel and the second. This translator has chosen not to use the Bengali pronunciations like “Suronjon” and “Kinronmoyee” and changed them to “Suranjan” and “Kiranmayee”. This really upset me as it washed away the culture and richness of the writing, and there were barely any Bengali words or phrases in this book. I don’t care how many awards Arunava Sinha has won, I would’ve preferred Anchita Ghatak to have translated this book as well.
This is so different but so similar to my Kolkata. The characters are flawed and their struggles feel so real. It was very hard to read and I almost left the book countless times.
And I absolutely hated the translation. There’s a stark difference between the feelings of the first novel and the second. This translator has chosen not to use the Bengali pronunciations like “Suronjon” and “Kinronmoyee” and changed them to “Suranjan” and “Kiranmayee”. This really upset me as it washed away the culture and richness of the writing, and there were barely any Bengali words or phrases in this book. I don’t care how many awards Arunava Sinha has won, I would’ve preferred Anchita Ghatak to have translated this book as well.
December 18, 2021
A sequel to the bestseller Lajja after writing which Taslima Nasreen was forced to leave Bangladesh with multiple fatwas placed on her.
After brief stays in multiple European countries, Taslima finally made India her home.
In this book she comes across the chief protagonist of Lajja, Suranjan Dutta and his family who too have been forced to flee from Bangladesh and now living in poverty in Calcutta. Fourteen years have passed and the author is drawn into the lives of Suranjan, his mother and his sister Maya-- the victim of revenge mass rape in Lajja.
A few new characters are introduced, a Muslim software engineer and a muslim girl. The Dutta family finds itself having moved from one religious extremism of Bangladesh to the other in India. Society has failed to accept the Bangladeshi people as one of theirs.
The attitude of Suranjan also changes from Anti muslim to friend of muslims.
There are lots of angles of adaptation, living, economics, religion which are explored.
I really like this author but am puzzled by the extremely low number of ratings and mostly negative reviews.
After brief stays in multiple European countries, Taslima finally made India her home.
In this book she comes across the chief protagonist of Lajja, Suranjan Dutta and his family who too have been forced to flee from Bangladesh and now living in poverty in Calcutta. Fourteen years have passed and the author is drawn into the lives of Suranjan, his mother and his sister Maya-- the victim of revenge mass rape in Lajja.
A few new characters are introduced, a Muslim software engineer and a muslim girl. The Dutta family finds itself having moved from one religious extremism of Bangladesh to the other in India. Society has failed to accept the Bangladeshi people as one of theirs.
The attitude of Suranjan also changes from Anti muslim to friend of muslims.
There are lots of angles of adaptation, living, economics, religion which are explored.
I really like this author but am puzzled by the extremely low number of ratings and mostly negative reviews.
July 29, 2020
‘Everyone will say you’re shameless.’
‘Let them.’
Taslima Nasreen’s latest, Shameless, is a sequel to Lajja: Shame and revolves around the lives of the same central characters – Suranjan, Kiranmayee, Maya – as well as a few additional ones related to them – primarily Zulekha and Sobhaan. Along with them is the author, living in the same city of Calcutta, but under different pretext, conditions and reasons. The story tells not only of how they have fared after immigrating across the border, how they have survived, but also how, despite the atrocities they have endured in the past, the known and the new characters have managed to grow and build a life, shedding the skin of what society defined as shame and accepting their own strengths, their own voices.
Read the rest of my review on Women's Web:
https://www.womensweb.in/2020/07/sham...
‘Let them.’
Taslima Nasreen’s latest, Shameless, is a sequel to Lajja: Shame and revolves around the lives of the same central characters – Suranjan, Kiranmayee, Maya – as well as a few additional ones related to them – primarily Zulekha and Sobhaan. Along with them is the author, living in the same city of Calcutta, but under different pretext, conditions and reasons. The story tells not only of how they have fared after immigrating across the border, how they have survived, but also how, despite the atrocities they have endured in the past, the known and the new characters have managed to grow and build a life, shedding the skin of what society defined as shame and accepting their own strengths, their own voices.
Read the rest of my review on Women's Web:
https://www.womensweb.in/2020/07/sham...
August 5, 2020
What a delightful concept of story writing. Taslima Nasreen once again brings to life the characters from her earlier book, Lajja. Though I don't remember anything from that book (I must have read it more than 15 years back) none the less, this book is also an absolute page turner. The inter play between the characters is very interesting. Suranjan turns up at Taslima's doorstep and from unfolds a story involving his mother, his sister and a host of other characters. I particularly liked the episodes involving Taslima and all the characters. She runs like the main thread, joining the different sub-stories. Must read for those who want to explore a unique story (I don't think I have or shall read something like this!!!)
September 19, 2020
She could have done better by writing an entirely new novel instead of venturing out to write a large postscript of Lajja.
I felt like that the author is trying to justify her ideals like secularism and feminism. The book was written just for the sake of it. The story being bland, fails to create a grip. The magic which was felt in Lajja has been lost.
As far as the translation is done, it seems fine. Her own introduction as a character in the novel had many high hopes which she failed to fulfill. It seemed like a feel good closure to Lajja. World could have lived without a sequel to a marvelous book.
I felt like that the author is trying to justify her ideals like secularism and feminism. The book was written just for the sake of it. The story being bland, fails to create a grip. The magic which was felt in Lajja has been lost.
As far as the translation is done, it seems fine. Her own introduction as a character in the novel had many high hopes which she failed to fulfill. It seemed like a feel good closure to Lajja. World could have lived without a sequel to a marvelous book.
September 28, 2021
The novel in which the author herself is the protagonist. The book begins telling about her novel Lajja. Suranjan, the protagonist of the novel Lajja, meets Taslima and they form a friendly relationship. Suranjan's mother Kiranmayee sister Maya deceased father Sudhamayi friends Zulekha and Shobhon are the characters in it. Suranjan and his family left Bangladesh and came India. The events that led to it are still happening in this world now a days. It mostly talks about the animosity between Muslims and Hindus and the reasons for it and the need to end it, but in the end, it only speaks for women. This book gives an idea about what is feminism.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews