BROOKE’S REVIEW

Shobha Rao’s novel, Girls Burn Brighter, is an evocative novel that is as beautifully written as its beautiful cover is. This searing novel tells the story of two friends, Poornima and Savitha, whose friendship spans years and continents.

These women meet as young girls in their Indian village and become as close as sisters. They find in each other someone who cares for them, and in Savitha, Poornima admires the fire and fierceness that burns within her, despite the poverty that surrounds her.

When an act of violence disrupts their childhood, the pair is fractured, and Poornima is left chasing Savitha across the globe. During her journey, she also comes to terms with finding her own identity as well outside of her male-dominated society.

Add this one to your TBR pile. It's coming out in early March.

PRAISE

“Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao blew my heart up. Heart-shards everywhere. I am in awe of the warmth and humanity in this book, even as it explores some incredibly dark places. I’m going to be thinking about Girls Burn Brighter for a while, and you’re going to be hearing a lot about it.” —Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky

“Enchanting… The resplendent prose captures the nuances and intensity of two best friends on the brink of an uncertain and precarious adulthood… An incisive study of a friendship’s unbreakable bond.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

AUTHOR

Shobha Rao moved to the United States from India at the age of seven. She is the winner of the 2014 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction, awarded by Nimrod International Journal. She has been a resident at Hedgebrook and is the recipient of the Elizabeth George Foundation fellowship. She is the author of the short story collection An Unrestored Woman, and her story “Kavitha and Mustafa” was chosen by T.C. Boyle for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories 2015. She lives in San Francisco.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

"'You fool,' she cried again, and heard the girl whimper. What a fool you are, she thought, fuming. What fools we all are. We girls. Afraid of the wrong things, at the wrong times. Afraid of a burned face, when outside, outside waiting for you are fires you cannot imagine. Men, holding matches up to your gasoline eyes. Flames, flames all around you, licking at your just-born breasts, your just-bled body. And infernos. Infernos as wide as the world. Waiting to impoverish you, make you ash, and even the wind, even the wind. Even the wind, my dear, she thought, watching you burn, wiling it, passing over you, and through you. Scattering you, because you are a girl, and because you are ash."

***

Girls Burn Brighter stayed with me between chapters, reading times, and definitely between consciousness. It affected my dreams and daylight hours.

Poornima and Savitha became friends at a young age in India. Both were from low castes, weavers. Savitha worked for Poornima's family for a time, and then a sexual assault left her reeling. She fled, and the remainder of the book is their journey to find one another--crossing cultural barriers, ethical standards, and entire continents.

The plot is a testament to female endurance and commitment to one's chosen friends. The book is a great representation of what women will do for one another, often in spite (sometimes because) of terrifically tragic circumstances. The book is sectioned into multiple chapters from the POV of each young woman, beginning with Poornima; it teeter-totters back and forth until the end.

While it is a feminist book, it does not represent men well. I need to note this not because it bothered me but because it may affect some readers. One father is horrid; the other is kind. Most men who have positions of authority are represented quite badly and are often yoked with uncouth and unethical sexual motives. On that same end, not very many female characters are represented with any kind of real strength, only Poornima and Savitha for the majority of the text (the POV of the book lends itself to this, of course).

Overall this was a powerful read and I highly recommend it. Read over the Christmas season, it definitely broadened my perspective on my life and advantages. The writing itself was powerful, too, and there are several sections I highlighted, one of which begins this review.

Girls Burn Brighter is a compelling and heart-wrenching tale about the friendship of two impoverished girls in India. The ordeals they face are horrifying and at times hard to read, but the hope these girls cling to and their determination to survive kept me turning the pages. I won’t forget Poornima or Savitha any time soon.

A lyrical and gripping story of two girls who find extraordinary comfort in their friendship, and their admirable and unfathomable hope as they search for each other through the darkest of circumstances.

This is a powerful devastating book. In simple but beautiful poetic prose, Rao tells the story of two impoverished Indian girls, Poornima and Savitha. who become entangled in each other as and in the harsh world that recognizes girls only as necessary cogs in the wheel of life and treats them even more harshly. Unimaginable cruelty amidst the unimaginable realities of the slave trade - for it is nothing less than that - send the two, separated for years, into a hunt - a hunt for freedom, for dignity, for life, for one another. I could not put this book down and yet I did not want it to end. It will stay with me for a very long time.

A powerful story which will break your heart, reading about Poormina and Savitha, two Indian girls facing a society stacked against them. Although emotionally challenging to get through this powerful novel, the strength of these two women as they face the most terrible indignities, forced into lives they could not have foreseen, while holding on to their love and friendship, will move you to tears. Highly recommend.