One of our goals at Tajfuny for 2022 was to introduce more books from India. The first of those books is Abandon, a novel written by Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay, translated by Arunava Sinha. It is the story of Ishwari who tries to reconcile in herself two elements and two personalities: a young single mother rejected by society at every step and barely making ends meet, and an artistic soul, a facinating, eloquent, well-educated woman.
Bandyopadhyay’s book, on one hand, resembles a dream: those two sides of Ishwari are sometimes in conflict, sometimes overlap, sometimes coexist; each scene draws us even deeper into the stifling atmosphere. On the other hand, many elements are extremely realistic: the issues of maternity, patriarchy, class division. “Abandon” is filled with a feeling of despair – because how do you reconcile your two sides in a society that does not give you such a choice? A poetic novel from one of the most important contemporary Bengali writers.
