Publication Date: March 6, 2018
Publisher: Flatiron Books
“Incandescent...A searing portrait of what
feminism looks like in much of the world.” ―Vogue
“A treat for Ferrante fans, exploring the bonds of friendship and how female ambition beats against the strictures of poverty and patriarchal societies.” ―The Huffington Post
An electrifying debut novel about the extraordinary bond between two girls driven apart by circumstance but relentless in their search for one another.
“A treat for Ferrante fans, exploring the bonds of friendship and how female ambition beats against the strictures of poverty and patriarchal societies.” ―The Huffington Post
An electrifying debut novel about the extraordinary bond between two girls driven apart by circumstance but relentless in their search for one another.
Poornima and Savitha have three strikes against
them: they are poor, they are ambitious, and they are girls. After her mother’s
death, Poornima has very little kindness in her life. She is left to care for
her siblings until her father can find her a suitable match. So when Savitha
enters their household, Poornima is intrigued by the joyful, independent-minded
girl. Suddenly their Indian village doesn't feel quite so claustrophobic, and
Poornima begins to imagine a life beyond arranged marriage. But when a
devastating act of cruelty drives Savitha away, Poornima leaves behind everything
she has ever known to find her friend.
Her journey takes her into the darkest corners of
India's underworld, on a harrowing cross-continental journey, and eventually to
an apartment complex in Seattle. Alternating between the girls’ perspectives as
they face ruthless obstacles, Girls Burn Brighter introduces
two heroines who never lose the hope that burns within.
A disturbing look at the world that ultimately
tears Poornima and Savitha, and their remarkable friendship, apart. These girls
meet in a small Indian village, form a friendship that is fierce and undeniably
inspirational, but are separated by unforeseen circumstances and forced to
fight through the absolute worst of odds to be together again. They are both
brave, unmistakably resilient, and overcome brutal lives that most of us would
never be able to endure.
After these women are torn apart, readers will follow each of them and the lives they are living. Their journey is horrific, demoralizing, and not for the faint of heart. The suffering of both women is appalling and stomach-churning, but the reader can't help but admire their strength, cleverness, and persistence.
Rao’s debut novel has quite possibly made her an
auto-buy author for many people. The story is gut-wrenching and terrifying, but
written in a way that makes it easier to digest. Rao’s debut puts precious and
beloved human faces on the plight of young women who are sold around the world
--- and even in America --- for others’ pleasure and profit - a crime we know as sex trafficking. Not every author could take on a topic as vast and horrifying
as this – Rao’s pacing was perfect for all the tragic, disturbing things that
happen to Poornima and Savitha. Rao doesn't shove everything at readers at one time. She sandwiches the bad in between the good. There are many things about this book that are beautiful, even if the main topic is cruel and horrible.
“Every moment in a woman's life was a deal, a deal
for her body: first for its blooming and then for its wilting; first for her
bleeding and then for her virginity and then for her bearing (counting only the
sons) and for her widowing.”
“It was stillness, she learned, that at the time
was the greatest movement.”
“We girls. Afraid of the wrong things, at the
wrong times. Afraid of a burned face, when outside, outside waiting for you are
fires you cannot imagine. Men, holding matches up to your gasoline eyes.
Flames, flames all around you, licking at your just-born breasts, your
just-bled body. And infernos. Infernos as wide as the world. Waiting to
impoverish you, make you ash, and even the wind, even the wind. Even the wind,
my dear, she thought, watching you burn, willing it, passing over you, and
through you. Scattering you, because you are a girl, and because you are
ash.”
Alternating from Poornima's and Savitha's points
of view, Girls Burn Brighter is
a feminist story studying the importance of female friendships. Please do not
go into this book and think that this is a light-hearted story about friendship. No, this book is not that. It
does share the importance of friendship and its beauty as well, but it
also takes on a world that is eye-opening. You will come out
changed after finishing this book, and hopefully like me, you will be changed
for the better. Hopefully, like me, you will appreciate the world you have
grown up in and you will call your girlfriends and talk for hours about all the
beautiful memories you have shared!
***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the
publishers at Flatiron Books in exchange for my honest review***
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