The Illuminated by Anindita Ghose
Rating: 5/5
Shashi and Tara are two women of different worlds – one raised for marriage and union, another raised for ambition and individuality. But the two are bounded by the relationship shared by a mother and a daughter, bounded as family because of a man who is now no more.
There are books that are written to make you think, to make you stretch your mind in all directions in search of the truth. Then there are the ones that make you connect with characters in a way that a couple hundred pages make them seem your own. Books that show individualistic choices and how it changes people over time – what we folks call “character development” in fiction. Books that put forth ideals that make us question the system we live in – live with- on ever level of representation. ‘The Illuminated’ is one such book that brings all of this together, and more.
The element of the book that I believe will stay with me the longest are the characters, especially the women. How a writer could bring is women from various sections of society, from various upbringings and different goals in life under one roof, with different problems all revolving around more or less the same causes is something that kept me hooked to this book. Two women, both losing the man they loved in different ways for different reasons, only to realise how they had often shadowed them – in totally different lights. The book draws parallels from its own narrative.
Beyond a person, this book shows movements on large scales. An organization that is bent on restoring the “proper balance of roles” in society. A fisherwoman who broke all stereotypes. A man serving his life towards upholding the importance of a language, only to build his legacy.
The book is layers and layers of storytelling and highlighting important themes – feminism, unhealthy expectations from women, the rules imposed on them for no reason, how solidarity is not what always stands behind a woman. From reclaiming the present to contemplating the past. The book also showcases a theme of abuse, and the way it was played was what made this book a 5-star read for me.
From a village girl shunned by her family to a bold, outspoken girl who knows what she wants, the book shows the ways in which every person who identifies as a female is treated by men around her as if she was lesser, inferior. And this is from everyone – her family, her professors, a man she is involved with – there are no etched boundaries.
And finally, the writing style. The smooth flow will entrance you in the story within a couple pages and it’ll be hard to put this one down at all. Simplistic yet poetic, with thought-provoking lines that make you do a double take.
I absolutely loved reading this and I cannot recommend this book enough.
Reviewed by Muskan Rajani
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