Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club Pick A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls.Every woman has a secret life . . .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 … 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.
As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community’s “moral police.” But when the widows’ gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife—a modern woman like Nikki—and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.
more
The book has some suspense and some romance. I especially enjoyed the widows growing in independence and self-confidence. I did listen to the book and liked the accents of the narrator as well.
I love reading books by Indian writers and have had a long fascination with Bollywood, so I couldn’t wait to crack open this book by Balli Kaur Jaswal. It was a great read and I couldn’t put it down. The author does a wonderful job in describing Punjabi culture and giving the reader an insight into the thoughts and lives of the Punjabi women. Very well done.
I enjoyed the concept of this book very much and discovering a hidden pocket of people I knew nothing about.
It was an easy and fun read, although not “hilarious” or really that “erotic.” I would have liked more of an emotional connection to the characters and thought the section from the mother’s point of view wasn’t really necessary.
But for big stars for a very clever idea.
This was my favorite read of 2018!
4.5 stars for this unexpected delight of a story. I don’t read erotic books. I don’t read stories with pictures of half-naked men on the cover. I steer clear of anything that seems to be mainly about sex. It’s not that I’m a prude, it’s the fact that a certain ridiculously popular book for middle aged women featuring an abusive man that everyone swooned over because he was rich kind of ruined my view of any erotic books.
Still, this was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and I love most of what the book club picks. I was hesitant that the book would be all erotic stories, but I was pleasantly surprised. There was not too many and for the most part, they were tastefully done. (There was one or two that I completely skimmed over…mostly because I was on the beach and the kids were trying to read over my shoulder.)
This book was also informative and thought provoking. In addition, I learned a lot about a culture of people that I have often come in contact with in my own job, but knew very little about.
Nikki is a young Indian woman living in London. Her parents were not tremendously traditional, but her mother still has qualms about her moving out and living on her own after her father dies unexpectedly following an argument with her about dropping out of law school. Her sister is looking for an arranged marriage at the same time (which seemed more like eHarmony or one of those other dating sites rather than what I had thought was an arranged marriage, but what do I know…) and her mother’s emotions range from fearful for Nikki’s safety, to guilting Nikki for “abandoning” her on a regular basis (almost like an Italian mother…there’s constants in every culture it seems).
Needless to say, Nikki is feeling conflicted about her life and her future, guilt featuring prominently in her thoughts. In the process of hanging a flyer on an arranged marriage board in the Indian temple for her sister, she finds a job (and a man, but he is more of a secondary story in this book). Nikki meets Kulwinder who is running the classes. Kulwinder instantly dislikes Nikki, but it’s slim pickings for a teacher for the class so she hires her. Nikki thinks she will be teaching Punjabi widows how to pen their memoirs, but it turns out, these widows can’t even read or write English except for one who is in her thirties. She tries to teach them basic English, but it’s an abysmal failure. Instead, they resort to telling stories…stories that make Nikki blush…stories that fill a void in the lives of these widows. No one thinks of older women as being sensual or having any needs besides basic ones, but these widows knocked that theory right out of the park.
The way they have lived their lives, sometimes downright oppressively, angered me. Why should they be deprived of what men consider their right? Why shouldn’t they experience everything they can? They lived vicariously through the stories they tell (and some experiences that they were too afraid to admit they had), but the class can have serious repercussions for them in the Pujabi community, as Nikki soon discovers.
There are many restrictions on these widows and many secrets in their community that the class indirectly threatens to expose, putting Nikki and some of the other women in grave danger.
This week’s#2MinBookReview is the buzzy Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows. I realize this is kind of an unusual book for a Christian fiction author, but I’ve had so many people give it the side-eye lately, I thought I’d review it. Keep in mind that I tend to read pretty widely so conservative readers should use their best judgement.
See the whole review at: https://youtu.be/xLyVQzRZFww
not what I was expecting—–but I did like the book and yes—-some of the stories by older women were very erotic——and many were from their imagination—-amazing book that introduced me to a country that I had very little about—-but I did recommend it for my book club—–
Funny and insightful into a culture that is new to me.
I enjoy a well written book that gives me insight into a culture I might otherwise never have learned about, and this one did just that.
Fun read!
Thoughtful and interesting story, different than everything else
A delightful story of friendship, love, and female empowerment. I stayed up far too late finishing this one.
Meh. I read it to the end, but was disappointed by the formulaic plot.
Unexpected story, very real and funny.
Unlikely – but fun to read.
The book was an easy read but the characters and their relationships could have been more fully developed
An enjoyable look at a group of “suppressed” women who were not without imagination and bravery. Some times great fun. Other times very sad.
So so unique.
You should have a box for trash!
interesting. Fun to read. Good characters