Tomb of Sand

Tomb of Sand (originally titled Ret Samadhi, Hindi: रेत समाधि)[2] is a 2018 Hindi-language novel by Indian author Geetanjali Shree. It was translated into English by U.S. translator Daisy Rockwell.[3] In 2022, the book became the first novel translated from an Indian language to win the International Booker Prize.[4][5][6][7]

Tomb of Sand
First edition cover
AuthorGeetanjali Shree
TranslatorDaisy Rockwell
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
PublisherRajkamal Prakashan (Hindi);
Tilted Axis Press and Penguin Books India (English)[1]
Publication date
2018 (original);
2021 (translation)[1]
Pages376 (Hindi); 696 (English)

Plot

The book traces the transformative journey of 80-year-old Ma, who becomes depressed after the death of her husband. She then decides to travel to Pakistan, confronting trauma that had remained unresolved since she was a teenager who survived the Partition riots. In northern India, an eighty-year-old woman slips into deep depression after the death of her husband, and then resurfaces to gain a new lease on life. Her determination to fly in the face of convention – including striking up a friendship with a transgender person – confuses her bohemian daughter, who is used to thinking of herself as the more modern of the two. To her family's consternation, Ma insists on travelling to Pakistan, simultaneously confronting the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition, and re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a feminist.

Critical reception

The novel received praise from book critics in India and elsewhere. Writing in The Hindu, reviewer Mini Kapoor described it as "a stunningly powerful story about stories that never end".[8] Novelist Alka Saraogi, writing in The Book Review, praised the novel for "its sweeping imagination and sheer power of language, unprecedented and uninhibited".[9] Frank Wynne, chair of the 2022 International Booker judges, said it was "enormously engaging and charming and funny and light, despite the various subjects it's dealing with". He added that Rockwell's translation was "stunningly realised, the more so because so much of the original depends on wordplay, on the sounds and cadences of Hindi".[10]

Accolades

In addition to winning the 2022 International Booker Prize and 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation in its English translation, the French translation (Ret Samadhi, au-delà de la frontière: Éditions des Femmes, Paris, 2020; tr. Annie Montaut) was shortlisted for the 2021 Émile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature.[11]

References
  1. Chakrabarti, Paromita (28 May 2022). "Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell's International Booker win brings Indian literature in translation into focus". The Indian Express. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  2. "Geetanjali Shree's "Tomb Of Sand"". ndtv. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  3. "सीमाहरू भत्काउँदै 'रेत समाधि'". ekantipur.com (in Nepali). Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  4. Marshall, Alex (7 April 2022). "Women Dominate Shortlist for International Booker Prize". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  5. "Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand' first Hindi novel on International Booker shortlist". The Indian Express. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  6. "The 2022 International Booker Prize". The Booker Prizes.
  7. "Geetanjali Shree is first Indian winner of International Booker Prize". BBC. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  8. Kapoor, Mini (21 May 2022). "In Ma's metaverse: Mini Kapoor reviews Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand', translated by Daisy Rockwell". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  9. Saraogi, Alka (May 2019). "Painting The Ordinary In Myriad Extraordinary Hues". The Book Review. 43 (5).
  10. "First novel translated from Hindi wins International Booker prize". The Guardian. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  11. Snaije, Olivia (28 April 2022). "Geetanjali Shree on the Need for 'a Pluralistic Multilingual World'". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  • ISBN 978-9387462243: Rajkamal Prakashan (Hindi)
  • ISBN 978-1911284611: Tilted Axis Press (English)
  • ISBN 978-0143448471: Penguin Books India (English)


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