Ramchand, a young man living in a small, north Indian town, works each day at Sevak Sari House. Amongst the cotton and silks, he and his fellow shop assistants sit, unrolling yards of coloured fabric for the town's middle class wives and daughters and speculate on their own futures.
The Sari Shop
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'Ambitious, compelling … Bajwa reaches for – and captures – the very soul of India’ -- Manil Suri, author of The Death of Vishnu Longlisted for the Orange Prize.
‘A savage satire of middle-class pretensions shot through with rich descriptions and moments of mellow comedy’ -- Literary Review
‘A savage satire of middle-class pretensions shot through with rich descriptions and moments of mellow comedy’ -- Literary Review
About the Author
Rupa Bajwa was born in Amritsar, north India in 1976. She is currently based in Amritsar. The Sari Shop is her first novel.
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First Sentence
Ramchand had overslept, waking up only when the loud noises of a brawl in the street below had jolted him out of sleep. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Ramchand had overslept, waking up only when the loud noises of a brawl in the street below had jolted him out of sleep. Read the first page
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Longlisted for Britain's Orange Prize for Fiction in 2004, Rupa Bajwa's The Sari Shop turns the world of a small shop in Amritsar, India, into a microcosm of the society, allowing the author to explore big ideas within an intimate environment. Exploring the lives of ordinary shop salesmen, both at home and at work, as they struggle to make ends meet, she juxtaposes them against some of their wealthy clients, highlighting dramatically the economic contrasts in their lives and the differences in their expectations. From her opening description of the raucous awakening of a small neighborhood, she presents the kinds of homely details which make the setting easy to visualize, despite the cultural differences.
Ramchand, now twenty-six, has been working as an assistant at the Sevak Sari House since he was fifteen, doing the same job day after day, going to a small dhaba with some of the other assistants for something to eat at night and sometimes to the movies. He has little hope of improving his station and, with his parents dead and no family in the city, little opportunity to meet a marriageable young woman or change his lonely life. Through flashbacks, the reader learns about Ramchand's family background and how he came to live alone in Amritsar.
As Bajwa slowly draws the reader into the lives of other characters, the reader empathizes with them. Kamla, the wife of Chander, another of the shop assistants, is an especially pathetic case, a young woman who has been victimized by society, her husband, and her husband's former employers. Rina Kapoor, daughter of the wealthiest man in Amritsar, however, is also, in some ways, a victim of her economic situation, as are the women for whom shopping for saris is a primary activity. Only a few women here seek independent lives, these being women for whom it is an option because of their economic privilege. Kamla has no such options. When the lives of Ramchand, Kamla, Rina, and Chander intersect in a shocking climax, lives change forever.
The stunning ending is melodramatic, and Ramchand's change of character may not be completely realistic, but the story moves effectively from its quiet character study at the beginning into a compelling story of characters whose lives overlap, often unwittingly. Sometimes darkly humorous, the story has considerable charm because Ramchand himself inspires empathy. Intimate and thoughtful in its depiction of the various social strata which make up the community, the novel is more understated--less sensational and less political--than some of the more panoramic epics which have come from India in the past decade. Mary Whipple
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Paul
Format:Paperback
This isn't a "homage to India" type book but is a short, crisp and fast moving story about the "have's" and the "have nots" in Amritsar, North India. The author, an Indian, is like an analyst and exposes the hypocrasy of the people at the top of the pile who we aspire to be and the difficult world of those struggling at the bottom. It's a theme relevant to anywhere in the world but this reviewer loves India and admires how the author really takes me back there. But at its heart it is a human story which just happens to be in India.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book should appeal to readers of Rohinton Mistry's, A Fine Balance, although the prose is not as beautifully poetic as Mistry's. It is the story of one man's struggle with circumstance and the depression that it induces in him. The inescapable importance of wealth and position are a dominate theme, the intellectuals and the rich appraising each other's feeling of superiority while neither group has any interest in those less fortunate. The book engages the reader as the central character seems to be the only one enraged by injustice, and how he has to deal with its effect on him in order to survive.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
This is just brilliant, buy it, just buy it
This is just brilliant, buy it, just buy it.
Published on 6 Jun 2007 by The Riddler
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredibly touching story about every-day life in India
Young Indian writer's Rupa Bajwa's from Amritsar, Punjab first novel "The Sari Shop" is a simple, sincere and non -judgemental work depicting the plain reality of today's India. Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2006
4.0 out of 5 stars
When is her next one available?
A well-written beautiful story, that is also very touching. Author paints a strong picture populated with realistic & often heart-rending characters, yet also depicts the... Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2005 by "jas268"
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