Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal –audio
Book Blurb:
Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a “creative writing” course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community. Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected—and exciting—kind.
My Review: 3.5 stars
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows drew me in specifically because of the title and cover. As usual, I dug right in without knowing the story line, however the title revealed much of the plot.
There are two stories threaded in this novel. One about a twentyish Sikh woman that wants to live a more modern lifestyle against her parents’ wishes. She ends up with a English teaching job, which evolves quickly into a creative writing class. This class becomes the vehicle for Punjabi women to unleash their fantasies as most are widowed, thus unwanted and single. Through this class, the women become empowered and begin to stick up for themselves through voice and actions.
The other storyline is about the director of this center where the class is being held. She too is trying to empower herself while simultaneously trying to stunt the class. She’s caught up in her daughter’s mysterious death. Of course, the two stories intersect in ways that surprises all the characters in the book.
This is a cute story in which the reader can learn about the lives of Punjabi women in England. Some still believe in arranged marriages while other adamantly do not. Some learn to take a stand for their gender, while some assume their traditional roles. It’s quite interesting how the logic varies, woman to woman. This a great audio narration to boot.
Quotes I liked:
Perhaps passion and excitement were meant to be secondary to a stable adult life.”
-“You waste everything because you’ve always had everything.”
-“She wondered why men needed all that space when their answers to everything were always ‘no’.”
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