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ninetalevixen 's review for:
The Night Diary
by Veera Hiranandani
3.5 stars.
As a middle grade novel — the main character is 12, so the letters / journal entries that make up the narration has a simplicity of syntax and thought process — I felt this captured the feeling of being a young person and mostly-but-not-entirely understanding what is going on in the world around you. To be fair, Nisha's world is mostly limited to her family: Papa, Dadi (her grandmother), Amil (her twin brother), and Kazi (their cook); the division of India and Pakistan affects her life, of course, but in a sort of detached way where the cause and effect feel disconnected: the leaders of the country decided newly-independent India should become two countries, Pakistan and India, and they live in the part that is now Pakistan which is meant for Muslims, and Papa and Dadi are Hindu, and people are attacking each other, and it's not safe. So they have to cross the border into the new India.
Seeing the world through the eyes of a child (because despite how grown-up Nisha professes herself to be, as an older reader I want to wrap her up in blankets and sit in companionable silence) is always such a wonder-filled experience. The smell and color and texture of spices in the mortar and pestle, the sound of her brother yelling at play, the fear and confusion when violence erupts — it's all so vivid and you can experience it all alongside her. My mouth watered with all the cooking scenes (by the way, there's a glossary in the back for those unfamiliar with Indian cuisine and vocabulary); my heart pounded when things went sideways for their family. And I really felt Nisha's frustration at not being to express herself: although there's no official diagnosis of social anxiety or selective mutism (this is a work of historical fiction, after all), there are several scenes where Nisha struggles to speak out loud to anyone other than her brother, which is an apt representation of the powerlessness some young people feel in the face of adult authority and external circumstances.
The story itself can be split into a few distinct sections with some transition in between, which makes it easy to follow and balances out the complex themes which are more implicit than explained. This isn't bad, in fact I think it's characteristic of middle grade; it's just different from what I usually read, so I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. But I did enjoy reading it.
content warnings:
rep:
As a middle grade novel — the main character is 12, so the letters / journal entries that make up the narration has a simplicity of syntax and thought process — I felt this captured the feeling of being a young person and mostly-but-not-entirely understanding what is going on in the world around you. To be fair, Nisha's world is mostly limited to her family: Papa, Dadi (her grandmother), Amil (her twin brother), and Kazi (their cook); the division of India and Pakistan affects her life, of course, but in a sort of detached way where the cause and effect feel disconnected: the leaders of the country decided newly-independent India should become two countries, Pakistan and India, and they live in the part that is now Pakistan which is meant for Muslims, and Papa and Dadi are Hindu, and people are attacking each other, and it's not safe. So they have to cross the border into the new India.
Seeing the world through the eyes of a child (because despite how grown-up Nisha professes herself to be, as an older reader I want to wrap her up in blankets and sit in companionable silence) is always such a wonder-filled experience. The smell and color and texture of spices in the mortar and pestle, the sound of her brother yelling at play, the fear and confusion when violence erupts — it's all so vivid and you can experience it all alongside her. My mouth watered with all the cooking scenes (by the way, there's a glossary in the back for those unfamiliar with Indian cuisine and vocabulary); my heart pounded when things went sideways for their family. And I really felt Nisha's frustration at not being to express herself: although there's no official diagnosis of social anxiety or selective mutism (this is a work of historical fiction, after all), there are several scenes where Nisha struggles to speak out loud to anyone other than her brother, which is an apt representation of the powerlessness some young people feel in the face of adult authority and external circumstances.
The story itself can be split into a few distinct sections with some transition in between, which makes it easy to follow and balances out the complex themes which are more implicit than explained. This isn't bad, in fact I think it's characteristic of middle grade; it's just different from what I usually read, so I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. But I did enjoy reading it.
content warnings:
Spoiler
racism & religious persecution, violence, pre-narrative death of parent (in childbirth)rep: