Jan 28

Jan 28 The Bandit Queens

Author: Parini Shroff
Publisher: Ballentine
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

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

Geeta's no-good husband disappeared five years ago. She didn't kill him, but everyone thinks she did—no matter how much she protests.

But she soon discovers that being known as a "self-made" widow has some surprising perks. No one messes with her, no one threatens her, and no one tries to control (ahem, marry) her. It's even been good for her business; no one wants to risk getting on her bad side by not buying her jewelry.

Freedom must look good on Geeta, because other women in the village have started asking for her help to get rid of their own no-good husbands...but not all of them are asking nicely.

Now that Geeta's fearsome reputation has become a double-edged sword, she must decide how far to go to protect it, along with the life she's built. Because even the best-laid plans of would-be widows tend to go awry.

TL;DR Review

The Bandit Queens is a smart, darkly funny novel about a community of women who team up to kill their abusive husbands. It’s equal parts delightful and devastating.

For you if: You like books that manage to tackle hard topics with humor.

Full Review

The Bandit Queens was such a delight! But also poignant and smart. I really enjoyed it.

The main character is an Indian woman named Greeta, whose husband took off without a word five years ago. Everyone thinks she killed him, despite her protests. She’s a bit lonely but enjoys her freedom, until another woman from her loan group asks Greeta to help her kill her husband, who’s abusive to her and her children. Things spiral from there.

There was actually once a real-life Bandit Queen, whose real name was Phoolan Devi. She was a Robin Hood–like figure who killed her own abusers, and later became an activist and member of Parliament. In this novel, Greeta romanticizes Phoolan’s life and takes inspiration from her, which I thought was clever and interesting.

This book is chock full of dark humor and uses it as a way to critique very terrible things, like severe abuse (physical and sexual), casual cruelty, caste and racial discrimination, patriarchy, and more. It’s almost a comedy of errors. At the same time, it’s a celebration of women’s resilience and strength, and the role friendship and community play in that. It takes a smart author to pull that off, and Shroff is more than up to the task.

Give this a read!!