Senior Planet Book Club: Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (Week 4)
Welcome to our fourth week’s discussion of…
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
For week five of our book club, please finish the book by Tuesday, November 2nd.
Then come back to https://cms.seniorplanet.org/articles/online-book-club/ and we will open a conversation in the comments so everyone can discuss what we read.
Join us on Thursday, November 4th at 4:30pm EST for our discussion about the whole book over Zoom.
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Comments
So happy to read all of these comments and that you loved the book. Excited to discuss it on the 4th!
The odds of me reading this novel would have been improbable if not for my participation in a senior book club. Surprisingly, this tale turned out to be an unexpected cultural gem; peppered with well-timed humor, oodles of unforeseen eroticism, and a series of mysterious murders shrouded under a dupatta of taboo ancestral norms.
Set in London and Southhall in England, the narrative chronicles the journey of a class of undervalued Punjabi widowed women grappling with whether to abandon incongruent Indian traditions of the motherland in order to adapt “a proper modern girl” perspective common in British society. Secrets and closeted skeletons are unearthed to expose the bones of souls lost to deception and murders, as the women simultaneously discovered their own voices and societal worth.
Jaswal’s writing style is warm and engaging with traditional Sikh code of honor and superstitions interspersed throughout the novel. As I read these expressed accounts, I couldn’t help but be struck by the similarities in beliefs that mirrored convictions among many other cultures, such as African, yet appeared just as equally antithetical to others, such as British and American norms.
This is from an 81-year old guy.
“Universal themes” is spot on. NOT about porn, DOESN’T glorify porn.
Universal and specifically about women’s rights, and how very often women don’t realize they have any rights.
In this instance, maybe this group of Punjabi women had no rights in India, but now they are in not just in a different country, but they are actually in a different *world!*
Yet they live and act as if they were back in their *home* country.
I’ve read many books about this theme in my other book club (wait for it!) the Indian River County (Florida) Democratic Women’s Club Book Club. I’m a paid-up member and the only male who has ever been involved there.
Since 2016.
See you on Nov. 4th.
Agree with Julia and Veronika! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and am unsure if I would have without it being the Senior Planet book club selection. Have recommended it to others; some who are reluctant since they don’t get grasp the universality of the themes that we are more alike than we have been led to believe, & everyone has stories to share.
I enjoyed reading the book. The climax of the book came very fast which made it almost impossible to put it down.
I agree Julia. And now, my husband is reading the book. It’s so fun to ask, “Where are you now in the book?” There are so many topics to talk about. The story themes are universal – but often mostly not aired or owned. What a creative way to inform the world that we all have stories to share. Intimate ones don’t have to stop at any age. Looking forward to the discussion.