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Archive for the 'Bangladesh' Category

WoWasis book review: ‘A Golden Age’: Bangladeshi fiction from Tahmina Anam

The Bangladeshi War of Independence of 1971 forms the backdrop of a plethora of novels from that country, and Tahmina Anam’s A Golden Age (2007, ISBN 978-0-06-14787-1) is no exception. The book won a Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best First Book. It’s a coming of age tale, involving the evolution of a mother from a […]

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WoWasis banned book review: ‘Lajja (Shame)’: Bangladeshi fiction from Taslima Nasrin

Given that the nation of Bangladesh changed from a secular state to an Islamic country via a constitutional amendment, it’s easy to see why this book has been banned. Taslima Nasrin’s Lajja (Shame) (1993, ISBN 978-014-024-0511) is a strong indictment of the Islamic movement that made pariahs of its Hindu population. This is historical novel […]

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WoWasis book review: ‘Galpa: Short Stories by Women from Bangladesh’

Bangladesh can boast a number of exceptional women writers, and Galpa: Short Stories by Women from Bangladesh (2012, ISBN 984-32-2931-2), edited by Firdous Azim and Niaz Zaman, contains short stories written by 27 of them. As with any collection of this size (273 pages), the work can sometimes be spotty, but the editors noted the […]

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WoWasis book review: ‘Killing the Water,’ Bangladeshi stories by Mahmud Rahman

Bangladeshi writer Mahmud Rahman knows his Boston. And Providence and Oakland as well. He’s lived in all three places, got a writing degree from Oakland’s Mills College, and in his book Killing the Water (2010, ISBN 978-014-306-5036), he explores the somewhat murky, yet romantic and fascinating world of a Bangladeshi trying to make his way […]

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WoWasis book review: ‘New Age Short Stories,’ Bangladeshi fiction edited by Niaz Zaman

Niaz Zaman is a formidable editor. In her collection New Age Short Stories (2006, ISBN 984-8715-02-9), she’s compiled twenty-seven stories over 237 pages. Nearly all of them are top-notch, and they all are compelling. These aren’t ‘New Age’ in the western sense: New Age is the name of the Bangladeshi newspaper that originally printed these […]

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WoWasis book review: ‘Short Takes: Stories from Bangladesh’ by Tanvir Malik

Like a cranky Bangladeshi locomotive, author Tanvir Malik’s Short Takes: Stories from Bangladesh (2010, ISBN 978-93-80154-40-4) takes a while to get started and gain momentum. Here at WoWasis, we found that this collection of eighteen stories over 136 pages doesn’t get its sea legs until the fourth story, Veil Over Eyes, takes hold on page […]

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WoWasis book review: ‘Bangladesh: Six Decades (1947-2007)’

We here at WoWasis find the statistics to be chilling. In the Bangladesh Liberation War, an estimated 3 million people were killed, 200,000 women raped. Pakistani troops kept comfort women, many taken from universities. These women gave birth to an estimated 10,000 babies, and eventually Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman suggested that he be listed […]

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WoWasis book shopping review: a superior English bookshop at Dhaka’s international airport in Bangladesh

There’s not a lot to do for international travelers in the departure area of the Hazrat Shahjalal airport in Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka. On top of that, the restrooms are crappy, literally. Most cow pastures are cleaner. This is amazing, given that international flyers, who have the money for plane tickets, presumably, would have learned […]

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WoWasis travel review: Railroads in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh Railway, a principle transportation agency of the country, is a Government – owned and Government – managed organization. It covers a length of 2,855 route kilometers, employing a total of 34,168 regular employees. Watch a video of a Bangladeshi locomotive at the station in Rajshahi. The Bangladesh Railway website isn’t well-developed, but does […]

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WoWasis book review: ‘Vintage Short Fiction from Bangladesh’ by Sagar Chaudhury

Editor  and translator Sagar Chaudhury’s Vintage Short Fiction from Bangladesh (2008, ISBN 984 05 1790 2) is a real labor of love, encompassing thirteen stories in a 140 page book. In addition to the stories, there is a four page glossary that will assist the western reader in understanding many of the terms used by […]

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