I'll start off by saying there were a lot of things I didn't like about this book. I didn't like the literary style. The narrator, Iqbal, has a habit of addressing the reader directly. He even says, "My publisher told me not to do this, but I feel like I must." And he addresses the reader at the most exasperating times: "So before we get to this next part, I'm going to leave you hanging over the edge of a cliff for five pages while I tell you the life story of a particular character you've seen mentioned several times already." I felt like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, at Scene 24: "GET ON WITH IT!!!!"

I also thought the author's use of symbolism - constantly comparing the rape of Sita, and rape in general, to the institution of colonization -- was really heavy-handed. After awhile I was like, "Yes, Lindsey Collen, I get the metaphor. It's very nice. Now...GET ON WITH IT!!!"

Iqbal is a very unusual choice for a narrator: a friend of Sita's, not involved in the rape, didn't find out about it for years, plays basically no role in the story except as an observer. I'm not sure how I feel about that, though it was interesting to read about rape from the perspective of a man.

The book redeemed itself in the last quarter, however, when we finally get to the part where Sita is raped. The rape scene was arrestingly authentic. The description of Sita's thoughts going everywhere at once: what is he going to do, is he going to kill me, how can I survive this, can I get away, the doors are locked, I haven't got good shoes, what will happen if I hit him, what will happen if I somehow get outside, can I talk him down, why is he doing this, I must minimize the damage, think of stories I've heard in the past about these situations, okay, I have to do something, let's try this..." All in about two seconds she is thinking this, while still half-disbelieving: this is stupid, this is ridiculous, how could this be happening? And then afterwards the superficial calm, cold rational thinking, the cleaning up, the deliberate donning of a "normal" mask to go out and face your obligations in the world. It looks like you, but it's a mask, and if you look closely you can see that it doesn't quite fit. And here Iqbal's addressing the reader again, second-guessing all of Sita's decisions and actions, speculating as to what the outcome might have been if this or that had happened differently -- not judging her, not even judging the rapist, only mulling over the entire episode. Much the way the rape victim does in the hours and days and weeks and the rest of her life after the attack. I know it all too well. Never before have I seen a rape portrayed in such detail, and every detail perfect.

I was left feeling conflicted and not a little uneasy. I think this will be a hard book to forget. ( )