Meatless Days

Not only is Meatless Days a gem in the miniscule canon of Pakistani literature in English, it is a treat for readers of the postcolonial experience the world over. It is highly recommended.


Eloquent, Irreverent and Provocative   July 3, 1998
Saleem Ali (Vermont, USA)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

Sara Suleri's command on the English language is of course quite clear from the first page. She is among the few contemporary writers who dare to use difficult words without feeling apologetic about looking 'prententious." Bravo! Of course the words are used very appropriately as well. We need a revival of good English usage -- after all what's the point of testing kids on SATs.

Among South Asian writers she is a rare breed to balance a love for their homeland with candid criticism (unlike the much too celebrated Rushdie or Roy). She is an intellectual in the highest tradiation -- it is no wonder that a University Press published this book instead of some market-frenzied publishing house.

I disagree with some of her irreverent portrayal of Muslim society and traditional values but that is all tempered by the sardonic cadence of the work.

Hope you will write a novel as well.


One of the best-written books I have read   June 12, 1999
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I looked briefly at the one-star reviews of this book, and for a moment wondered if they had read a different book. This book was wonderful. I read it at the end of a several-month visit to India, while I was in Calcutta. Having read and written (in university and during my visit) about other contemporary authors dealing with the subcontinent's history and weaving it together with their personal histories in novels, essays, and other works--Rushdie, Seth, Desai, etc.--I still found Suleri utterly original and provacative. One of these reviews uses the word 'incomprehensible'; Suleri's articulate and sometimes absolutely perfect sentences are much less deserving of the term than the review itself. Read it again--you missed something.


Complex, but very rewarding   January 19, 2003
Ken Lee (Singapore Singapore)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I spent an entire week on Meatless Days, having picked it up after reading one of the book's chapters in an anthology of Indian writing. As a teenager, I'd just like to share my views about the book. Do note that it wasn't part of any required reading list, so I wasn't forced to complete it, nothing like that.
Calling it her memoirs might not be completely accurate, because Ms Suleri has stated that not everything in the book actually happened, ie she did make up some of the events. However, she does insist that the language is a true reflection of the way in which she thinks, and speaks. If she is to believed, I think that makes her quite an extraordinary woman. Of all the Sub-Cont. writers whom I've read, no other writer quite matches up to the complexity of her language, and the intricacy with which she readily assembles metaphors for largely universal concepts such as 'the enigma of arrival' (to borrow a Naipaulian title) and gender in the Indian/Pakistani home.
Her writing is a joy to 'decode', and it really amazed me how she often drops hints of a certain image early in a chapter only to develop it beautifully many paragraphs later. I found myself intrigued by her style. This is a book that requires, and deserves utmost concentration in the reading. Missing out on a single conceit might render whole sentences incomprehensible to the less-attentive reader. I actually plan to re-read Meatless Days, just to enjoy it from the perspective of someone who has already made initial acquaintance. I do recommend re-reading it to most who've have the opportunity to finish this book once.
I also enjoyed Ms Suleri's fresh, and often satirical insights to such things as deaths, mourning, religion, and family. She certainly does put across her arguments very interestingly, and evocatively. There is a paragraph in which she cannot locate the graves of her mother and Ifat, and decides to leave the cemetery altogether, because she doesn't want to disrupt them from their restful peace. Not something that the reader might agree with, but the beauty of the book is that nothing is forced down the reader's throat. Ms Suleri certainly doesn't come across as someone who is philosophising at all.
Very highly recommended!


Too academic   October 13, 2000
5 out of 25 found this review helpful

This has got to be one of the most difficult books to read. It was like swimming through a river of debris. Now and then there would be some clarity in her prose. Overall, it was way too obtuse for my taste.