History of Burning

I didn't realise just how deeply A History Of Burning would draw me into its portrayal of one unfortunate family's history. Spanning about a century, it follows Pirbhai's descendants' lives from when his forced expatriation from India sees him starting again in Uganda, to the time when Idi Amin's expulsion of Ugandan Indians saw the relatives scattered around the world, starting over yet again. What struck me deeply, as it is mentioned at the relevant points, was how much each of these migrations was as a result of British meddling. Our railroad building program took Pirbhai from his home. Our funding of Amin's coup resulted in his descendants' being exiled. Reading A History Of Burning at a time of yet more anti-migrant Stop The Boats rhetoric, I couldn't help but recognise just how much refugee misery is a direct result of British colonialism and arrogance, an attitude which is still disappointingly firmly entrenched in our society.

I loved Janika Oza's clear, yet emotional prose and how beautifully she depicts each of her characters. Four generations of a family results in a fair number of characters for a reader to keep track of, yet I never found myself struggling to recall who was who or how they were related. The historical narrative blends so well with the personal that the whole novel kept me completely engaged, becoming more engrossed the more I read. Of course this is ultimately a sad tale, but it is not one without hope and the sheer determination of these characters to pick themselves up and start over is humbling. They shouldn't need to keep repeating such a destructive cycle, but they do and they succeed. At times I was reminded of The Book Of Queens by Joumana Haddad, another multi-generational family novel of forced migration, albeit in the Middle East.

A History Of Burning is a brilliant novel and one which I highly recommend to readers of family sagas and historical fiction.

"A History of Burning" is a sweeping family drama that takes place between the 1890s and 1990s. It is a fascinating, finely rendered tale of Indians who migrate from their country to Africa, then England and Canada.

The story begins with the family's origins in Africa, when in 1898 a young Pirbhai is tricked into boarding a boat to Kenya to help build the railway from the sea to Victoria Lake. From there, we follow his life and the life of his descendants as they build relationships, flourish, flounder, bend with changes, and see themselves through it all by clinging to each other.

More than the history of one family, the novel is a history of British colonialism in the 20th century and the real impacts of that regime on families and communities. I enjoyed spending time with Pirbhai, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and anticipated returning to the book each time I was force to take a break for work or sleep. The only criticism I would offer was that, as opposed to the time spend reading about the family as they lived in Uganda, the later time in England and Canada (especially where concerned the great-grandson) felt a little rushed and denied the reader the final emotional beat that would have felt so satisfying (however saccharine).