Book Review: Azadi

Title: Azadi

Author: Arundhati Roy

Publisher: Penguin

Released: 2020

Rating: ★★★★★

The history being peddled by Hindu nationalists … is turned into mythology and mythology into history, has been very ably perforated and demolished by serious scholars. But the tale was never meant for serious scholars. It is meant for an audience that few serious scholars can hope to reach.

Arundhati Roy, “The Graveyard Talks Back”

Arundhati Roy’s collection of essays on the fight for freedom and the rise of fascism in the Indian subcontinent, and the power of language in shaping people’s ideas about the social structures of power is a compelling read. Not only does Roy paint a fierce picture of political struggle but also explores how the language of struggle can play a role in shifting the reading of history itself, and asks whether or not this language will bring separate struggles together, or keep them apart.

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Meet the Author

Myself and my friend Craig Silvey, author of Honeybee and Jasper Jones, at Adelaide Writers’ Week 2021

Hello there! Welcome to my shiny new book blog! My name is Leigh Briar, I’m a 23-year-old lover of all things literary! I’m an emerging writer (meaning I haven’t published a whole lot yet) living on Kaurna land in Adelaide, South Australia. I have loved to read and write more or less for as long as I can remember, immersing myself in all manner of worlds from early childhood, never growing out of that sense of imaginative wonder.

I have been writing more or less since I learned how to hold a pencil. Countless notebooks, writing pads, and sheets of paper stapled together were home to stories of wizards losing their magic wands and children cursed by ancient spirits – now it’s a full Google Drive that holds most of my scribblings narrated by lesbian monster hunters and gruesome fairy tale characters. I’ve also created a handful of zines on the relationship between emotional healing and the written word, with more plans somewhere in that Google Drive. More info on those coming to the blog soon!

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