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The Pakistani Bride
A novel by the author of Ice-Candy-Man Zaitoon, a new bride, is desperately unhappy in her marriage and is contemplating the ultimate escape??" the one from which there is no return. Zaitoon, an orphan, is adopted by Qasim, who has left the isolated hill town where he was born and made a home for the two of them in the glittering, decadent city of Lahore. As the year's pass, Qasim makes a fortune but grows increasingly nostalgic about his life in the mountains. Impulsively, he promises Zaitoon marriage to a man of his tribe. But for Zaitoon, giving up the civilized city life she remembers to become the bride of this hard, inscrutable husband proves traumatic to the point where she decides to run away, though she knows that by the tribal code the punishment for such an act is death. ???Sidhwa shows a marvelous feel for imagery??" at a breathless pace she weaves her exotic cliffhanger from passion, power, lust, sensuality, cruelty, and murder.' ??"Financial Times
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First published January 1, 1983
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About the author
Bapsi Sidhwa
21 books374 followersBapsi Sidhwa was a Pakistani novelist who wrote in English and was resident in the United States.
She was best known for her collaborative work with Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta: Sidhwa wrote both the 1991 novel Ice Candy Man which served as the basis for Mehta's 1998 film Earth as well as the 2006 novel Water: A Novel, on which Mehta's 2005 film Water is based. A documentary about Sidhwa's life called "Bapsi: Silences of My Life" was released on the official YouTube channel of " The Citizens Archive of Pakistan" on 28 October 2022 with the title " First Generation -Stories of partition: Bapsi Sidhwa".
She was best known for her collaborative work with Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta: Sidhwa wrote both the 1991 novel Ice Candy Man which served as the basis for Mehta's 1998 film Earth as well as the 2006 novel Water: A Novel, on which Mehta's 2005 film Water is based. A documentary about Sidhwa's life called "Bapsi: Silences of My Life" was released on the official YouTube channel of " The Citizens Archive of Pakistan" on 28 October 2022 with the title " First Generation -Stories of partition: Bapsi Sidhwa".
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February 24, 2021
Ice Candy Man,also published as Cracking India is Bapsi Sidhwa's masterpiece.The rest of her books are nowhere near as good.
The Pakistani Bride (also published as The Bride) has something in common with Ice Candy Man.It starts off with partition riots.
Qasim,a man from the mountains adopts a young girl,Zaitoon,who is orphaned during the riots. When she grows up,she is married off to a man from the tribal areas.
The rest of the book is the story of her ordeal after her marriage.The title,The Pakistani Bride is a bit misleading.What happens in the tribal areas is not exactly representative of mainstream Pakistan.The tribes live by their own rigid traditions.
It appears that Sidhwa based this story on true events.It is fairly interesting,though the writing in this book is not of the highest quality.
2.5 stars,rounded up.
The Pakistani Bride (also published as The Bride) has something in common with Ice Candy Man.It starts off with partition riots.
Qasim,a man from the mountains adopts a young girl,Zaitoon,who is orphaned during the riots. When she grows up,she is married off to a man from the tribal areas.
The rest of the book is the story of her ordeal after her marriage.The title,The Pakistani Bride is a bit misleading.What happens in the tribal areas is not exactly representative of mainstream Pakistan.The tribes live by their own rigid traditions.
It appears that Sidhwa based this story on true events.It is fairly interesting,though the writing in this book is not of the highest quality.
2.5 stars,rounded up.
June 6, 2023
Her terror of wild beasts drove her to seek the even more fearful nearness of man.
It’s hard to write a review for a book by Bapsi Sidhwa, mainly because she holds that venerable title of the first Pakistani English female writer (and how many people can claim to be the first of anything these days?), but also because she’s just so huge in the world of literature. In our part of the globe, where people treat reading as a passing fancy, Bapsi Sidhwa has dominated for years.
Reading the Bride felt, then, as a sort of rite of passage. Something one reads because one should, one must. But it’s hard to write this review as anything other than a textbook-format list of things one could discuss in class, because the moral compass of The Bride is pointed dead centre at An Issue and it is around it that the story is told. Bapsi Sidhwa herself admitted that she wrote this novel after hearing the real-life story of a wife who escaped from the tribal areas only to be caught and executed. So she started writing this novel with a purpose in mind: to teach, to educate, to start a discussion, and it shows.
The Summary
Women the world over, through the ages, asked to be murdered, raped, exploited, enslaved, to get importunately impregnated, beaten-up, bullied, and disinherited. It was the immutable law of nature. What had the tribal girl done to deserve such grotesque retribution?
The blurb claims that the story is about Zaitoon, a girl from the plains of Punjab whose adoptive father takes her back to his mountains to wed her off with a clan member. Unhappy and abused, Zaitoon runs away, to be chased after by her enraged husband and the rest of his tribe so they can kill her for this dishonour she has forced on them. This, supposedly, is what the book is about, but it takes a lot of time getting there.
In preventing natural outlets for cruelty the developed countries had turned hypocritical and the repressed heat had exploded in nuclear mushrooms. They did not laugh at deformities; they manufactured them.
Instead, really, this novel is more about Pakistan. About partition and the people who suffered through it, about lost parents and obsessive husbands, about city life and tribal ways. It’s a fictional account of a very real moment in time, and of people who are drawn as complex as anyone of us: Qasim, the Northern man who loses his family and picks up an orphaned girl during his attempt to flee after the partition. Zaitoon, the young girl whose family gets brutally murdered during an attack on a train trying to cross the border. Carol, the young, unhappy American wife of a Pakistani businessman. Major Mushtaq, involved in an affair with Carol and willing to save the life of a runaway wife. These characters are connected and have their own stories to tell, with large portions of the text dedicated not to Zaitoon but to the hows and whys of tribal pride, adultery and identity politics.
This doesn’t necessarily have to be a flaw, of course. Lots of books digress from their blurbs, choosing only to summarize what the author or editor feels is the most important part of the story for the reader to know. What keeps this novel from being thoroughly captivating is, in fact, its attempt to teach a lesson. It errs on the side of less entertainment, instead providing ample matter for analysis and discussion, which doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. After all, sometimes books that don’t keep the reader enthralled have important things to say, and Bapsi Sidhwa manages to do the same, providing lots of material on...
...cities
Lahore – the ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kinds, the courtesan of Moghul emperors – bedecked and bejewelled, savaged by marauding Sikh hordes – healed by the caressing hands of her British lovers. A little shoddy... like an attractive but aging concubine, ready to bestow surprising delights on those who cared to court her.
...the clash of cultures
Qasim was ordered to apologize. He refused, and his clansman was sent for. After a roaring argument, the clansman finally persuaded Qasim to say the necessary words. He uttered them with the grace of a hungry tiger kept from his victim by chains.. Qasim learnt from his cousin that killing, no matter what the provocation, was not acceptable by the laws of this land.
...the atrocities of migration
Sikander feels a dampness along his thighs. Glancing over his shoulder, he sees a black wetness snaking its path down the slope of the roof. In desperation, men and women urinate where they sit. He feels the pressure in his own bladder demanding relief. “God, let me hold out until Lahore,” he prays.
...post-partition Pakistan
The uneasy city was awakening furtively, like a sick man pondering each movement lest pain recur... looted houses stood vacant, their gaping doors and windows glaring balefully. Men, freshly dead, their bodies pale and velvety, still lay in alleys and in open drains.
...and the post-partition government
Jinnah died within a year of creating the new State. He was an old but his death was untimely. The Father of the Nation was replaced by step-fathers. The constitution was tempered with, changed and narrowed.
...post-partition individuals
Fifty million people relaxed, breathing freedom. Slacking their self-discipline, they left their litter about, creating terrible problems of public health and safety. Many felt cheated because some of the same old laws, customs, taboos and social distinctions still prevailed.
... and the post-partition architecture
The marble canopy that had delicately domed Queen Victoria’s majesty for decades looked naked and bereft without her enormous dour status. Prince Albert, astride his yellowing marble horse, was whisked away one night from the Mall... No one minded.
...looking at a culture from the eyes of an outsider
“I love Lahore,” she wrote... “It’s beautiful and ramshackled, ancient and intensely human. I’m a sucker for bullock carts and the dainty donkey carts. They get all snarled up with the Mercedes, bicycles, tractors, trucks, and nasty buzzing three-wheeled rickshaws. The traffic is wild!”
...the treatment of women
“Don’t worry, she’ll be okay. If not, too bad. It happens all the time.”
“What do you mean, ‘happens all the time’?”
“Oh, women get killed for one reason or other... imagined insults, family honour, infidelity...”
...the representation of Pakistani segregation
“You know how it is with us – segregation of the sexes. Of course, you only know the sophisticated, those Pakistanis who have learned to mix socially – but in these settlements a man may talk only with unmarriageable women – his mother, his sisters, aunts and grandmothers – a tribesman’s covetous look at the wrong clanswoman provokes a murderous feud.”
...tribal notions of honour and marriage
“My God. If she had run away...” The though sickened him. No. Most likely, she had slipped and hurt herself. Possibly even now a mountain leopard was at her. He prayed it might be so. She couldn’t have run away. She wouldn’t dare...
...the stereotypical representation of marriages in uncivilized areas
She also grew immune to the tyrannical, animal-trained treatment meted out by Sakhi. In his presence, she drifted into a stupor, until nothing really hurt her. He beat her on the slightest pretext. She no longer thought of marriage with any sense of romance. She now lived only to placate him.
The Recommendation
Only if one is in the mood for a book that involves analysis and a descriptive introduction to the world of post-partition Pakistan would I recommend this. Although by virtue of it being the first book of Pakistan’s first English writer, it should rate highly on every Pakistani’s to-read list. Recommended.
*
I review Pakistani Fiction, and talk about Pakistani fiction, and want to talk to people who like to talk about fiction (Pakistani and otherwise, take your pick.) To read this review completely, read more reviews or just contact me so you can talk about books, check out my Blog or follow me on Twitter!
It’s hard to write a review for a book by Bapsi Sidhwa, mainly because she holds that venerable title of the first Pakistani English female writer (and how many people can claim to be the first of anything these days?), but also because she’s just so huge in the world of literature. In our part of the globe, where people treat reading as a passing fancy, Bapsi Sidhwa has dominated for years.
Reading the Bride felt, then, as a sort of rite of passage. Something one reads because one should, one must. But it’s hard to write this review as anything other than a textbook-format list of things one could discuss in class, because the moral compass of The Bride is pointed dead centre at An Issue and it is around it that the story is told. Bapsi Sidhwa herself admitted that she wrote this novel after hearing the real-life story of a wife who escaped from the tribal areas only to be caught and executed. So she started writing this novel with a purpose in mind: to teach, to educate, to start a discussion, and it shows.
The Summary
Women the world over, through the ages, asked to be murdered, raped, exploited, enslaved, to get importunately impregnated, beaten-up, bullied, and disinherited. It was the immutable law of nature. What had the tribal girl done to deserve such grotesque retribution?
The blurb claims that the story is about Zaitoon, a girl from the plains of Punjab whose adoptive father takes her back to his mountains to wed her off with a clan member. Unhappy and abused, Zaitoon runs away, to be chased after by her enraged husband and the rest of his tribe so they can kill her for this dishonour she has forced on them. This, supposedly, is what the book is about, but it takes a lot of time getting there.
In preventing natural outlets for cruelty the developed countries had turned hypocritical and the repressed heat had exploded in nuclear mushrooms. They did not laugh at deformities; they manufactured them.
Instead, really, this novel is more about Pakistan. About partition and the people who suffered through it, about lost parents and obsessive husbands, about city life and tribal ways. It’s a fictional account of a very real moment in time, and of people who are drawn as complex as anyone of us: Qasim, the Northern man who loses his family and picks up an orphaned girl during his attempt to flee after the partition. Zaitoon, the young girl whose family gets brutally murdered during an attack on a train trying to cross the border. Carol, the young, unhappy American wife of a Pakistani businessman. Major Mushtaq, involved in an affair with Carol and willing to save the life of a runaway wife. These characters are connected and have their own stories to tell, with large portions of the text dedicated not to Zaitoon but to the hows and whys of tribal pride, adultery and identity politics.
This doesn’t necessarily have to be a flaw, of course. Lots of books digress from their blurbs, choosing only to summarize what the author or editor feels is the most important part of the story for the reader to know. What keeps this novel from being thoroughly captivating is, in fact, its attempt to teach a lesson. It errs on the side of less entertainment, instead providing ample matter for analysis and discussion, which doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. After all, sometimes books that don’t keep the reader enthralled have important things to say, and Bapsi Sidhwa manages to do the same, providing lots of material on...
...cities
Lahore – the ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kinds, the courtesan of Moghul emperors – bedecked and bejewelled, savaged by marauding Sikh hordes – healed by the caressing hands of her British lovers. A little shoddy... like an attractive but aging concubine, ready to bestow surprising delights on those who cared to court her.
...the clash of cultures
Qasim was ordered to apologize. He refused, and his clansman was sent for. After a roaring argument, the clansman finally persuaded Qasim to say the necessary words. He uttered them with the grace of a hungry tiger kept from his victim by chains.. Qasim learnt from his cousin that killing, no matter what the provocation, was not acceptable by the laws of this land.
...the atrocities of migration
Sikander feels a dampness along his thighs. Glancing over his shoulder, he sees a black wetness snaking its path down the slope of the roof. In desperation, men and women urinate where they sit. He feels the pressure in his own bladder demanding relief. “God, let me hold out until Lahore,” he prays.
...post-partition Pakistan
The uneasy city was awakening furtively, like a sick man pondering each movement lest pain recur... looted houses stood vacant, their gaping doors and windows glaring balefully. Men, freshly dead, their bodies pale and velvety, still lay in alleys and in open drains.
...and the post-partition government
Jinnah died within a year of creating the new State. He was an old but his death was untimely. The Father of the Nation was replaced by step-fathers. The constitution was tempered with, changed and narrowed.
...post-partition individuals
Fifty million people relaxed, breathing freedom. Slacking their self-discipline, they left their litter about, creating terrible problems of public health and safety. Many felt cheated because some of the same old laws, customs, taboos and social distinctions still prevailed.
... and the post-partition architecture
The marble canopy that had delicately domed Queen Victoria’s majesty for decades looked naked and bereft without her enormous dour status. Prince Albert, astride his yellowing marble horse, was whisked away one night from the Mall... No one minded.
...looking at a culture from the eyes of an outsider
“I love Lahore,” she wrote... “It’s beautiful and ramshackled, ancient and intensely human. I’m a sucker for bullock carts and the dainty donkey carts. They get all snarled up with the Mercedes, bicycles, tractors, trucks, and nasty buzzing three-wheeled rickshaws. The traffic is wild!”
...the treatment of women
“Don’t worry, she’ll be okay. If not, too bad. It happens all the time.”
“What do you mean, ‘happens all the time’?”
“Oh, women get killed for one reason or other... imagined insults, family honour, infidelity...”
...the representation of Pakistani segregation
“You know how it is with us – segregation of the sexes. Of course, you only know the sophisticated, those Pakistanis who have learned to mix socially – but in these settlements a man may talk only with unmarriageable women – his mother, his sisters, aunts and grandmothers – a tribesman’s covetous look at the wrong clanswoman provokes a murderous feud.”
...tribal notions of honour and marriage
“My God. If she had run away...” The though sickened him. No. Most likely, she had slipped and hurt herself. Possibly even now a mountain leopard was at her. He prayed it might be so. She couldn’t have run away. She wouldn’t dare...
...the stereotypical representation of marriages in uncivilized areas
She also grew immune to the tyrannical, animal-trained treatment meted out by Sakhi. In his presence, she drifted into a stupor, until nothing really hurt her. He beat her on the slightest pretext. She no longer thought of marriage with any sense of romance. She now lived only to placate him.
The Recommendation
Only if one is in the mood for a book that involves analysis and a descriptive introduction to the world of post-partition Pakistan would I recommend this. Although by virtue of it being the first book of Pakistan’s first English writer, it should rate highly on every Pakistani’s to-read list. Recommended.
*
I review Pakistani Fiction, and talk about Pakistani fiction, and want to talk to people who like to talk about fiction (Pakistani and otherwise, take your pick.) To read this review completely, read more reviews or just contact me so you can talk about books, check out my Blog or follow me on Twitter!
August 30, 2013
Bapsi Sidhwa takes you on an unforgettable journey into the tribal areas of Pakistan and leaves you with a range of emotions: awe at the majestic mountains, shock at the primeval conditions, fear for the protagonist and her piteous situation, and anguish at the brutality that women have to face on a day to day basis.
The story is about a child, Zaitoon, who is brutally torn apart from her parents on the eve of India-Pakistan independence and the aftermath of the bloody communal riots that followed. A tribal man, Qasim, who is also fleeing the riots rescues her and takes her with him to Pakistan and raises her as his own daughter. The first part of the book deals with Zaitoon's growing up years in Lahore under the benign care of friendly neighbours and a foster parent who yearns to go back to his roots in the savage lands of Kohistan. The second part of the book deals with the after-effects of Qasim's decision to marry off Zaitoon to a fellow-tribal's nephew.
The first part of the story is more like a setup for all the action and drama in the second part and at times the details tend to take the readers on a cultural tour of post-independent Pakistan rather than focus on the story. For instance, there is a huge scene about Qasim's visit to a brothel, which while entertaining and providing a peep through a cultural window, seems quite incidental to the story. But the latter part of the story more than makes up for these digressions and Sidhwa keeps a tight hold on the reins of the story as Zaitoon tries to come to terms with her marriage leading to a high-voltage, action-packed climax.
One of the sub-plots in the book which deals with an American woman's (Carol) experience of Pakistani society (she is married to a Pakistani man) is quite fascinating as it juxtaposes the dilemmas faced by women in a feudal society such as Pakistan vis-a-vis those faced by women in liberal societies. While Carol's story could have been better intertwined with the main plot, her insights--and eventual coming to terms with a totally alien culture--made the story more nuanced.
The story is about a child, Zaitoon, who is brutally torn apart from her parents on the eve of India-Pakistan independence and the aftermath of the bloody communal riots that followed. A tribal man, Qasim, who is also fleeing the riots rescues her and takes her with him to Pakistan and raises her as his own daughter. The first part of the book deals with Zaitoon's growing up years in Lahore under the benign care of friendly neighbours and a foster parent who yearns to go back to his roots in the savage lands of Kohistan. The second part of the book deals with the after-effects of Qasim's decision to marry off Zaitoon to a fellow-tribal's nephew.
The first part of the story is more like a setup for all the action and drama in the second part and at times the details tend to take the readers on a cultural tour of post-independent Pakistan rather than focus on the story. For instance, there is a huge scene about Qasim's visit to a brothel, which while entertaining and providing a peep through a cultural window, seems quite incidental to the story. But the latter part of the story more than makes up for these digressions and Sidhwa keeps a tight hold on the reins of the story as Zaitoon tries to come to terms with her marriage leading to a high-voltage, action-packed climax.
One of the sub-plots in the book which deals with an American woman's (Carol) experience of Pakistani society (she is married to a Pakistani man) is quite fascinating as it juxtaposes the dilemmas faced by women in a feudal society such as Pakistan vis-a-vis those faced by women in liberal societies. While Carol's story could have been better intertwined with the main plot, her insights--and eventual coming to terms with a totally alien culture--made the story more nuanced.
July 27, 2016
'The Pakistani Bride is a story of a girl named Zaitoon, who lost her parents in a very early age during Partition, and was adopted by a tribesman Qasim. They both start living with Nikka and his wife Miriam in Lahore. Since Qasim belongs from hills, living in plains is not at all easy for him. Increasingly getting nostalgic about his life in mountains, Qasim promises Zaitoon that he will marry her off to a boy from his own clan. But little did he realise that one decision of his would change Zaitoon's entire life. And Zaitoon, growing up all pampered like a flower will end up living a nightmare. '
I have heard so much about Bapsi Sidhwa and her writings that I really wanted to read one of her works soon and that's how this got included in my to-read-list. But after reading, honestly I have mixed feelings. Author has been very descriptive about everything but Zaitoon. Pakistan, its beauty, its people and other characters have been described beautifully. Which is good to some extent but only if you don't compromise with the central focus. Major half of the story is wasted in building plot and the real story starts not until last third of the book.
Since its Zaitoon's story, author should have focused in developing her character so that readers can understand her more. That is the reason when the real story starts, you almost reach the climax and then it seems like a hurried ending. Including Carol's angle was also forced is what I feel. All in all the deepness of the subject was missing.
Being a regular and passionate reader of middle east, its cultures, myths, hard truths, I have read books very deeply pondering such kind of subjects. And all I can say is that this one didn't move me enough emotionally.
I have heard so much about Bapsi Sidhwa and her writings that I really wanted to read one of her works soon and that's how this got included in my to-read-list. But after reading, honestly I have mixed feelings. Author has been very descriptive about everything but Zaitoon. Pakistan, its beauty, its people and other characters have been described beautifully. Which is good to some extent but only if you don't compromise with the central focus. Major half of the story is wasted in building plot and the real story starts not until last third of the book.
Since its Zaitoon's story, author should have focused in developing her character so that readers can understand her more. That is the reason when the real story starts, you almost reach the climax and then it seems like a hurried ending. Including Carol's angle was also forced is what I feel. All in all the deepness of the subject was missing.
Being a regular and passionate reader of middle east, its cultures, myths, hard truths, I have read books very deeply pondering such kind of subjects. And all I can say is that this one didn't move me enough emotionally.
August 13, 2014
After reading "Other Voices, Other Rooms" I realized how little Pakistani fiction I had read, and what relatively little is available to Western readers. I was looking something covering a wider swath of the country written through the eyes of a Pakistani. This book fit that bill. During the Partition in 1947, Qasim, who has lost his wife and children joins refugees fleeing India for Pakistan. In the confusion of a train wreck, he comes across 5-year-old Zaitoon, who has hopelessly become separated from her parents. He takes her in as his own and secures a place for them to live in Lahore.
The first third of the book covers this part of Zaitoon's life. She eventually becomes the "Pakistani Bride" but the focus here is on her father and the powerful merchant Nikka and his devout Muslim wife Miriam who cares for Zaitoon and brings her into the women's world. In this section, Sidwa ably conveyed the daily life of urban middle class Pakistanis. But after about ten years, Qasim decides she should marry someone from the beautiful mountains of his youth.
Thus, they set off to what is today's Taliban country. Life there 50 years ago was harsh and controlled by tribal rule. A great highway is being built through the mountains and change is afoot. They reach a military/construction camp across a stream from where Zaitoon will marry. But here, there is an English woman. I struggled with her character. It is difficult living post-9/11 to think that an American woman could be so naive. But in the late-50s, American women's job possibilities were limited, and the lure of an exotic life, which women who served in WWII got a taste of, could entice one to marry a foreign man and move to his country.
After one night's stay, Qasim and Zaitoon cross the river and Zaitoon is married off. She also is naieve to this harsh and violent lifestyle. From here I must stop with the telling of the story. To do so would spoil everything.
This book suffers from some first novel disjointedness and a misleading title. Perhaps just "Zaitoon" would have said enough. But I stayed up late finishing it and thought it presented a cross-section of the population. I disagree with readers who felt only a violent side of Pakistanis was shown. Miriam was a very caring woman and Qasim was a good father to Zaitoon. He did his best. They loved each other. There were vast economic differences. Sidwa incorporated a variety of regional populations. I was not disappointed, and unlike some other reviewers. The ending was foreshadowed and her future was told.
The first third of the book covers this part of Zaitoon's life. She eventually becomes the "Pakistani Bride" but the focus here is on her father and the powerful merchant Nikka and his devout Muslim wife Miriam who cares for Zaitoon and brings her into the women's world. In this section, Sidwa ably conveyed the daily life of urban middle class Pakistanis. But after about ten years, Qasim decides she should marry someone from the beautiful mountains of his youth.
Thus, they set off to what is today's Taliban country. Life there 50 years ago was harsh and controlled by tribal rule. A great highway is being built through the mountains and change is afoot. They reach a military/construction camp across a stream from where Zaitoon will marry. But here, there is an English woman. I struggled with her character. It is difficult living post-9/11 to think that an American woman could be so naive. But in the late-50s, American women's job possibilities were limited, and the lure of an exotic life, which women who served in WWII got a taste of, could entice one to marry a foreign man and move to his country.
After one night's stay, Qasim and Zaitoon cross the river and Zaitoon is married off. She also is naieve to this harsh and violent lifestyle. From here I must stop with the telling of the story. To do so would spoil everything.
This book suffers from some first novel disjointedness and a misleading title. Perhaps just "Zaitoon" would have said enough. But I stayed up late finishing it and thought it presented a cross-section of the population. I disagree with readers who felt only a violent side of Pakistanis was shown. Miriam was a very caring woman and Qasim was a good father to Zaitoon. He did his best. They loved each other. There were vast economic differences. Sidwa incorporated a variety of regional populations. I was not disappointed, and unlike some other reviewers. The ending was foreshadowed and her future was told.
January 24, 2013
The time which Sidhwa has portrayed, maybe women were treated that brutally then. I am a Pakistani, i told my dad i have to study and not get married. So i have always done what i wanted and i had the full support of my family....Having said that, i would like to say that THE PAKISTANI BRIDE is not a very reflective title, and it does not represent ALL of us. Women in Pakistan are much more confident now, but I would say that if we look at what is happening in Tribal area till this date, we cant say the same. Women are still oppressed, and are mere sex objects. Undeniably, women in the tribal areas of Pakistan face the same circumstances. Those girls who are born in the urban area are LUCKY because whatever Sidhwa has portrayed IS the ugly truth about the rural areas.
September 11, 2016
I took a long time to read this book. It may have been partly because it wasn't until the second half, that I felt gripped by the story. Through the second half, however, I felt the impact of this well-told tale, and it weighed heavy on me.
The story is about a young girl, zaitoon, who finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage to a person from the mountains, and of a vastly different culture from her own. She attempts an escape once things become unbearable, and it is this escape through the treacherous mountains that is likely to stay with me in all its pain and emotion. It is during this journey, that one feels zaitoons plight and her womanly strength in the face of her womanly vulnerabilities. It also makes the reader understand the relevance of the detailed descriptions of the mountains in the earlier part of the book.
I liked the fact that her father and her husband, though both misogynistic, were not painted as black and white heartless villains, but instead were described as unfair creations of an unfair society with century-long mindsets that they were unable to escape. Her husband wished for her death more than for her to be found alive, because his honor would then be spared.
I also enjoyed the parallel story of the American woman who was married to a Pakistani man who was modern on the surface, but had been unable to separate himself from the egotistical attitudes of his men-folk. She feels trapped in the same way as Zaitoon, although to the outside world, she appears a free spirited woman living her life as she pleases. Their paths cross briefly, and each woman sees the other as being from a different world, and yet recognizing on a subconscious level, the vulnerabilities of the other.
The only thing I wish was different, was that the first several chapters are not about Zaitoon, so the connection the reader develops, could have been further enhanced if more pages had been dedicated to her character building.
Nevertheless, it was a beautiful, haunting, tragic tale which is very telling of the expected roles of men and women in that part of the world, and how going against tradition is synonymous with extreme danger.
The story is about a young girl, zaitoon, who finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage to a person from the mountains, and of a vastly different culture from her own. She attempts an escape once things become unbearable, and it is this escape through the treacherous mountains that is likely to stay with me in all its pain and emotion. It is during this journey, that one feels zaitoons plight and her womanly strength in the face of her womanly vulnerabilities. It also makes the reader understand the relevance of the detailed descriptions of the mountains in the earlier part of the book.
I liked the fact that her father and her husband, though both misogynistic, were not painted as black and white heartless villains, but instead were described as unfair creations of an unfair society with century-long mindsets that they were unable to escape. Her husband wished for her death more than for her to be found alive, because his honor would then be spared.
I also enjoyed the parallel story of the American woman who was married to a Pakistani man who was modern on the surface, but had been unable to separate himself from the egotistical attitudes of his men-folk. She feels trapped in the same way as Zaitoon, although to the outside world, she appears a free spirited woman living her life as she pleases. Their paths cross briefly, and each woman sees the other as being from a different world, and yet recognizing on a subconscious level, the vulnerabilities of the other.
The only thing I wish was different, was that the first several chapters are not about Zaitoon, so the connection the reader develops, could have been further enhanced if more pages had been dedicated to her character building.
Nevertheless, it was a beautiful, haunting, tragic tale which is very telling of the expected roles of men and women in that part of the world, and how going against tradition is synonymous with extreme danger.
August 23, 2020
I believe this is my fifth Bapsi Sidhwa book because I'm slowly trying to go through her work this year. I've heard that this was her first book, even though it published after The Crow Eaters but since this is her first book, it explains a lot. In some parts, the writing felt disconnected and some random scenes would pop up which would not exactly fit in the narrative but that is my only complaint with the book.
I found this book to be compelling, and one can say it's a companion novel to Cracking India(Ice-Candy Man) since it starts with riots and massacres that happened between Hindu/Muslims/Sikhs as Pakistan emerged as a separate nation in 1947. The story follows a man called Qasim, originally from the mountainous Northern areas of Pakistan, who adopts a dark-skinned Punjabi girl called Zaitoon as her parents are murdered in the train coming to Pakistan. With these two main characters, Sidhwa shows us a difference in culture in different regions - and does it masterfully well. As half the book is set in Lahore i.e. the plains and half of it in the mountains, Sidhwa is able to describe the region, politics, culture and treatment of women really well in two regions - drawing upon how different life is in these two regions - which are located within the same country.
The other Sidhwa books I've read feature a cast of Parsee characters - which reflects Sidhwa's own Zoroastrian faith while this one features Muslims as the main characters. I was a little worried how Sidhwa would portray the Muslims when I started to read, but I should not have worried in the least. Sidhwa knows what she is talking about.
Sidhwa's characters are alive on the page and the last quarter of the book is the strongest. I think it's a great story overall, one that evokes emotion and makes one contemplate on what really it means to have honour.
-----------------------------------------
Review to come
I found this book to be compelling, and one can say it's a companion novel to Cracking India(Ice-Candy Man) since it starts with riots and massacres that happened between Hindu/Muslims/Sikhs as Pakistan emerged as a separate nation in 1947. The story follows a man called Qasim, originally from the mountainous Northern areas of Pakistan, who adopts a dark-skinned Punjabi girl called Zaitoon as her parents are murdered in the train coming to Pakistan. With these two main characters, Sidhwa shows us a difference in culture in different regions - and does it masterfully well. As half the book is set in Lahore i.e. the plains and half of it in the mountains, Sidhwa is able to describe the region, politics, culture and treatment of women really well in two regions - drawing upon how different life is in these two regions - which are located within the same country.
The other Sidhwa books I've read feature a cast of Parsee characters - which reflects Sidhwa's own Zoroastrian faith while this one features Muslims as the main characters. I was a little worried how Sidhwa would portray the Muslims when I started to read, but I should not have worried in the least. Sidhwa knows what she is talking about.
Sidhwa's characters are alive on the page and the last quarter of the book is the strongest. I think it's a great story overall, one that evokes emotion and makes one contemplate on what really it means to have honour.
-----------------------------------------
Review to come
February 16, 2014
3.5 stars.
The story line was good and it had lots of potential but unfortunately, Sidhwa's prose was descriptive and short. There were no feeling put into it. This difference is noticeable if one compares Khaled Hosseini's writing to Bapsi Sidhwa's writing against the same backdrop.
One hears a lot about women oppression and feminism. But what this book tries to show is nowhere near that. It is the animosity and brutality that male dominance pose before women. It is unthinkable and horrific. Women are not here to protect a man's honour, serve him and give borth. thier life is their own and they deserve respect.
The story line was good and it had lots of potential but unfortunately, Sidhwa's prose was descriptive and short. There were no feeling put into it. This difference is noticeable if one compares Khaled Hosseini's writing to Bapsi Sidhwa's writing against the same backdrop.
One hears a lot about women oppression and feminism. But what this book tries to show is nowhere near that. It is the animosity and brutality that male dominance pose before women. It is unthinkable and horrific. Women are not here to protect a man's honour, serve him and give borth. thier life is their own and they deserve respect.
September 15, 2021
This book was promising at first but slowly got worse. I'm not sure why it's called 'The Pakistani Bride' because it keeps jumping from character to character and doesn't have much development for Zaitoon, the bride and focuses very little on her life as a bride. It's also filled with absurd stereotypes and is even a little racist in its description of Kohistani men. Also, there was a random American character that we're supposed to draw parallels to Zaitoon, but does little to add to the story other than reinforcing negative stereotypes.
April 8, 2024
Okay so I was so looking forward to this book bcoz of the genre and nature and setting of the book but I found myself struggling to complete it. The first few chapters were so boring that I practically skimmed through the book skipping here and there to come across something or any part I would actually like about this book. There's too much info and the actual story starts so much later in the book. I am so guilty for skipping some parts but otherwise I wouldn't have gotten to the end. Maybe this book is not for me or maybe I need to read it properly some time later.
January 26, 2009
I was disappointed in this book, especially since I enjoyed Sidhwa's other novels so much. The prose is lush and descriptive, but the book lacks a central focus. Until the last third of the story, the title character is only peripheral to the plot, and the focus is on her adoptive father. It shifts abruptly, and throws the reader into the bride's story without ever developing her character for the reader. There is also a brief focus on an American character. This may make sense for certain elements of the plot, and is probably intended to highlight the contrast between cultures (tribal vs. plains, Pakistani vs. western), but it doesn't really fit. Good prose, but muddy focus.
May 9, 2016
'the earth is not easy to carve up. india required a deft and sensitive surgeon, but the British, steeped in domestic preoccupation, hastily and carelessly butchered it. they were not deliberately mischievous---only cruelly negligent!'
'lahore---the ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kings, the courtesan of Mogul emperors---bedecked and bejewelled, savaged by marauding Sikh hordes---healed by caressing hands of her British lovers.'
After reading my first book by Sidhwa, i am forever and ever her fan... can't remember the last time I enjoyed reading a book so much...
'lahore---the ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kings, the courtesan of Mogul emperors---bedecked and bejewelled, savaged by marauding Sikh hordes---healed by caressing hands of her British lovers.'
After reading my first book by Sidhwa, i am forever and ever her fan... can't remember the last time I enjoyed reading a book so much...
June 13, 2016
The first half was very much enjoyable and the second half was just meh! or I'm in a very bad reading slump! :(
August 17, 2020
I got a lot out of this book, partly thanks to buddy reading it with two other people. The regular check-ins prompted me to slow down and extract meaning out of the text rather than simply reading for plot, which is what I usually do.
There were some pacing issues with the book making it uneven in spots, but that was easily overlooked considering this was Bapsi Sidhwa's first novel. Overall, the book reminded me of the style of older classics. Characters come and go throughout the plot. They show up for a time to play their part, and then exit the narrative when they aren't the main focus anymore. I could see how that would turn some readers off, but it really worked for me. There's a lot Sidhwa coveys in this book about culture, tradition, expectations, and how people must change when their country is rapidly changing around them. She also expertly builds the tension until I was racing through the last few chapters to see how it ended.
There were some pacing issues with the book making it uneven in spots, but that was easily overlooked considering this was Bapsi Sidhwa's first novel. Overall, the book reminded me of the style of older classics. Characters come and go throughout the plot. They show up for a time to play their part, and then exit the narrative when they aren't the main focus anymore. I could see how that would turn some readers off, but it really worked for me. There's a lot Sidhwa coveys in this book about culture, tradition, expectations, and how people must change when their country is rapidly changing around them. She also expertly builds the tension until I was racing through the last few chapters to see how it ended.
October 15, 2020
I love Bapsi Sidhwa’s writing: she can tell you so much about a people, about what they stand for, while just telling you a simple story. The juxtaposition of the modern (Carol, Lahore, Farukh?) with the primitive really makes you question whether one truly is the other’s other. The rough landscape of Kohistan alongside its rough but emotional people is so beautifully depicted.
My problem with most books is that even when the authors weave a well-knit story, they somehow get lost at the end- confused on how to end it all, so often, endings are disappointing. Sidhwa ends a beautiful book with just the most appropriate (yet not predictably so) ending, giving us a final look into what makes people tick. Cannot recommend this book more! I loved Cracking India but I can’t say I love this any less!
My problem with most books is that even when the authors weave a well-knit story, they somehow get lost at the end- confused on how to end it all, so often, endings are disappointing. Sidhwa ends a beautiful book with just the most appropriate (yet not predictably so) ending, giving us a final look into what makes people tick. Cannot recommend this book more! I loved Cracking India but I can’t say I love this any less!
March 15, 2025
3.5 stars
A fast paced book showing the gulf between different ethnicities in Pakistan. The ending was quite abrupt , as if the story died halfway through.
A fast paced book showing the gulf between different ethnicities in Pakistan. The ending was quite abrupt , as if the story died halfway through.
November 6, 2021
For more reviews visit my website: blogalvina.com
Introduction:
Bapsi Sidhwa is a post-modern diasporic feminist writer of Pakistan who lives in the USA. Her pen exposes her rightful experience and concern with the Indian panorama of social dichotomy and women oppression. In her novels, every woman character appears to possess her new identity losing herself in the liberty of the patriarchal whirlpool. If it is Zaitoon or Carol in "The Pakistani Bride", it is Shanta, the Ayah in the "Ice-Candy Man”.
The Story Line:
At the beginning of the story, at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in a remote mountain region named Kohistan, wrapped in bucolic beauty, Qasim a 10 years boy is found to talk with his father about his upcoming marriage with a woman, double of his age. It was a marriage of treaty…an able-bodied girl “was worth more than the loan due.” So it was fixed.
But though at first Qasim was angry and puzzled as well as his bride, after finding each other in an awkward matrimonial bonding, gradually they overcame the hurdle and became proud parents. Unfortunately, all the kids died along with the mother in a smallpox pandemic. Grief-stricken and depressed father Qasim shifted from the Himalayan landscape to the Punjab Plains. There he took a job as a bank guard. Eventually, he entangled himself in a murder case in his instinctual arrogance and anger.
At that time communal violence broke up following the Independence and partition of India, Pakistan. The country got involved in murder and bloodshed. Qasim fled to Pakistan. On the train from Jullundur, he met the refugees. At the border, just before the train reached Lahore, a vicious catastrophe broke out. A troop of revengeful Sikhs stopped the train and ambushed the Muslims. Though most of the refugees were killed Qasim manages to escape. In the chaos, Qasim rescued a little girl whose parents were killed. He took her with him and reared her with the help of a childless couple Nikha and Miriam. He named her upon his own daughter's name- Zaitoon.
Though Zaitton was admitted to school, very soon at Miriam's instruction, she was taken out of school. Miriam started to train her as a bride....a special species ready to be subjugated by the male. Yet she was free and loved by Miriam and Qasim. At the age of sixteen, her carefree life came to an abrupt end with Qasim's firm decision to marry her with his kinsman's son in Kohistan.
On her way to the mountain with Qasim before marriage Zaitoon met another bride- an American woman named Carol who married a Pakistani man in the U.S and then moved to Pakistan with him. Unaccustomed to the subordinate role of the women in Asian Society Carol rebelled against the suppression against her husband's misconduct.
When Zaitoon met Carol, they both felt a kinship as a bride in a land where women are considered as chattel, no matter their social status.
After the marriage, Zaitoon's illusion of marriage devastated. She found his husband brut and savage. She fled to save herself from the constant beating and sexual torture of him. The course of the journey was crucial and she had to face severe challenges. Even she was raped by unknown persons on the hill. And continuous fear of being caught up at the hands of her husband's group haunted her.
Finally, she was rescued in a half-dead situation by the Army. She got back her life but she was marked as a failed bride.
The Ending:
Like Ice-candy Man here also Bapsi Sidhwa leaves us amidst variegated possibilities of Zaitoon's life.
"Let Carol take care of her! She could hide her in the States! Or perhaps Ashiq could propose marriage after a decent interval."
What more we can expect for a blossoming girl whose life was nipped in bud for the whims and interest of her male caretakers!
Pakistani brides:
Pakistani brides are Carol and Zaitoon at the same time though in a different way. Carol chose her destiny in her hand but Zaitoon did not have the freedom.
“But Carol, a child of the bright Californian sun and surf, could no more understand the beguiling twilight of veils and women’s quarters than Zaitoon could comprehend her independent life in America.”
Though the two brides are culturally apart… at one point they met the convergent ways.
“In the instant, their eyes met, the green and black of their shared of their vulnerabilities as women.”
With very competent masterstrokes Sidhwa brought two Pakistani Brides under the same sky and merged their fate in the same ink.
They both were failed as a bride. Carol an American by birth came to Pakistan by marrying soldier Farukh. But she couldn't adjust with his thoughts and ways as well as the backwardness of the country. So after a tremendous tug of war, she decided to go back to her homeland.
"I think I'm finally beginning to realise something...Your civilization is too ancient...too different...and it has ways that can hurt me...really hurt me...I'm going home.'
Zaitton also felt the same. Earlier she reasoned her father,
"But, Abba, I am not of the hills. I am not of your tribe. I am not even yours. My father and mother are dead."
She pleaded with him not to leave her
"Abba, take me back. I'll look after you always."
But Qasim was stubborn. For him, his promise was more vital than Zaitoon's life.
"I've given my word. On it depends on my honour. It is dearer to me than life. If you besmirch it, I will kill you with my bare hands."
Zaitoon was left with nothing to solace or soothe. Even he groped for her and his hand closed around her throat. Finally, she had to give up... surrender her life at this catastrophic fate.
But later being beaten and tortured by her husband Sakhi, incessantly, Zaitoon decided to fight her fate.
"...she knew that in-flight lay her only hope of survival."
Though Carol and Zaitoon shared two different hemispheres, something binds them in one cord…the male-dominated social norms that butchered both of them.
Carol herself discerned the thread: “The girl had no more control over her destiny than a caged animal…perhaps, neither had she…”
Main Characters:
Qasim: A mountain man from Kohistan who lost his family along with his wife and children and shifted to the plain of Punjab.
Zaitoon: A girl who lost her parents in the communal massacre and was rescued by Qasim. She was named after Qasim's dead daughter- Zaitoon.
Nikka and Miriam: The couple who accompanied Qasim in Pakistan and took care of Zaitoon as their own.
Carol: An American lady who married a Pakistani soldier. She was a modern, educated woman, unable to grasp and adjust to orthodox Eastern Culture.
Farukh: Farukh is Carol’s husband who always taunted Carol for her forward attitudes and tortured her with his insane possessiveness.
Major Mushtaq: Major of the Army at Pakistan Afghanistan border. He was Farukh’s friend. He developed a close relationship with Carol.
Misri Khan: The kinsman of Qasim with whose son he decided to get Zaitoon married.
Sakhi: Son of Misri Khan with whom Zaitoon was married.
Ashiq Hussain: A Jawan in Major Mushtaq's army who was kind-hearted and liked Zaitoon.
Freedom and Partition:
The novel reflects the chaos and mayhem succeeding the 1947 Independence. The religions that till then stayed together suddenly segregated, separated, put in boundaries. All their links, roots, were uprooted and they got trapped at the clutch of suspicion, mistrust, hatred, communal violence, bloodshed.
Under the limelight of feministic approach:
Though set at the backdrop of partition, Sidhwa's The Pakistani Bride is more of a kaleidoscope of women-condition in society irrespective of social hierarchy and caste. In a patriarchal society, women are just merely the playthings at the hand of males. They are designated and destined for unconditional subjugation. From their childhood, a girl is taught to be a perfect bride. Except for their use in society, in the family, they have no role, no validation. They are born to get married. And they are trained to be useful for males.
"Marriages were the high points in the life of the women."
As Zaitoon started menstruating she was stopped for school and started learning cooking, sewing, shopping, keeping the room tidy. Miriam even took her to the neighbours'.
"Entering their dwellings was like stepping into gigantic wombs; the fecund, fetid world of mothers and babies."
Women are for house making. There is no need for education. And the most shocking part of it is that most of the women accept that as normative. That’s why Miriam was scandalized when she found Zaitoon’s schooling. She criticized Qasim’s foolishness stringently. To her, it was a total waste of a girl’s life that is only dedicated to male servility.
“…what will she do with more reading and writing-boil and drink it? She is not going to become a baboo or an officer! No, Allah willing, she’ll get married and have children.”
On the other side Carol, the lady of a free land came into the same suppressive circle after marrying Farukh, the Pakistani Soldier. Carol is a highly educated and modern lady. But nothing could change her situation.
Farukh was tremendously possessive and suppressive that gradually made Carole sick. He always suppressed her free will and movement, even her laughter and talking with others. She gave up her job, her freedom, her country, her family and she was on the verge of losing her distinct identity.
"To hell with your madness. Your sadistic, possessive, screwed up love..."
Even sometimes women are degraded to a mere bundled of flesh for the pleasure of the male. They are not recognised as a human entity but just “a craving mass of flesh...It was like being compelled to fast at a banquet..."
Women condition never changed- independence or No-Independence, Partition or No-Partition. Carol a highly educated lady and Zaitoon an illiterate girl share the same fate being a woman.
Alvina’s Verdict:
Bapsi Sidhwa is always my adorable author with her candid and straightforwardness. She smartly cobbled together assorted themes in super sublimity and intricacy. The novel is a fine tapestry woven with contrast and confusion, worries and wonder. The verdant beauty of the mountain is marked with the orthodox harshness and cruelty, whereas civilized men are streaked with hypocritical gallantry.
Multicolonialization of women in a patriarchal society is upheld by her sharp and brave pen In The Pakistani Bride that demands constructive applaud and approach.
Introduction:
Bapsi Sidhwa is a post-modern diasporic feminist writer of Pakistan who lives in the USA. Her pen exposes her rightful experience and concern with the Indian panorama of social dichotomy and women oppression. In her novels, every woman character appears to possess her new identity losing herself in the liberty of the patriarchal whirlpool. If it is Zaitoon or Carol in "The Pakistani Bride", it is Shanta, the Ayah in the "Ice-Candy Man”.
The Story Line:
At the beginning of the story, at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in a remote mountain region named Kohistan, wrapped in bucolic beauty, Qasim a 10 years boy is found to talk with his father about his upcoming marriage with a woman, double of his age. It was a marriage of treaty…an able-bodied girl “was worth more than the loan due.” So it was fixed.
But though at first Qasim was angry and puzzled as well as his bride, after finding each other in an awkward matrimonial bonding, gradually they overcame the hurdle and became proud parents. Unfortunately, all the kids died along with the mother in a smallpox pandemic. Grief-stricken and depressed father Qasim shifted from the Himalayan landscape to the Punjab Plains. There he took a job as a bank guard. Eventually, he entangled himself in a murder case in his instinctual arrogance and anger.
At that time communal violence broke up following the Independence and partition of India, Pakistan. The country got involved in murder and bloodshed. Qasim fled to Pakistan. On the train from Jullundur, he met the refugees. At the border, just before the train reached Lahore, a vicious catastrophe broke out. A troop of revengeful Sikhs stopped the train and ambushed the Muslims. Though most of the refugees were killed Qasim manages to escape. In the chaos, Qasim rescued a little girl whose parents were killed. He took her with him and reared her with the help of a childless couple Nikha and Miriam. He named her upon his own daughter's name- Zaitoon.
Though Zaitton was admitted to school, very soon at Miriam's instruction, she was taken out of school. Miriam started to train her as a bride....a special species ready to be subjugated by the male. Yet she was free and loved by Miriam and Qasim. At the age of sixteen, her carefree life came to an abrupt end with Qasim's firm decision to marry her with his kinsman's son in Kohistan.
On her way to the mountain with Qasim before marriage Zaitoon met another bride- an American woman named Carol who married a Pakistani man in the U.S and then moved to Pakistan with him. Unaccustomed to the subordinate role of the women in Asian Society Carol rebelled against the suppression against her husband's misconduct.
When Zaitoon met Carol, they both felt a kinship as a bride in a land where women are considered as chattel, no matter their social status.
After the marriage, Zaitoon's illusion of marriage devastated. She found his husband brut and savage. She fled to save herself from the constant beating and sexual torture of him. The course of the journey was crucial and she had to face severe challenges. Even she was raped by unknown persons on the hill. And continuous fear of being caught up at the hands of her husband's group haunted her.
Finally, she was rescued in a half-dead situation by the Army. She got back her life but she was marked as a failed bride.
The Ending:
Like Ice-candy Man here also Bapsi Sidhwa leaves us amidst variegated possibilities of Zaitoon's life.
"Let Carol take care of her! She could hide her in the States! Or perhaps Ashiq could propose marriage after a decent interval."
What more we can expect for a blossoming girl whose life was nipped in bud for the whims and interest of her male caretakers!
Pakistani brides:
Pakistani brides are Carol and Zaitoon at the same time though in a different way. Carol chose her destiny in her hand but Zaitoon did not have the freedom.
“But Carol, a child of the bright Californian sun and surf, could no more understand the beguiling twilight of veils and women’s quarters than Zaitoon could comprehend her independent life in America.”
Though the two brides are culturally apart… at one point they met the convergent ways.
“In the instant, their eyes met, the green and black of their shared of their vulnerabilities as women.”
With very competent masterstrokes Sidhwa brought two Pakistani Brides under the same sky and merged their fate in the same ink.
They both were failed as a bride. Carol an American by birth came to Pakistan by marrying soldier Farukh. But she couldn't adjust with his thoughts and ways as well as the backwardness of the country. So after a tremendous tug of war, she decided to go back to her homeland.
"I think I'm finally beginning to realise something...Your civilization is too ancient...too different...and it has ways that can hurt me...really hurt me...I'm going home.'
Zaitton also felt the same. Earlier she reasoned her father,
"But, Abba, I am not of the hills. I am not of your tribe. I am not even yours. My father and mother are dead."
She pleaded with him not to leave her
"Abba, take me back. I'll look after you always."
But Qasim was stubborn. For him, his promise was more vital than Zaitoon's life.
"I've given my word. On it depends on my honour. It is dearer to me than life. If you besmirch it, I will kill you with my bare hands."
Zaitoon was left with nothing to solace or soothe. Even he groped for her and his hand closed around her throat. Finally, she had to give up... surrender her life at this catastrophic fate.
But later being beaten and tortured by her husband Sakhi, incessantly, Zaitoon decided to fight her fate.
"...she knew that in-flight lay her only hope of survival."
Though Carol and Zaitoon shared two different hemispheres, something binds them in one cord…the male-dominated social norms that butchered both of them.
Carol herself discerned the thread: “The girl had no more control over her destiny than a caged animal…perhaps, neither had she…”
Main Characters:
Qasim: A mountain man from Kohistan who lost his family along with his wife and children and shifted to the plain of Punjab.
Zaitoon: A girl who lost her parents in the communal massacre and was rescued by Qasim. She was named after Qasim's dead daughter- Zaitoon.
Nikka and Miriam: The couple who accompanied Qasim in Pakistan and took care of Zaitoon as their own.
Carol: An American lady who married a Pakistani soldier. She was a modern, educated woman, unable to grasp and adjust to orthodox Eastern Culture.
Farukh: Farukh is Carol’s husband who always taunted Carol for her forward attitudes and tortured her with his insane possessiveness.
Major Mushtaq: Major of the Army at Pakistan Afghanistan border. He was Farukh’s friend. He developed a close relationship with Carol.
Misri Khan: The kinsman of Qasim with whose son he decided to get Zaitoon married.
Sakhi: Son of Misri Khan with whom Zaitoon was married.
Ashiq Hussain: A Jawan in Major Mushtaq's army who was kind-hearted and liked Zaitoon.
Freedom and Partition:
The novel reflects the chaos and mayhem succeeding the 1947 Independence. The religions that till then stayed together suddenly segregated, separated, put in boundaries. All their links, roots, were uprooted and they got trapped at the clutch of suspicion, mistrust, hatred, communal violence, bloodshed.
Under the limelight of feministic approach:
Though set at the backdrop of partition, Sidhwa's The Pakistani Bride is more of a kaleidoscope of women-condition in society irrespective of social hierarchy and caste. In a patriarchal society, women are just merely the playthings at the hand of males. They are designated and destined for unconditional subjugation. From their childhood, a girl is taught to be a perfect bride. Except for their use in society, in the family, they have no role, no validation. They are born to get married. And they are trained to be useful for males.
"Marriages were the high points in the life of the women."
As Zaitoon started menstruating she was stopped for school and started learning cooking, sewing, shopping, keeping the room tidy. Miriam even took her to the neighbours'.
"Entering their dwellings was like stepping into gigantic wombs; the fecund, fetid world of mothers and babies."
Women are for house making. There is no need for education. And the most shocking part of it is that most of the women accept that as normative. That’s why Miriam was scandalized when she found Zaitoon’s schooling. She criticized Qasim’s foolishness stringently. To her, it was a total waste of a girl’s life that is only dedicated to male servility.
“…what will she do with more reading and writing-boil and drink it? She is not going to become a baboo or an officer! No, Allah willing, she’ll get married and have children.”
On the other side Carol, the lady of a free land came into the same suppressive circle after marrying Farukh, the Pakistani Soldier. Carol is a highly educated and modern lady. But nothing could change her situation.
Farukh was tremendously possessive and suppressive that gradually made Carole sick. He always suppressed her free will and movement, even her laughter and talking with others. She gave up her job, her freedom, her country, her family and she was on the verge of losing her distinct identity.
"To hell with your madness. Your sadistic, possessive, screwed up love..."
Even sometimes women are degraded to a mere bundled of flesh for the pleasure of the male. They are not recognised as a human entity but just “a craving mass of flesh...It was like being compelled to fast at a banquet..."
Women condition never changed- independence or No-Independence, Partition or No-Partition. Carol a highly educated lady and Zaitoon an illiterate girl share the same fate being a woman.
Alvina’s Verdict:
Bapsi Sidhwa is always my adorable author with her candid and straightforwardness. She smartly cobbled together assorted themes in super sublimity and intricacy. The novel is a fine tapestry woven with contrast and confusion, worries and wonder. The verdant beauty of the mountain is marked with the orthodox harshness and cruelty, whereas civilized men are streaked with hypocritical gallantry.
Multicolonialization of women in a patriarchal society is upheld by her sharp and brave pen In The Pakistani Bride that demands constructive applaud and approach.
March 24, 2022
The synopsis for this book would cause a reader to think that it's about one thing and that is Zaitoon's life as a wife of a tribesman but you don't get into Zaitoon's story until after half the book is already finished.
The story follows Qasim, a tribesman, who after many personal losses around the time of sub-continent's partition finds himself running towards the Pakistani border and comes across Zaitoon. A child who has lost her family in the aftermath of a mob attack on people travelling from India towards Pakistan. Qasim adopts Zaitoon and brings her to Lahore and raises her under the care of Nikka and Miriam. After raising her in Lahore where she learns new ways of conducting life, she is promised to be married to a tribesman in rural Kohistan at the age of 16-18 (if i remember correctly).
What I have always loved about Sidwa's work is that she writes it as it is. No sugar-coating the cruelty of life pre/post partition and without watering down the atrocities of war that only women end up facing. Going into this book, I was expecting to see characters go through a hard time because that is what Sidwa does. The story beautifully showcases the intricacy of a father-daughter relationship within a desi setting, how Zaitoon couldn't afford to disappoint even when she was afraid of her father's decisions. Through Carol's character, Sidwa highlights the very honest truth about portrayal of women through the eyes of men, regardless of social class differences.
At the core of it, this story is about navigating life as a woman who is defined and controlled by men in her life. It is about the repercussions of standing up for yourself and speaking up against oppression. It is about a society that is blinded by honour to a point that killing a woman is a much better alternative than accepting or acknowledging her rights. The Pakistani Bride is a story that unfortunately represents the stories of many women in many shapes and forms.
As for why it only got 3 stars is that I feel like the story is too ambitious in trying to fit so many characters into such a short book. You only get to see a fraction of most characters and there is no build up, no redemption for most characters. Half the book is simply about Qasim and his endeavours without highlighting Zaitoon at all and once it does dive into Zaitoon's story, it ends fairly quickly with a haphazard ending.
The story follows Qasim, a tribesman, who after many personal losses around the time of sub-continent's partition finds himself running towards the Pakistani border and comes across Zaitoon. A child who has lost her family in the aftermath of a mob attack on people travelling from India towards Pakistan. Qasim adopts Zaitoon and brings her to Lahore and raises her under the care of Nikka and Miriam. After raising her in Lahore where she learns new ways of conducting life, she is promised to be married to a tribesman in rural Kohistan at the age of 16-18 (if i remember correctly).
What I have always loved about Sidwa's work is that she writes it as it is. No sugar-coating the cruelty of life pre/post partition and without watering down the atrocities of war that only women end up facing. Going into this book, I was expecting to see characters go through a hard time because that is what Sidwa does. The story beautifully showcases the intricacy of a father-daughter relationship within a desi setting, how Zaitoon couldn't afford to disappoint even when she was afraid of her father's decisions. Through Carol's character, Sidwa highlights the very honest truth about portrayal of women through the eyes of men, regardless of social class differences.
At the core of it, this story is about navigating life as a woman who is defined and controlled by men in her life. It is about the repercussions of standing up for yourself and speaking up against oppression. It is about a society that is blinded by honour to a point that killing a woman is a much better alternative than accepting or acknowledging her rights. The Pakistani Bride is a story that unfortunately represents the stories of many women in many shapes and forms.
As for why it only got 3 stars is that I feel like the story is too ambitious in trying to fit so many characters into such a short book. You only get to see a fraction of most characters and there is no build up, no redemption for most characters. Half the book is simply about Qasim and his endeavours without highlighting Zaitoon at all and once it does dive into Zaitoon's story, it ends fairly quickly with a haphazard ending.
March 26, 2013
Wow! Where do I begin sharing my thoughts on this book?! There is much at play in this novel and having read reviews I almost reconsidered reading it myself. Eventually deciding against it, I was still bracing myself to read a disappointing novel. However, I'm glad I did read this or I would have surely missed out on an otherwise well-written book. While this novel is set in the years following shortly after the Partition of India and Pakistan and centred around Qasim (a Kohistanti man) and his adopted daughter Zaitoon (a Punjabi), I could not help but notice that Bapsi Sidhwa touches on issues that still pose challenges to Pakistani society today be it corruption, violence against women, fuedalism/tribalism, or honour crimes. Anyone who read The Pakistani Bride and felt offended by its portrayal of life in Pakistan is either in denial or hasn't had the (dis)pleasure of venturing out to tribal or rural areas in Pakistani provinces where such occurrences DO take place and such cruelties ARE meted out to women albeit not a large majority. To deny what goes on in these areas of Pakistan simply because one belongs to a privileged strata of society does not make the issues faced by these 'others' disappear. And to turn a blind eye to their plight and expect others to do the same so as not to desecrate the holy image of Pakistan is unfair. Thus, it's best to read this book without rose-tinted glasses or you'll find yourself getting offended at pretty much everything this story has to offer.
The title of the book falls short of representing the actual story line. Although a short book, Bapsi Sidhwa has used needless descriptive imagery which only prolongs the story. It's only until Zaitoon is taken to Kohistan and siphoned off to Qasim's nephew in marriage that it seems as though someone has hit the fast-forward button on this story and it finally begins to take shape. Qasim, in his longing for his tribal home, wants Zaitoon to live the life he left behind thinking it best for her while Zaitoon cannot seem to adjust. Running parallel to Zaitoon's story in Kohistan, is the story of Carol, an American girl married to an Army officer posted in the same area. Carol's character represents the complexities of an outsider who brings with her notions of exoticism, Orientalism, and White Man's Burden all in one go. Carol is trapped in a quagmire where she cannot decipher whether she falls in love with men for the security or possessiveness they offer and seems to fall in love with just about any man who may look her way with lust or affection. Grappling with her own confusion and insecurities she looks down upon Pakistani women and regards Pakistan as a place that requires her to save it. Based on the lives of the characters of Zaitoon and Carol, it is interesting how this story unfolds and how everything falls into place.
The title of the book falls short of representing the actual story line. Although a short book, Bapsi Sidhwa has used needless descriptive imagery which only prolongs the story. It's only until Zaitoon is taken to Kohistan and siphoned off to Qasim's nephew in marriage that it seems as though someone has hit the fast-forward button on this story and it finally begins to take shape. Qasim, in his longing for his tribal home, wants Zaitoon to live the life he left behind thinking it best for her while Zaitoon cannot seem to adjust. Running parallel to Zaitoon's story in Kohistan, is the story of Carol, an American girl married to an Army officer posted in the same area. Carol's character represents the complexities of an outsider who brings with her notions of exoticism, Orientalism, and White Man's Burden all in one go. Carol is trapped in a quagmire where she cannot decipher whether she falls in love with men for the security or possessiveness they offer and seems to fall in love with just about any man who may look her way with lust or affection. Grappling with her own confusion and insecurities she looks down upon Pakistani women and regards Pakistan as a place that requires her to save it. Based on the lives of the characters of Zaitoon and Carol, it is interesting how this story unfolds and how everything falls into place.
November 26, 2013
a very beautifully written book which describes the state of women in eastern countries. all has been said about on how it portrays pakistan in a bad light and women have all the freedom there. but i would love to see some intellectual souls seeing he book as a piece of literature.
here is a quote from the book: a beautifully written passage
"A knot of dancing, laughing children had circled an almost limbless beggar. Every time he succeeded in sitting upright the children playfully knocked him over. The men in the bazaar picked their teeth laughed indulgently. She had noticed this cruel habit of jeering at deformities before, and sick to her stomach wanted to scream at the men to stop the children. ‘They’ll wonder why you are fussing,’ Farukh had said, laughing himself, ‘They won’t see your point of view at all, dear – every nation has its own outlet for cruelty.’ Perhaps he was right. In preventing natural outlets for cruelty the developed countries had turned hypocritical and the repressed heat had exploded in nuclear mushrooms. They did not laugh at deformities: they manufactured them."
words like "angrez", "put puttering", "zennanah" only add to a whiff of eastern scent to the story.
it also well describes the state of women all over the world which will call for your empathy towards women.
Carol meanwhile lay in her room, staring into the dark. ‘. . . asked for it,’ isn’t that what Farukh had said?
Women the world over, through the ages, asked to be murdered, raped, exploited, enslaved, to get importunately impregnated, beaten-up, bullied and disinherited. It was an immutable law of nature.
even thought the story is a little slow paced and involves too many characters, they are well designed to fit the bill. i absolutely loved the book. shall definitely read more books by the author.
leaving you with a beautiful stanza by iqbal, which again is mentioned in the book.
" Khudi ko kar buland itna, Heighten your ‘khudi’ to such majesty, ke har takdeer say pahaylay that before every turn of fate Khuda banday say khud poochay, God himself asks man – ‘Buta teri raza kya hai?’ ‘Tell me, what do you wish?’"
here is a quote from the book: a beautifully written passage
"A knot of dancing, laughing children had circled an almost limbless beggar. Every time he succeeded in sitting upright the children playfully knocked him over. The men in the bazaar picked their teeth laughed indulgently. She had noticed this cruel habit of jeering at deformities before, and sick to her stomach wanted to scream at the men to stop the children. ‘They’ll wonder why you are fussing,’ Farukh had said, laughing himself, ‘They won’t see your point of view at all, dear – every nation has its own outlet for cruelty.’ Perhaps he was right. In preventing natural outlets for cruelty the developed countries had turned hypocritical and the repressed heat had exploded in nuclear mushrooms. They did not laugh at deformities: they manufactured them."
words like "angrez", "put puttering", "zennanah" only add to a whiff of eastern scent to the story.
it also well describes the state of women all over the world which will call for your empathy towards women.
Carol meanwhile lay in her room, staring into the dark. ‘. . . asked for it,’ isn’t that what Farukh had said?
Women the world over, through the ages, asked to be murdered, raped, exploited, enslaved, to get importunately impregnated, beaten-up, bullied and disinherited. It was an immutable law of nature.
even thought the story is a little slow paced and involves too many characters, they are well designed to fit the bill. i absolutely loved the book. shall definitely read more books by the author.
leaving you with a beautiful stanza by iqbal, which again is mentioned in the book.
" Khudi ko kar buland itna, Heighten your ‘khudi’ to such majesty, ke har takdeer say pahaylay that before every turn of fate Khuda banday say khud poochay, God himself asks man – ‘Buta teri raza kya hai?’ ‘Tell me, what do you wish?’"
March 18, 2023
It took me a long time to finish, not because it was a long read or a boring read but because it had such sensitive stuff in it that I was not in the right mindset to absorb or even understand all of it. I would recommend everyone to read it because it may not be true nowadays but it isn't far off either. I don't know how to tell you that it is true and untrue at the same time. The people and the laws set by their elders are still in practice, not all places but some few and far places. The scenery of the north is something that no other place can come close to, you can find Europe, America and Asia all in one place. Now the people are beautiful and welcoming of almost all cultures but you have to be respectful of them for them to be respectful of you, which I think is pretty much common in all places.
Overall I would rate this 3.9/5 and would definitely recommend it.
Overall I would rate this 3.9/5 and would definitely recommend it.
February 11, 2008
I liked this book very much. Lately I have been facinated with the culture, and this books displayed a new view on the religion and cultural values. I an beginning to have a understanding and appreciation for why things are the way they are.
I see that it didnt get great reviews from other goodreads members. I am not certain but I believe this book was written or published in the 80's and may have been translated based on some of the terms used.
I see that it didnt get great reviews from other goodreads members. I am not certain but I believe this book was written or published in the 80's and may have been translated based on some of the terms used.
August 1, 2008
This was loaned to me by a Pakistani friend. Otherwise I would never have read it. The writing was very pedestrian and the story just a string of facts. Finally I got sucked in and the ending was very good. The author is supposed to be very famous in Pakistan and wrote this in English so it is not a bad translation. The four stars is based on the issues raise and background information not on the writers skill at telling the story.
November 26, 2010
I really wanted to like this book; it had so much potential! The storyline was good, but didn't even come in play until the last third of the book, and the ending was just disappointing. Reading about the experiences of these women though, it was terrifying to imagine that this could possibly be based on real lives, of real women; I cannot believe people live this way. Great cultural insight and perspective, just could have been written better.
October 1, 2009
Interesting for the setting of Northern Pakistan around the time of partition, about the life of a young girl "adopted" by a bereaved migrating man and later sent back into the northern tribal territory. Not particularly well-written. Plot did not hold together well and writing was not that good and characters were one-dimensional but still interesting for the setting and time.
March 10, 2014
This book starts off very slowly, but builds up momentum. I like the way the author has woven complex characters and tried to show that everyone has their own reality, yet are somehow connected to each other. I like that all her characters have shades of gray and the fact that she shows that you can find unexpected kindness even in the face of brutal adversity.
August 22, 2014
It was all about sheer will power. It just proves that we build our own destiny. The imagery describing the Pakiatani North is exquisite. Sidhwa describes it just too well. Plus the novel provides an insight into the lives of Kohistani people. The sexual life and environment in Pakistan is also delineated quite well. An interesting read overall!
March 23, 2015
Easygoing style making this a quick read. Insightful and emotional especially when it comes to colossal tragedies in the most personal manner. Plenty of mini cliffhangers along the way as it builds to a somewhat predictable climax and kept me engaged all the way. Interesting human perspectives in the beginning about the way the India-Pakistan partition changed people so intimately.
August 20, 2016
i dont know that why people like bapsi sidhwa so much,
i read this book in one sitting and it was terrible.
i read this book in one sitting and it was terrible.
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