Book Review - A History of Burning by Janika Oza

A History of Burning by Janika Oza is an epic saga that shows the influence of how one event can affect generations to come.  In 1898, Pirbhai was a young impoverished teenage boy who was desperately looking for work to provide for his family.  He came across a merchant that promises him work that will help feed his family.  Little did Pirbhai know that would be working for the British on the East African Railway and that it would be years before he could see his family again. Pirbhai arrives in Africa and realizes that he has to put his morals aside if he wants to survive. He commits a brutal act in the name of survival that will haunt him and his loved ones for years to come.

Pirbhai meets a young woman, Sonal, while looking for work after leaving the railway company. Sonal’s family decides that Sonal and Pirbhai should marry and leave so they can find work somewhere else to send money back home to help provide for her family. Pirbhai and his wife move to Uganda to start a new life together. Their children are born during the tumultuous days of the waning British colonial rule. The country is moving towards independence from the British along with the countrymen pushing out the Asian people that the British brought.

Pirbhai’s daughters come of age during the time when the nation is divided. His eldest daughter, Latika is an aspiring journalist. She is willing to stop at nothing to defend what she believes in even if it puts her loved ones in danger. His middle daughter, Mayuri, has left Uganda to pursue becoming a medical doctor in India. She was hesitant to put her ambitions before her family and leave the country. His youngest fearless daughter, Kiya, is burdened by keeping her and her family’s secrets.

In 1972, Idi Amin’s military dictatorship passed a mandate that required all Asian families to leave the country or face dire consequences. The entire family is forced to flee and ends up in different parts of the world from each other. Will they be able to find their way to each other?

The book is told from across multiple perspectives and generations throughout the twentieth century. We are able to see how one decision made by Pirbhai shaped the lives of his kin. I thought the book was an interesting and spell binding read. As it was told from multiple perspectives, it was hard trying to keep track of the different narratives and how they related to the story.

There were times that I felt that the story dragged and then there were times I wish more details were given. We learn how Pirbhai ends up in Africa and commits a sinful act but then some time passes before he crosses paths with Sonal. I wish they mentioned why he left and why he lost a part of his finger.  It seems that he became a shell of a person between the two events occurring. The ending was a bit ambiguous and I wish they told us if the two characters did connect in the end.

The books had themes of forgiveness, finding a place to call home, how far someone would go for something they believe in and starting over. It was interesting seeing the role “fire” played in each character’s life and how they had their own moment of reckoning.