30 — Friday, November 5, 1999 — North Shore News
a

Novel’s sexi

From Page 17

the guide, will go into great detail about their sex lives but
just don’t ask them about their income. That’s taboo.

“The myth prevails chat there is no class system in the
U.S,” she’ says. This seif-employed systems analyst with an
MBA and a background in radio broadcast, seems far

‘removed from the women she writes about.

‘Today, the sari has been replaced by pants and a shirt. Her
hair is short. Her hearty laugh is in evidence when she con-
cedes the contradictions of her character: “Here I am a com-
puter person and I’ni supposed to get mystical.” It was not

.. Simply mysticisriy she explored in the three years she spent

» «chained to her desk writt F. an a ‘

2 he sexism in the novel is provocative and bound to ran-
‘Kle. Women surrender their bodies, their desires and occasion-

WW. yOu treat women and what you do in your home: How
t feople within the home then extends outwards to

The result was blecdy ethnic cleansing. This novel does
Not spare the vcader the gory details. At one point a husband .
stands numbly over the body of his wife. She has been dis-
membered, her womb ripped out. Religious and racial preju-
dice becomes very human. .

“From my standpoint as a Canadian citizen, a resident of
North America, I really feel that the cautionary tale that is
being told in this book is that of partition for Canada, is that
of separation of church and state for the U.S.A. As soon as
religion begins voting in your life, as soon as, for example,
George Bush walks out with his arm around Billy Graham in

order to sanctify the 1991 invasion of Kuwait, what is thar? Ic

is politics asking religion to bless it. As soon as you start
doing that you are asking for the same kinds of divisions that |
led to the partition of India.” 0 0S .

The linguistic differences between Muslims, Hindus and
Sikhs should strike a chord with Canadians. Baldwin notes
that before partition many people were multilingual.
Following the religious/political turmoil, people “stridently

tried to become monolingual.” -

Asa former bil.ngual resident of Toronto she recalls the
selective blindness people had to evidence of French language.
_ “When you start to denigrate another language you are deni- :

sword for the honour of their family, but it is
education for non-Indian readers.
.. If you can overlook the thin‘characte

- Festivaly:

2

Granville:

Island. borel daring

ke place: on
he Wriiser'