Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

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of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara Since he had been born, she had considered Jai with a blend of loathing and admiration. It seemed to her that he had a way of softening the imperfections of life with his his daydreams and the self confidence that the world granted boys. Which, in girls, was considered a character flaw or evidence of a dismal upbringing.” Extraordinarily good, deeply moving and thought provoking with brilliant characterisation. A very important book.” —Harriet Tyce, author of Blood Orange You shouldn‘t be trying to sow divisions in this community,“ Papa says, which sounds like something a good newsperson would say on TV.”

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a Careful Study on - WWAC Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a Careful Study on - WWAC

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in March 2020, and has been updated for the Scott Shane's outstanding work Flee North tells the little-known tale of an unlikely partnership ... Discover the“extraordinary” ( The Washington Post)debut novel that“announces the arrival of a literary supernova” ( The New York Times Book Review),“a drama of childhood that is as wild as it is intimate” (Chigozie Obioma). It’s good for the police, right? They don’t have to lift a finger. If anything happens to us, it’s because we did it ourselves. If a TV goes missing from our homes, we stole it. If we get murdered, then we killed ourselves.”

BookBrowse Review

Anappara's] bright, propulsive prose...only accentuates the seriousness of her subject: the disappearance of children from villages in India, a real-life issue given intimate treatment here. I like to spy on other families that are sad like ours because I want to find out if they are doing anything different to stop ghosts from clutching their bones.” But what begins as a game turns sinister as other children start disappearing from their neighborhood. Jai, Pari, and Faiz have to confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force, and rumors of soul-snatching djinns. As the disappearances edge ever closer to home, the lives of Jai and his friends will never be the same again. A moving and confident novel about the preciousness of life. The storytelling is distinctive and immersive Nikesh Shukla, author and editor of The Good Immigrant Set in a basti, or Indian slum, where children have vanished and the police are disinclined to help, the novel follows 9-year-old Jai and his friends as they play detective to try and solve the case. It’s an incredible window on daily life in such a place – the precarity of knowing the authorities could bulldoze your home at any moment, but also the strong family and community bonds that form there. The sights sounds and smells of the basti are vividly evoked as Jai & investigate, and this immersive depiction is really well-balanced to be neither sensationalised nor sugar-coated.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

As Jai’s family watches television, they see news of inconsequential events but nothing on the several missing children from their slum. And the more these disappearances are ignored, the more children go missing. Anappara’s excellent debut novel is written from the POVs of children about children. As an Indian journalist, Anappara covered the deeply disturbing tragedy of children disappearing at the rate of nearly 180 per day. She felt that the personal stories of these children were getting lost amidst the appalling statistics. Thus, she wrote this novel primarily from the POV of Jai. Reality shows on TV are popular in India as it is elsewhere across the world, and the one about cops that Jai watches called Police Patrol is based on a similar, long-running TV show in India. It seemed natural that Jai would be inspired by what he watches on TV; popular culture in the form of TV and Hindi films do exert an influence on daily lives. Anappara also delves into the misogyny and racism that still plague much of India. When 16-year-old Aanchal disappears, the men and women of the basti don't offer her the same compassion as they do the prepubescent abductees. Instead, she is blamed for her own disappearance and labeled randi (whore), based on nothing but gossip and ill-informed rumors. "Her boyfriend is as old as her grandfather...But worse, he's Muslim," one woman comments. "Who knows how many boyfriends a girl like that has?" says another. The Novel Studio published alumni | The Novel Studio". City, University of London . Retrieved 19 May 2023.

a debut novel that is teeming with life despite its deadly subject matter ... Anappara shifts skilfully between different narrative voices throughout her novel ... a masterful eye-opener to the casual cruelties of contemporary India.”— Sarah Gilmartin, The Irish Times Congratulations: Bridport Prize winners revealed". Bridport and Lyme Regis News. 19 October 2017 . Retrieved 1 October 2020. The strength of this novel is the vivid setting of the Indian basti (slum) and surrounding city that 9-year old Jai navigates. It is written as a light-hearted caper featuring Jai imitating a TV detective to find a missing friend. Until more children go missing and it is clear that there is a serious problem, it feels like a middle-grade novel. I ended up skimming the 2nd half. I'm not sure who the intended audience is - but it isn't me. Deepa: I am studying for a Creative-Critical Writing PhD at the moment, as part of which I am working on a historical novel.

An interview with Deepa Anappara – City Short Courses An interview with Deepa Anappara – City Short Courses

We have 6 read-alikes for Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member. Deepa Anappara’s richly textured and delightfully observed debut evokes the sights and sounds of a sprawling Indian city. Every detail rings true... Day-to-day life in the slums has such vitality that you immediately warm to the residents, with their resilience and dry humour Max Davidson, Mail on SundayThe poem wants to know why the moon is sliced in half on some days and why it‘s a circle in other days. The worst thing about the poem is that it doesn‘t answer it‘s own question.”