検索キーワード： 著者 "Geetanjali Shree" すべてのカテゴリー

Eighty-year-old Ma slips into a deep depression after the death of her husband. Despite her family’s cajoling, she refuses to leave her bed. Her responsible eldest son, Bade, and dutiful, Reebok-sporting daughter-in-law, Bahu, attend to Ma’s every need, while her favorite grandson, the cheerful and gregarious Sid, tries to lift her spirits with his guitar. But it is only after Sid’s younger brother—Serious Son, a young man pathologically incapable of laughing—brings his grandmother a sparkling golden cane covered with butterflies that things begin to change.

In an unnamed city in India, violence is erupting between Hindus and Muslims, each side viewing the other with suspicion, rage, and blame. As their identities sharpen, friends and colleagues turn against each other. Hospital beds fill up and classrooms empty out. Curfews are imposed. Residents flee en masse. Three intellectuals find themselves paralyzed by anxiety and fear. The only one left to bear witness is the novel’s unnamed narrator, who hurries to transcribe everything that’s happening.

In this beautifully crafted novel, roofs have a special place; they are meant for wild things, for romance and for play, they are places to dry pickles and grains while exchanging gossip about quiet caresses. But above all, they are realms of freedom. In The Roof Beneath their Feet, Chachcho and Lalna use their roofs to build a friendship that transcends time and memory. Suddenly one day, Lalna has to leave, to return only after Chachcho's passing.