Love the Dark Days

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.

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.

*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

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.

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.

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.