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Love the Dark Days

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I didnt know what to expect when I picked this up but wow…what a gripping memoir about Ira Mathur and her dysfunctional family. I love her observations and interactions with her family as she tried to understand them and make sense of their situation. Add on her life experiences on how she left India for Tobago with her family.

I love the raw emotions portrayed by Ira and her family members, particularly the women in her family. She did not shy away from all the drama, the fights and unpleasant words that happened within the family. I also love reading about how why they moved from India to Tobago. It definitely is an eye opening read and doesn’t feel like I am reading a non fiction.

Thank you Netgalley and Peepal Tree Press Ltd for the arc.

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This book is chaotic and seems to suffer from an identity crisis. The beginning really is fascinating, but the author refers to herself as "Dolly" and her account reads more like fiction. Then she transitions away from her family of origin, but leaves many questions unanswered, and switches to a more traditional memoir style. Eventually, she has the opportunity to spend a weekend in Saint Lucia with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. The book then shifts to exploring his life and a play-by-play of the manuscript critique she receives from him. The author abandons the story of her own journey in order to write at length about somebody else. It's confusing and bizarre.

I admittedly really struggled to finish this one.

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Love the Dark Days, by Ira Mathur, the great granddaughter of the Begum of Savanur, is an evocative memoir of her dysfunctional yet privileged family. Spanning across various decades and set in different locations, this candid memoir sheds light on the Empire, migration and life in pre- and post-independence India, Trinidad, St Lucia, Canada and England. Inter-generational trauma, elitism, cultures, religion, domestic abuse and violence are woven intricately into the narration.

In this layered and transcendental memoir, we come across Mathur’s observations of her family members, her interactions with them, her own life experiences, and the stories of her ancestors. Indian-born Trinidadian Mathur digs deep into the past, hoping to trace her family history and find her story.

Love the Dark Days is not just an evocative and surreal memoir of a dysfunctional family, it is also the coming-of-age story of Ira Mathur.

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Love The Dark Days by Ira Mathur
Earc : NetGalley
Publisher: PeePal Tree Press Ltd.
Publication Date:1st September 2022
Genre: Literay Fiction, Biographies and Memoirs

It is uncommon for someone from a partly Indian aristocratic background to come this far, no matter where they may have settled; it is difficult to drive the Indian out of their system, as is quite evident in every chapter of this book, which is brilliantly written by its author. The memoirs of a person reveal the kind of past a person has had.
It is abundantly clear that it speaks the unadulterated truth. Despite how difficult it may have been for Ira to overcome the challenges she encountered along the way, her sincerity, perseverance, and hard work persisted despite the time and effort required.
I have previously read the memoirs of some princesses that are based on a pack of lies and coverups, so this is by no means an easy task for a member of the ruling family of an earlier Indian princely state.
Ira, I am very proud of you for being sincere and taking the risk to write down the real-life events of the past and present with pride, dignity, moderation, and logic.

#NetGalley #bookstagram #bookreview #goodreads #literary fiction #biographiesandmemoirs

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Written as a memoir and yet so much more, this story follows Poppet, a child of mixed Hindu and Muslim religion, who begins childhood living with her sister Angel and Burrimummy (grandmother). It’s a story of growing up unwanted, the prejudices against those seen as inferior, and the struggle to find an identity when no one has prepared her for life. It shows the complexities of flawed generations and the influence seemingly small decisions or actions have. The story shares a poignant look at a life that could have gone a number of ways and the choices the author faced (or had no control over) to end up where she is now. A vivid and fascinating journey that is well-written and plunges you so deeply into scenes sometimes that it is difficult to come back to the present.

I found this story quite difficult to read – for a number of reasons. In the beginning, when we are introduced to Poppet and her situation, it’s hard to understand how people are treated in certain ways or spoken to as they are for things not of their doing. Then, as the story continues, the interactions with Derek Walcott (while I understand help to move the story and explain her motivations) stop the flow of the story every now and then. You’d find yourself immersed in a part and the next chapter, when about Derek Walcott, would bring you out of the era you were in. Then the journey through her moving, college, and marriage left a very sour taste in my mouth – through no fault of her own. The interactions and conversations were heavy, and while there may be some who understand the history and feel the parts were normal, to me the lack of respect threw me and made me feel quite ill for a while after finishing the book. So in that respect, the author has done a tremendous job in getting the reader right into the situations.

Burrimummy was brought across as a character able to be hated and pitied. She was so caught up in her past that she couldn’t see changing times and changing choices and only felt validated by her possessions, connections, and perceived superiority over others. Poppet’s mummy had the redeeming feature of choice – and a backbone to go with it. Otherwise, her reliance on physical looks as validation and constant socialising in dances and visits made for a character without much substance.

Poppet’s struggles through life played on my mind for days. Trying to fit in as a child of mixed religion and where lighter skin than hers is preferred in post-colonial patriarchal India. Trying to fit in in the West Indies where emphasis is placed on different values. Trying to fit in in London in a modern society where she is wholly unprepared to be herself. At times, it even felt as though she was fighting the wrong fights.

The photos at the end of the book helped to cement how the reader envisaged the characters and settings (especially what Burrimummy looked like when she was younger), but what was missing for me though, was the connection between who and where the author is now to the last pieces of information we had. The ending felt rushed and left me asking for more information.

I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this book, and at times I didn’t. But it left something with me. Something that made me hug my family closer, something that made me feel for those whose stories I don’t know, and something that made me motivated to do and be better.

Thank you to Loudhailer Books and NetGalley for a copy of the book to review.

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i was not expecting this could be not bad for a debut book.

i love the drama of this family!!! not that i supported bad things happened to them but dysfunctional thing really stood out. spanning generations over generations, it was bad. mostly these women in this family were trapped under misogynist life. they wanted to live their life freedomly but ended up have to go for arranged marriage and trapped in a loveless marriage as well.

i never read about what had happened to mughals-era family after the collapse of their kingdom and this author's family is one of them. they survived but can no longer ruled India. they had their histories & riches preserved but sometimes some of them just easily flushed them out through gambling which is so sad. tbh there are too many bad blood in this family. it portrayed mother-daughters relationship which was dysfunctional. tbh history of this family is really unique and attractive, burrimummy was surely a good storyteller, i am hooked! but as we are getting to the present day where author connected with derek walcott, i started to feel less interested but the reflections about the family is nice. atm author started to realize how's her family looks like in general and how to write abt her family.

to me, she can write whatever she likes, doesn't really need to follow what her mentor asking to do so. the trauma in this family is so genuine that author herself are very proud of her family despite of the dark days in them.

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Love the Dark Days by Ira Mathur
DNF at 20%

I didn’t realize when I requested this from NetGalley that it is a memoir. This fact made me even more excited to read it. I was intrigued to hear the story of someone growing up in India and the West Indies and going on to become a writer and journalist.

The first 20% can be summed up as “several generations of women being awful to one another.” Lots of uncomfortable conversations that Mathur remembers from childhood from her great-grandmother down to herself that would leave a mark on any child as they are full of vitriol and indifference between mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren. In the portion I read, the author and her sister have basically been abandoned by their parents and are being raised by her grandmother, Burrimummy. Burrimummy makes no secret that she prefers the younger sister, Angel, to the author.

It isn’t the unpleasantness that made me give up the book. Many memoirs are built on painful childhoods and still manage to be touching and poignant. The writing style here is odd. I often felt like I was reading a big run-on sentence, the flow feels very strange.

I try my best to finish books when I’ve been given copies in exchange for an honest review, but I also try to honor my own time when a book is just not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Peepal Tree Press Ltd for the e-galley.

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Love in the Dark Days is a memoir, but its more than a memoir. It’s an feminist oral narrative of the challenges of a female growing up in post-colonial India. The author, Poppet (Journalist Ira Mathur), traces through her own life, and her ancestors the difficulties of women in the Colonial, Patriarchal Indian society. And the difficulties for a female in the post-modern Indian society.

Poppet is bound by her colour (dark where light skinned is desired), her mixed religious background (hindu and muslim), and the fact that she is female. Poppet finds herself sitting uncomfortably wherever she goes, always on the outside looking in. India, West Indies and London. She feels an outsider in her family, in her marriage and in her country and through this novel she tries to make sense of where this dispossession came from.

What Ira does manage to do is paint a colourful picture of her family. The formidable Burriemummy a product of colonialist India, but alienated in the new post-modern society.

This novel is an honest journey through the authors life and soul, which has stayed with me for days afterwards.

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Love the dark days Ira mathur
Mathur does a good job in building the setting. The book provides beautiful descriptions of Post-independence India, in particular the descriptions of clothing, and the saris that the main character’s mother wears were excellent. Additionally the vivid descriptions of food, and fruit found on the street, filled the imagination and transported the reader to the setting. The themes of intergenerational pain and the complexity of mother and daughter relationships really comes out strongly. However, I found the dual timeline distracting, when the plot and characters in the postcolonial timeline seemed to progress and became interesting, the author introduced the modern day timeline, which I found not as interesting as the 1970s. I was not entirely sure of the effectiveness of the dual timeline technique. All in all this is a good text for studying postcolonial literature and themes such as colourism, intergenerational trauma, and mother daughter relationships.

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This is a moving book about family, generational pain and colonialism and how the unseen personal effects ripple on into the future. This book is cleverly nuanced and writes about the complexity of love and brokenness beautifully. I found the history of Mathur's family fascinating and the legacy of pain passed through the generations was very moving. A vivid, colourful glimpse into a wealthy Indian family trying to navigate through eras of change, deconstruction and reconstruction with hope of healing in the end.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

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This book wasn't for me. I have read other books telling family histories before and after India's independence but Mathur jumped too much between different time periods and characters. Unfortunately the characters were not particularly likeable especially the female ones. If my mother and grandmother were like hers I don't think I would want to tell the world about them. In this respect, I found the book too personal. Had it been fiction, it would be more acceptable.
I'm sure many will enjoy this book, but not me.

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*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book!*

"Love The Dark Days" is hard to describe: the story follows Poppet and traces her life, her struggles, but also her family history. Writing about it is about connecting to one's past, one's history, one's family, one's heritage. Poppet is of mixed Hindu-Muslim heritage, the reader learns a lot about post-independence India, but parts of the novel take place in Trinidad and London. It is also a story of colonialism, racism, the Empire. It is a multifaceted, complex story that takes a long time to immerse oneself into, but one is rewarded by the fascinating glimpses into history, into lives and identities, different places. Well written and touching, the photographs at the very end made the entire novel even more personal. No real criticism, but I was a bit confused sometimes, but that's totally on me.

4.5 stars

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The family history in this book was beautifully written, even more so for the unflinching way Mathur examines the trauma and generations of complicated mother-daughter relationships that continue to haunt her lineage. Burrimummy's increasingly futile attempts to grasp at the power and privilege that her wealthy family enjoyed during the colonial era and the power struggle between her and Ira's parents were especially well written.

Unfortunately I think her family's history got bogged down by the extended narration of her various interactions with Derek Walcott and the influence that had on her writing. While I'm sure it was an important part of her process, at times it just felt like an homage to Walcott's career and consequently, out of place. In a less generous light, it could be seen as a reminder of his endorsement of her writing.

I feel like her personal journey in deciding to write the novel and how it affected the way she viewed her past and the relationships she has with her parents, her sister, her own children and her memory of Burrimummy weren't much talked about. The parts about her marriage raised more questions than answers for me, particularly his treatment of her that was hinted at but never really fleshed out. The last few chapters also seemed to lack the finesse of the rest of the book and I felt that there were too many unanswered questions.

Nevertheless, Mathur is a very talented writer and she can turn a beautiful phrasw. It was interesting to read about her experience as an Indian woman living in Trinidad and marrying into an Indo-Caribbean family, living in a country with a large percentage of its population descended from indentured persons brought over from India. Her reflections on her life here and the conflict it stirs in her was one of the highlights of the book.

I wish that there was more emphasis on her and her family and less on Walcott, but if you enjoy reading about Indian culture and history, its certainly got those in spades.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy.

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A beautifully written story of generations of strong women who attempt to make room for themselves in the societies they find themselves part of. It spans more than 80 years and moves from India during the Raj and in the 1960s, the Caribbean (Tobago) during the 1970s and Trinidad during the 1990s. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

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