The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die: A Novel
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
“A chaotic, furious, extraordinary Bengali confection...Irresistible.” -- Philip Hensher, Man Booker–shortlisted author of The Northern Clemency
“A feminist, fractured fairy tale…this is a story that lingers.” – NPR
"The book is a riot, a sprightly thriller that will make you not only want to discover more Bengali cultural norms of the vintage era but also create rational stirrings within you to go look up more of Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s works." -- World Literature Today
A laugh-out-loud, tug-at-your-heartstrings tale of love, family, and freedom centered around three generations of Bengali women.
Somlata has just married into the dynastic but declining Mitra family. At eighteen, she expects to settle into her role as a devout wife in this traditional, multi-generational family. But then Somlata, wandering the halls of the grand, decaying Mitra mansion, stumbles upon the body of her great aunt-in-law, Pishima.
A child bride widowed at twelve, Pishima has finally passed away at the ripe old age of seventy. But she isn’t letting go just yet. Pishima has long harbored a grudge against the Mitras for keeping her in perpetual widowhood, never allowed to fall in love.. Now, her ghost intends to meddle in their lives, making as much mischief as possible. Pishima gives Somlata the keys to her mysterious box of gold to keep it out of the Mitras’ hands. However, the selfless Somlata, witnessing her new family waste away their wealth to the brink of bankruptcy, has her own ideas.
Boshon is a book-loving, scooter-riding, rebellious teenager who wants nothing to do with the many suitors that ask for her hand. She yearns for freedom and wants to go to college. But when her poor neighbor returns from America she finds herself falling in love. Perhaps Pishima’s yearning spirit lives on in her own her heart?
The Aunt Who Wouldn’t Die is a frenetic, funny, and fresh novel about three generations of Mitra women who are surprising at every turn and defy all expectations. They may be guarding a box of gold, but they are the true treasures in this gem of a novel.
Translated from the Bangla by Arunava Sinha
Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay
Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay was born in 1935 in present-day Bangladesh. He earned a master’s degree from Calcutta University and worked for some time as a schoolteacher before becoming a journalist and author. The Aunt Who Wouldn’t Die is a much-loved contemporary classic in Bengali, and it was adapted into the film Goynar Baksho in 2013. The first English translation was published in India in 2017.
Related to The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die
Related ebooks
Bitter Sweets: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5No One Can Pronounce My Name: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Block Seventeen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ru: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Good Death Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5White Cloud Mountain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Days Come and Go Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paper Moon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inheritance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mohanaswamy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Unpassing: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Half Gods Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amnesty: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Home of the Floating Lily Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvening Is the Whole Day: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reluctant Matchmaker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Parking Lot Attendant: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bombay Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tram 83 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5America for Beginners: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Case of Emergency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Plate of White Marble Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeasons of Purgatory Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrick of the Light Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Haunting Bombay: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shadowland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Conch Bearer: The Brotherhood of the Conch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Because Venus Crossed an Alpine Violet on the Day that I Was Born Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Contemporary Women's For You
It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before We Were Strangers: A Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Handmaid's Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Starts with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Birds: Erotica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heart Bones: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ugly Love: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Thing He Told Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confess: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love and Other Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This Is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Lost Names Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The True Love Experiment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5November 9: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Luckiest Girl Alive: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Family Upstairs: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Then She Was Gone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night Road: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Book of Flora Lea: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Storyteller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Eve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Home Front: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The People We Keep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die
1 rating0 reviews