- Paperback: 300 pages
- Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (9 April 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330377124
- ISBN-13: 978-0330377126
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,522,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Blue Bedspread
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Raj Kamal Jha's first novel, The Blue Breadspread: A Novel, is a curious, sometimes powerful, work. From the "First Story" to the final "Eight Words", the book is built up meticulously, scene by scene: a man, no longer young, in a house on Main Circular Road, Calcutta, writing to a baby girl sleeping in the next room, waiting for the couple who are coming to take her away. The man's sister, the infant's mother, is dead. Why is he writing? Who is he? What has happened to his sister?: " For years, I have been waiting for news of my sister." The poignancy of her loss and the sudden appearance of her child generate the urge to produce this fable of a family for a child who may never know who she is, where she comes from: "Something you will see or hear will remind you of something missing in your heart, perhaps a hole, the blood rushing through it ... They will then give you these stories." Instead of a family, then, there are stories--the lifeblood of this troubled, and troubling, narrator compelled to deliver the uncomfortable truth of the childhood he has shared with his sister. --Vicky Lebeau
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
The story opens as an old man is asked to collect his sister's baby from the hospital in Calcutta where his sister has just died. The last time her saw her was 15 years earlier. In the pages that follow their pasts are unravelled - stories of violence and love, horror and hope.
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First Sentence
I could begin with my name, but forget it, why waste time, it doesn't matter in this city of twelve million names. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I could begin with my name, but forget it, why waste time, it doesn't matter in this city of twelve million names. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I was delighted to read that The Blue Bedspread has got the Commonwealth Eurasia Prize for Best First Book. One of the Australian reviewers has said that the best way to read The Blue Bedspread is at night with sad music playing in the background. He is right, this book is a symphony of words and a collection of searing images. More than a novel, it is like a tapestry. I have lived in Calcutta for some time and now have been away for years but this brought back memories from my own childhood. It's refined and raw at the same time, honest to the point of being disturbing. One gets the impression from this book that here is a writer who needs to write. At times there are sections which get confusing and one has to read them again but personally, I felt that these needed to be re-read since only then you get the connection. The narrator is a man I wouldn't feel comfortable with in the same room although deep down, I have a grudging admiration for his strength and courage of conviction. This is must reading for people who need to reconcile themselves to the ghosts of the past.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"In short, I will tell you happy stories and I will tell you sad stories. And remember, my child, your truth lies somewhere in between."
Kamal Jha has written a superb novel with a shocking twist and a wonderfully fulfilling denouement.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Read The Blue Bedspread as it may teach one how to write an autobiography. Jha might be talking about himself in the book, but the book loaded with real-life snippets, is an excellent anecdote. How can one be so candid? Incest, sister, father, mother, hospital nurse, bangles, birds, a crumpled bedspread and many more. One has to read between the lines to understand the theories of a changing life. Everyday you grow up, see yourself changing in the mirror. This book tells you how.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beautiful, but depressing prose
I have to say that I couldn't describe my experience of this book as 'enjoyment'. I found it rather more dark and depressing than I would have liked. Read more
Published on 15 July 2001
Remarkable, a beautiful piece of prose
I've read this book. Twice. I also know that the author has written this book at a time when many of us are fast asleep on our bedspreads. Read more
Published on 6 Sep 2000
A pretentious book aimed at the international audience
Time is a precious commodity these days. And so when I do get time to read a book, I pray and hope that it will not be a wasted effort. Read more
Published on 2 April 2000
Intensely rich, simplistic in its narrative ways, original
The Blue Bedspread is a compelling, touching novel and is a must read for every literature lover. RKJ's brilliant description of the city Calcutta is more than alive in this... Read more
Published on 12 Oct 1999
Beautiful, ethereal and heartbreaking novel
I have just finished reading this book. I am moved to tell everyone I know --- and people I don't --- to read this magnificent, heartbreaking book immediately. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 1999 by Amester17
A stunning novel - powerful and full of evocative images
I defy anyone not to be captivated by this amazing book. It's short and broad in scope and grips the reader from start to end. Read more
Published on 25 July 1999
Sensational debut!
God of Small Things, I thought two years ago, was the most beautiful novel by an Indian I would ever read. Early this summer, Raj Kamal Jha's The Blue Bedspread, changed all that. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 1999
Amazing, watershed in Indo-Anglian writing
The first thing that strikes you about The Blue Bedspread is the extraordinary originality of style, plot and theme. Read more
Published on 3 April 1999
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