KARMA – A verse novel by Cathy Ostlere

            

Published by PENGUIN GROUP/PUFFIN Canada and RAZORBILL U.S.

Razorbill/U.S. ISBN-13: 978-15951433 


Puffin Canada ISBN-13: 978-0670064526

An impossible first love,

a girl caught between two worlds,

and a country on the verge of chaos.

On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi is gunned down by two Sikh bodyguards. The murder sparks riots in Delhi and for three days Sikh families are targeted and killed in retribution for the Prime Minister’s death. It is into this chaos that fifteen-year-old Maya and her Sikh father, Amar, arrive from their home in Canada. India’s political instability is the backdrop and catalyst for Maya’s awakening to the world. KARMA is the story of how a young woman, straddling two cultures and enduring personal loss, learns forgiveness, acceptance and love.

According to Cathy, KARMA is the organic result of three years work, over 300 poems and two trips to India.  On the author’s website she retells the story of her introduction to India.  My recent experience in rural Timor with the curious crowds is nothing compared to Cathy’s experience with mobs of people in India.

I also found it interesting that the author was actually traveling in India a week before and a week after Indira Gandhi’s murder and the violent aftermath.  At the time, Cathy’s love affair with the country was severely tested. She has said that if she was ever going to set a novel in India, her characters would have to face the brutality, racism, and superstitious beliefs of the nation. Maya, the main character, does just this.  According to Cathy, “KARMA takes not only the reader on an incredible journey across a passionate country but the writer too, offering her an opportunity to fall in love with India once again.”

I have never been to India and knew almost nothing of the country’s history, before I read KARMA.  In fact, the only thing I was certain I knew about India was that I loved butter chicken and the result of eating too much…loose motions as it is referred to in KARMA ;). But I didn’t know anything about the events that took place in 1984.

This novel is not only an entertaining read but provides a historically accurate account of one of the bloodiest massacres in India’s modern history.  Despite the dark subject matter, the author’s poetic language, vivid descriptions, and captivating story line offers the reader a beautiful non-stop adventure through India.

When I first heard about the novel I was a little apprehensive to pick it up.  It’s labeled for young adults and written in free verse.  But from the first chapter it is evident that this novel will appeal to a much larger and older audience.  And I barely even realized that I was reading poetry until I had to stop and re-read a phrase because it was so beautifully written.

KARMA took me through a range of emotions.  I experienced fear, devastation, fury, and heartbreak with the main character Maya and the people of India.  But it is not all sad.  I laughed, rolled my eyes, and experienced the first-love thrills when Maya meets Sandeep.  The introduction of Sandeep’s character offers a relief  from the horror and sadness that Maya, and vicariously the reader, is experiencing.  (Without giving anything away, the introduction of a nomad’s son Sandeep, is well timed to create some comic relief for the reader.)

For those of you who have not read Cathy’s first book or seen the play Lost - A Memoir, you will read past page 358 without stopping. But for those of you who have read Lost, you might notice a very small reference to it.

KARMA by Cathy Ostlere will be released on March 31^st – just in time for national poetry month - so do yourself a favour and grab a copy.

As travellers know, it is common practice to share and trade books with each other as we move through a country.  Because of this significant title I hope to start a “Where will you take Karma” tradition by passing my author signed copy on.  I am hoping that other readers will be as moved by Karma as I was and will help this novel travel the world - but not before taking a picture with the book sending it to Cathy. I hope that no matter where YOU are in the world when you read Karma – that you will do the same.

For more information on the author and her debut YA novel Karma please visit cathy-ostlere.com or contact her on facebook.com/cathyostlere or email author@cathy-ostlere.com.

Thanks for visiting :)

-  Tori