Best Book of the Year: The Washington Post, NPR, Shelf Awareness, Paste, LitHub, Real Simple 2018 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist: Best Fiction Longlisted for the 2018 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize “Incandescent…A searing portrait of what feminism looks like in much of the world.” –Vogue “A treat for Ferrante fans, exploring the bonds of friendship and how female ambition beats … fans, exploring the bonds of friendship and how female ambition beats against the strictures of poverty and patriarchal societies.” –The Huffington Post
An electrifying debut novel about the extraordinary bond between two girls driven apart by circumstance but relentless in their search for one another.
Poornima and Savitha have three strikes against them: they are poor, they are ambitious, and they are girls. After her mother’s death, Poornima has very little kindness in her life. She is left to care for her siblings until her father can find her a suitable match. So when Savitha enters their household, Poornima is intrigued by the joyful, independent-minded girl. Suddenly their Indian village doesn’t feel quite so claustrophobic, and Poornima begins to imagine a life beyond arranged marriage. But when a devastating act of cruelty drives Savitha away, Poornima leaves behind everything she has ever known to find her friend.
Her journey takes her into the darkest corners of India’s underworld, on a harrowing cross-continental journey, and eventually to an apartment complex in Seattle. Alternating between the girls’ perspectives as they face ruthless obstacles, Shobha Rao’s Girls Burn Brighter introduces two heroines who never lose the hope that burns within.
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A haunting tale of two women and the difficult lives they lead.
One of the best books I’ve read in recent memory. I’m recommending to all my friends who love to read. A look into a life you would never see unless it was in a book.
Interesting : characters not my usual backgrounds ( which I seek out) … a back and forth of personalities… interesting but I thought a stretch to pull it together
I loved this book and had to make myself stop reading and go to bed. It’s not a pretty story but hits at reality for these women.
If I didn’t have the rule of finishing every book I start I would not have finished it. It was fine, yet a bit of a downer, until I got to the amputation. After that it was just really out there and frankly very hard to relate to at all. It seemed that the author was trying to think of as many horrible things they could to throw into the plot.
Wow. Just wow. I didn’t want the book to end!
The story of two young girls in India. They developed a friendship and then horrible circumstances pulled them apart.
Despite the fact they both endured harsh living conditions, they never forgot each other. They knew there was light within them and they must find each other.
The story shows the journey of how hard the lives of women of other cultures can be
This is a very good read.
I found it depressing. The ending was very abrupt.
I’m a voracious reader-this book one of the best I’ve read in the last ten years.
This is a powerful and often horrific book about the persistence of the caste system and the status of women in modern-day India. Poormina is the young, motherless daughter of a weaver who constantly demeans his daughter for her lack of beauty and her dark skin. She befriends Savitha, a beautiful young woman of even lower status. Her father is an alcoholic who has driven his family deeper into poverty, forcing her to take a job as a weaver in Poormina’s father’s shop. The girls’ friendship is the sole source of joy in their lives. So it’s no surprise when even this is ripped apart by an act of violence. Their lives take disparate yet equally horrific paths. Savitha leaves her town rather than being forced into marriage with a hated man and, in order to survive, gets caught up in the sex trade–and even worse. Poormina accepts her fate and marries a man with a deformed hand and a cruel family that holds her responsible for everything that displeases them. She, too, becomes a victim of violence and sets out on her own to search for her lost friend.
The suffering of both women is appalling and stomach-churning, but the reader can’t help but admire their strength, cleverness, and persistence. One wonders what they might have achieved in a world where they were seen as equals. In their search for one another, the women cross continents and get the better of the men around them. If I have a criticism of the book, it’s that it relies too much on coincidence, both for suspense and resolution.
Girls Burning Brighter is a story about the friendship between Poornima and Savitha. This story is brutal and heavy. It is about human trafficking and abuse. It’s is the story of two girls that have been beaten down and endured horrific abuse. I almost passed by this book and I’m so glad that I picked it up. I’ve never read a book with the Indian culture and experienced a bit of culture shock but the writing and characters pulled me in from the first page. My emotions were all over the place as I experienced the story through Poornima and Savitha’s eyes. Girls Burning Brighter would be an amazing book club pick not only for the relevance of human trafficking but for the hope that burns within.
“When Poornima first meets Savitha, she feels something she thought she lost for good when her mother died: hope. Poornima’s father hires Savitha to work one of their sari looms, and the two girls are quickly drawn to one another. Savitha is even more impoverished than Poornima, but she is full of passion and energy. But when a devastating act of cruelty drives Savitha away, Poornima leaves behind everything she has ever known to find her friend again. Her journey takes her into the darkest corners of India’s underworld, on a harrowing cross-continental journey, and eventually to an apartment complex in Seattle. Alternating between the girls’ perspectives as they face relentless obstacles, Girls Burn Brighter introduces two heroines who never lose the hope that burns within.”