Title: Karma
Author: Cathy Ostlere
# Of Pages: 528
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: March 31, 2011
Level: Young Adult
Rating: 3 Hearts
Synopsis
(From Amazon.com)
It is 1984, and
fifteen-year-old Maya is on her way to India with her father. She carries with
her the ashes of her mother, who has recently committed suicide, and arrives in
Delhi on the eve of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination - one of the
bloodiest riots in the country's history.
Then Maya is
separated from her father and must rely upon the help of a mysterious,
kindhearted boy, Sandeep, to safely reunite them. But as her love for Sandeep
begins to blossom, Maya will have to face the truth about her painful
adolescence . . . if she's ever to imagine her future.
My Verdict
Karma is definitely
the most complex and thought provoking novel-in-verse I’ve read to date.
Set in 1984 the story starts in Canada but the majority of
it takes place in India. The story focuses on fifteen-year-old Maya who is half
Hindu, half Sikh. Her parents wed against both families’ wishes and both of
their beliefs.
After Maya’s mother commits suicide, her and her father
travel to India to spread her ashes. While there, terror rocks the nation when
the Prime Minister is murdered and all chaos breaks loose. Sikhs are now being
hunted down and brutally murdered.
Caught up in the middle of this bloody massacre, Maya’s
father abandon’s her to find help. Scared and alone, Maya is forced to try and
survive on her own, find her father, and make it back home.
Cathy’s use of free verse and poetic way with words made for
a beautifully told story, with descriptions that could take your breath away. I
found myself tucking little scraps of paper into pages as I read marking my
favorite passages.
“The pilot steers along ribbons of light. Green
polar flames rippling in the dark. Long silken
scarves floating on the air. It’s like watching the
“I stand up. Stretch my arms out wide to the
empty horizon. Do not be afraid of limitless
possibilities. The desert is infinite to the eye
as love is to the heart.”
“The dream-sky is perfect black. The moon in shadow like a
shy girl hiding behind her mother’s skirt. Yet the
atmosphere hums. Then pulses with light. The pilot
strings the stars together with green ribbons.”
The story is told from the perspectives of three different
personal journals; Maya’s diary, Sandeep’s notebook, and Jiva’s journal.
The thing that bothered me most was that many of the
characters had multiple names, which got confusing at times. I’m not sure if
one was the name and one was the word for mother or father? I’m not really
sure, all I know is it was confusing.
- Maya/Jiva
- Leela/Mata
- Amar/Bapu
- Pavarti/Deedi
- Sandeep/Miraj
- Barindra/Pita
- Amma/Mina
The other thing that threw me off at times was the use of
different fonts and italics to indicate conversation and dialog, leaving me
unsure if some things were being spoken or just thought.
While the first half of the book flew by as the momentum
built, the story really started to slow down in the second half and you could
really feel those last 250 pages.
Objectionable content warning: There are a number of
instances with upsetting and brutal violence that would be too much for young
readers.
