The Village
Nikita Lalwani
The Village
Ray, a young British-Asian woman arrives in the afternoon heat of a small village in India. She has come to live there for several months to make a documentary about the place. For this is no ordinary Indian village - the women collecting water at the well, the men chopping wood in the early morning light have all been found guilty of murder. The village is an open prison. Ray is accompanied by two British colleagues and, as the days pass, they begin to get closer to the lives of the inhabitants of the village. And then it feels too close. As the British visitors become desperate for a story, the distinction between innocence and guilt, between good intentions and horrifying results becomes horribly blurred.
3.7 out of 5 based on 8 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
General Fiction |
| Format |
Paperback |
| Pages |
256 |
| RRP |
|
| Date of Publication |
July 2012 |
| ISBN |
978-0670917082 |
| Publisher |
Viking |
| |
Ray, a young British-Asian woman arrives in the afternoon heat of a small village in India. She has come to live there for several months to make a documentary about the place. For this is no ordinary Indian village - the women collecting water at the well, the men chopping wood in the early morning light have all been found guilty of murder. The village is an open prison. Ray is accompanied by two British colleagues and, as the days pass, they begin to get closer to the lives of the inhabitants of the village. And then it feels too close. As the British visitors become desperate for a story, the distinction between innocence and guilt, between good intentions and horrifying results becomes horribly blurred.
Reviews
The Financial Times
Maria Crawford
“Lalwani has produced a thoughtful novel that envelops us in the oppression and beauty of the rural prison, yet resists simplification and stereotypes. Like the documentary process itself, her novel reveals only fragments of its characters – we learn almost nothing of Ray’s background or life in the UK, for example – yet each voice is distinct, believable and stubborn in its refusal to be easily known.”
22/06/2012
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The Guardian
Tishani Doshi
“The Village is a masterclass in compression, zooming in from a wide-angle establishing shot to focus on individual lives. Even though the camp has no perimeter, there's an unnerving sense of constant surveillance. There are at least three levels of "seeing": the villagers who observe the BBC crew; the foreigners with their lenses, prying into local lives; and the prison guards spying on both. Everyone is watching everyone else.”
22/06/2012
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The Independent on Sunday
Kunal Dutti
“This is Lalwani's follow-up to the much-lauded Gifted which was published in 2007. Sharp and uncompromising, it is a ripsnorting read that leaves us wondering where the needle will be pointing at the moment the moral compass is smashed to pieces.”
24/06/2012
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The Observer
Chris Cox
“ Thoughtfully and often beautifully written, The Village is not just about media ethics – it also explores stubborn postcolonial prejudices, and ultimately asks what it means to represent something "real".”
17/06/2012
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The Independent
Arifa Akhbar
“Though Serena is an under-developed character whose cynicism seems one-dimensional, the competitive relationship between her and Ray gives the book its greatest dramatic tension. The moral battle about how best to make the documentary is played out as a personal battle between them. Their later contest to win Nathan's affection might have been unconvincing, given how unimpressive a man he is, had it not been for this psychological showdown between them.”
23/06/2012
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The Times
Kate Saunders
“At first Ray and her two British colleagues are outsiders, but closer association with the prisoners makes the line between innocence and guilt start to look shaky. Lalwani writes with wonderful clarity and intelligence.”
09/06/2012
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The Sunday Times
Francesca Angelini
“Although the BBC infighting becomes tiresome, Lalwani creates a vivid sense of place as she scrutinises media ethics and the clash between western and Asian post-colonial values.”
01/07/2012
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The Daily Telegraph
Lucy Beresford
“Based on her television work filming a real-life rehabilitation prison, Lalwani reveals an authoritative eye for the colours and the camaraderie, but also the hardships and the despair found in rural India. Despite a tiresome surfeit of descriptions of sky, Lalwani’s novel captures well the hunger for self-improvement tinged with a pervasive sense of melancholy.”
07/06/2012
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