Sep 24

Sep 24 China Room

Author: Sunjeev Sahota
Publisher: Viking
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

A transfixing novel about two unforgettable characters seeking to free themselves—one from the expectations of women in early 20th century Punjab, and the other from the weight of life in the contemporary Indian diaspora.

Mehar, a young bride in rural 1929 Punjab, is trying to discover the identity of her new husband. Married to three brothers in a single ceremony, she and her now-sisters spend their days hard at work in the family's "china room," sequestered from contact with the men—except when their domineering mother-in-law, Mai, summons them to a darkened chamber at night. Curious and strong willed, Mehar tries to piece together what Mai doesn't want her to know. From beneath her veil, she studies the sounds of the men's voices, the calluses on their fingers as she serves them tea. Soon she glimpses something that seems to confirm which of the brothers is her husband, and a series of events is set in motion that will put more than one life at risk. As the early stirrings of the Indian independence movement rise around her, Mehar must weigh her own desires against the reality—and danger—of her situation.

Spiraling around Mehar's story is that of a young man who arrives at his uncle's house in Punjab in the summer of 1999, hoping to shake an addiction that has held him in its grip for more than two years. Growing up in small-town England as the son of an immigrant shopkeeper, his experiences of racism, violence, and estrangement from the culture of his birth led him to seek a dangerous form of escape. As he rides out his withdrawal at his family's ancestral home—an abandoned farmstead, its china room mysteriously locked and barred--he begins to knit himself back together, gathering strength for the journey home.

Partly inspired by award-winning author Sunjeev Sahota's family history, China Room is at once a deft exploration of how systems of power circumscribe individual lives and a deeply moving portrait of the unconquerable human capacity to resist them. At once sweeping and intimate, lush and propulsive, it is a stunning achievement from a contemporary master.

TL;DR Review

I liked China Room a lot. Short, and with one plotline that’s more plot-driven and one that’s more character-driven, I was pleasantly surprised at how fast-paced and engaging it was.

For you if: You want to read more books with Punjabi representation.

Full Review

China Room landed on my radar because it was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize. It’s only 250 pages long, and I ended up easily reading it in one day; the super-short chapters combined with the fast pace (at least for a ~Booker book~) really had me turning the pages.

The story takes place in two timelines with two characters: The first, Mehar, lives in Punjab in the 1920s. She is married off to one of three brothers in a triple wedding, but she and her fellow brides are kept in the dark (literally) about which of the brothers are their husbands. When she seems to have figured it out, she can’t help but careen herself down a very risky path. The other timeline, which takes place today, is about Mehar’s unnamed great-grandson, who travels to Punjab to recover from addiction. Staying in the same house where she lived, he faces down his own kind of personal and generational trauma.

While I was reading, I found myself most engaged in Mehar’s story, although that’s mostly because her chapters were fast-paced and driven heavily by plot. The story of our unnamed modern main character, on the other hand, is much more introspective and character-driven. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that had both of those styles alongside one another like that, and it was really interesting.

At book club, a lot of us talked about wanting more out of either or both of the storylines, at the same time realizing that Sahota’s restraint was likely purposeful, even if the reason why wasn’t immediately clear. I can agree here; there were definitely connections and events I’d been rooting for (love when a book makes you root for things!), and yet I also think what we were ultimately given did quite a bit of work.

Pick this one up if you’re a sucker for a love story and/or interested in reading more historical fiction set in India.