Hubbry Logo
A BurningA BurningMain
Open search
A Burning
Community hub
A Burning
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
A Burning
A Burning
A Burning
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

A Burning is the debut novel by Indian-born author Megha Majumdar released in June 2020. By December 2020, the novel was on 13 lists of the best books of 2020, according to Literary Hub.[2]

Key Information

Plot

[edit]

Set in Kolkata, India, the novel tells the story of its central character Jivan, a woman who witnesses a terrorist attack on an Indian train while it is stopped in a station.[3] Jivan posts to Facebook the next day, drawing the attention of police who arrest her on suspicion of committing the terrorist attack.[3][4] Following the accusation, her fate hinges upon her former gym teacher, PT Sir, who has become a politician in an Indian right-wing party, and on a hijra actress named Lovely.[5][6]

Background

[edit]

In a 2020 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Majumdar explained the origin of the novel:

I think it came from reading the news and watching what was happening in India. I grew up in India, and my family’s still there. The right wing was ascendant, and communal tensions were being whipped up. [The country] was going in a direction that was really frightening. It’s truly contrary to this ideal of India that we were taught about since we were kids, the country whose plurality and diversity we were taught to celebrate. So I wanted to write about how individuals survive such a societal turn.[4]

Critical reception

[edit]

Ron Charles of The Washington Post wrote Majumdar "demonstrates an uncanny ability to capture the vast scope of a tumultuous society by attending to the hopes and fears of people living on the margins. The effect is transporting, often thrilling, finally harrowing. It’s no wonder this propulsive novel was chosen for the Today Show book club and leaped immediately onto the bestseller list."[7] Grace Z. Li wrote for USA Today, "Majumdar's powerful debut is carefully crafted for maximum impact, carving out the most urgent parts of its characters for the whole world to see."[5] In the Star Tribune, Anjali Enjeti wrote it "is a penetrating exposé about how the possibilities of fame and fortune gradually erode one’s integrity."[8] James Woods wrote in The New Yorker, "Majumdar’s novel is compelling, yet its compulsions have to do with an immersive present rather than with a skidding sequence. Her characters start telling us about their lives, and those lives are suddenly palpable, vital, voiced."[9] Tabish Khair wrote in The Hindu, "It is an excellent novel and an impressive debut", and "I grew up a Muslim who knew much about Hindu details of life but met excellent, well-meaning Hindus, including some of my school friends, who seemed to know nothing about Muslim details of life. And hence, I cannot help but notice this aridity in A Burning. And because the author of A Burning is a person of unusual talent and empathy, I want to bring it to her notice."[10]

Susan Choi wrote in The New York Times, "Majumdar is so far from exoticizing her setting as to be almost too economical, leaving the reader to snatch at clues where she can as to political, social and cultural context," and "Majumdar excels at depicting the workings of power on the powerless; for her characters, power is no abstract concept but a visceral assault on the body and its senses."[3] In The Indian Express, Paromita Chakrabarti wrote the novel "is a quiet, searing study of the underclass and the aspiring middle class in India, whose tentative stake in the capitalist economy is complicated by the many tyrannies of gender, religion and class endemic to society."[11] Harsimran Gill wrote for Scroll.in, "when Majumdar inhabits the perspective of Lovely, she falters. In stark contrast to the other characters, Lovely is given a peculiar voice and broken English for the entirety of the novel. [...] It’s a perplexing choice for a character whose story seems to have otherwise been crafted with care and thoughtfulness."[12] Chakrabarti described restrictions on the teaching of English in government-funded primary schools in West Bengal that began in 1981 and extended for nearly two decades, and how therefore, "entire generations grew up with a shaky hold over the language," and wrote, "Majumdar packs in layers of history in her idiosyncratic use of the English language."[11]

Naina Bajekal wrote in Time, "Megha Majumdar presents a powerful corrective to the political narratives that have dominated in contemporary India."[6] In The Financial Express, Ashutosh Bhardwaj describes the novel as "a disappointment, to say the least," and "just a mild stab at contemporary India that gets contended by perfunctory outlines and makes little attempt to capture the country in its nuances and complexities."[13] In Newslaundry, Anand Vardhan writes, "In many ways, A Burning runs out of steam in elevating itself to the ambition of literature. Despite sporadic sparks of promise, it fails to look beyond the blind spots that abound in contemporary narratives on India."[14] Amrita Dutta writes in The Indian Express, "Majumdar's economy of style and language extends, unfortunately, to an economy of specificities and details – one that produces an attenuated version of the complex, violent remaking of India, a version that is evidently easier on Western critics and publishing cultures."[15]

Rihan Najib writes in The Hindu Business Line, "Though the novel is adept at essaying contemporary Indian realities — taking on an Arundhati Roy-esque array of social justice issues such as development-induced displacement, Islamophobia, media trials, transphobia, income inequality, cow vigilantism — it does so with the broadest possible brush. [...] Nevertheless, Majumdar’s talents as a writer of the times is undeniable and she is certain to reach higher echelons of literary fame."[16] Political anthropologist Irfan Ahmad wrote an extensive critique of the novel in The Caravan, stating, "What the novel does best is make visible what is starkly absent from the mainstream debates: state terrorism", and "It shifts the focus onto the terror of the state and its machinery, [...] But its description of this world, unlike that of the Urdu fiction, lacks the depth of cultural experience of what it means to be projected as a Muslim terrorist."[17]

Honors and awards

[edit]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

A Burning

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
is a debut novel by Megha Majumdar, a Kolkata-born editor based in , first published in June 2020 by . Set in contemporary , , the narrative interlinks the lives of three marginal figures upended by a terrorist attack on a : Jivan, a Muslim shop assistant from the slums whose post leads to her arrest on charges; PT Sir, a school gym teacher who leverages the incident to climb the ranks of a Hindu nationalist ; and Lovely, a hijra () English tutor dreaming of Bollywood stardom who could serve as a witness for Jivan's defense. Through their converging ambitions and moral compromises, the novel dissects the mechanics of injustice, class mobility, political exploitation, and the distorting effects of and public outrage in a stratified society. Critically lauded for its taut pacing and incisive social observation, A Burning became a New York Times bestseller and was longlisted for the 2020 , though some reviewers noted its schematic character development as a limitation of its thriller-like structure.

Author and Background

Megha Majumdar's Biography


Megha Majumdar was born and raised in , , before moving to the to pursue higher education. She attended as an undergraduate, where she studied and graduated in 2010. Majumdar subsequently earned a master's degree in from in 2015. In her professional career, Majumdar has worked in publishing, serving as an editorial assistant at Catapult, a New York-based literary publisher, where she acquires manuscripts in fiction and nonfiction. She resides in . A Burning, published on June 2, 2020, marks her debut as a novelist.

Inspiration and Writing Process

Megha Majumdar began conceptualizing A Burning several years prior to its 2020 publication, driven by observations of rising in , including the of , suppression of , and . The novel's origins stemmed from her alarm at the erosion of secular democratic values she was taught in childhood, amid a shift toward extreme and in the 2010s. Central to this was a guiding question: how ordinary individuals dream, strive, and pursue ambition within oppressive, hierarchical systems marked by and limited opportunities, without idealizing poverty or marginalization. Real-world events, particularly terror attacks and the ensuing socio-political fallout, informed the narrative's premise, including the role of in amplifying accusations and public outrage. drew from instances like curfews following , videos depicting police indifference, and the rapid spread of criticism via platforms such as , which could provoke severe repercussions in a climate of state scrutiny. She incorporated journalism-inspired observations of systemic , where marginalized groups face interlocking failures of police, courts, and media, reflecting India's dynamics of influence-peddling and power abuses. Majumdar's writing process involved drafting the three main characters' arcs in separate documents before chronologically integrating them to reveal convergences, a method that added narrative complexity through multiple perspectives. She conducted research during visits to , studying communities such as hijras and viewing footage of settings like women's prison kitchens, supplemented by childhood recollections of events like slum evictions reported in local papers. Pacing drew from analyzing television series structures to maintain engagement across short chapters, while her background emphasized realistic portrayals of moral trade-offs in survival. Balancing this with her editorial role at , she stressed disciplined completion, viewing an unfinished manuscript as invalid.

Publication History

Release and Editions

A Burning was released in hardcover on June 2, 2020, by , an imprint of , in the United States. The Canadian edition appeared simultaneously through McClelland & Stewart, another imprint. In the , published the edition on June 11, 2020. Subsequent formats included a paperback edition released by on May 4, 2021, in the US. An unabridged , narrated by Vikas Adam, Priya Ayyar, Deepti Gupta, Ulka Simone Mohanty, Soneela Nankani, and Neil Shah, was issued on the same initial date as the hardcover by Books on Tape. By 2025, the had been translated into at least 20 languages, including Korean (published September 7, 2021, by Book House) and French (by Gallimard in 2020). No major film or television adaptations had been confirmed or produced as of that date.

Commercial Success

A Burning debuted on June 2, 2020, and quickly ascended to the New York Times bestseller list in , reflecting strong initial market reception for a first-time literary . Its selection as the June 2020 Read with Jenna Book Club pick by on NBC's Today show significantly amplified visibility and sales, propelling the title to No. 18 on Publishers Weekly's hardcover fiction bestseller list for the week ending June 13, 2020. The novel has been translated into 11 languages, underscoring its appeal beyond English-speaking markets and contributing to sustained global distribution. End-of-year accolades further evidenced enduring commercial interest, with inclusions on prominent 2020 best books lists such as The Atlantic's 15 Best Books of 2020 and Literary Hub's aggregated top selections. Though precise sales data remains undisclosed by publisher Knopf, the book's performance—marked by bestseller status and club endorsement without reliance on genre tropes—positions it as a robust success for debut amid a competitive landscape.

Narrative Elements

Plot Summary

The A Burning is set in contemporary , , and centers on the aftermath of a terrorist attack that engulfs train cars in flames, killing over 100 people at a railway station in a neighborhood. Jivan, a young Muslim woman from the slums employed in menial work at the airport, witnesses the explosion and subsequently posts on questioning the government's failure to aid the poor, stating in part, "I was only going to visit the Muslim colony. If the police didn’t help poor people like us, what was the point?" This ambiguous comment draws the attention of authorities, leading to her swift arrest and charge as a conspirator in the bombing, despite lacking of direct involvement. The narrative unfolds through alternating chapters from the perspectives of three interconnected characters. PT Sir, Jivan's former physical training instructor at and a frustrated educator, aligns himself with a right-wing and publicly advocates for Jivan's cause to propel his own ascent into local , organizing rallies and leveraging media coverage. Lovely, Jivan's ex-classmate and an aspiring actress from the hijra community who teaches English with a flair for , possesses potential testimony that could support Jivan's but weighs it against her ambitions for a breakthrough in Bollywood films. As Jivan endures interrogation and imprisonment, the stories of PT Sir and Lovely intersect with her trial through opportunistic alliances, media scrutiny, and personal testimonies, highlighting the characters' individual drives amid escalating public and political pressures.

Characters and Perspectives

Jivan serves as one of the novel's three rotating narrators, presenting the viewpoint of a young Muslim woman residing in a slum, whose limited circumstances foster a desire for upward mobility through and modest while facing entrenched . Her first-person account emphasizes personal grievances and a sense of rooted in her socioeconomic isolation and religious identity, reflecting a self-focused lens on survival rather than broader systemic analysis. PT Sir, Jivan's erstwhile physical training teacher, narrates from the perspective of a charismatic educator turned political opportunist, exploiting patriotic fervor and party loyalty to elevate his status within a fictional right-wing . His voice conveys unbridled ambition driven by recognition and power, portraying a where nationalist masks personal gain and hierarchical deference. Lovely, a hijra community member and aspiring performer, provides a third first-person perspective marked by the challenges of third-gender marginalization in Indian society, pursuing stardom amid exploitative networks that demand ethical compromises. Her narrative highlights self-interest in visibility and financial security, filtered through performative flair and resentment toward societal exclusion, underscoring fragmented awareness of others' plights. The novel's structure alternates these distinct first-person voices, akin to multifaceted cinematic viewpoints, to depict each character's constrained knowledge and prioritization of individual advancement over collective insight. This approach reveals self-justifying rationales without omniscient resolution, emphasizing how personal biases shape interpretations of shared circumstances.

Themes and Analysis

Social Injustice and Corruption

In A Burning, Megha Majumdar depicts social injustice through stark class divisions, where protagonists from Kolkata's slums navigate systemic barriers that prioritize interests over equitable treatment. Jivan, a young Muslim woman from a impoverished , faces wrongful accusation following a terrorist attack, highlighting how lower-class individuals are disproportionately vulnerable to fabricated charges and indifferent policing due to their lack of resources and . This portrayal underscores causal mechanisms in hierarchical societies, where economic deprivation—evident in overcrowded, unsanitary living conditions—fosters desperation that individuals exploit for survival, rather than portraying victims as passive. Such realities align with empirical data from , where approximately 65 million people reside in urban slums characterized by inadequate infrastructure and legal non-recognition, with 59% of these settlements lacking government notification, perpetuating cycles of exclusion. Corruption manifests systemically in the via , coerced false , and institutional , presented not as isolated anomalies but as entrenched practices enabling personal advancement amid weak oversight. For instance, characters like the aspiring actress Lovely and the coach-turned-politician PT Sir leverage the surrounding Jivan's case—offering or fabricating —for their own gains, illustrating how ambition in resource-scarce environments incentivizes ethical across social strata. This debunks narratives of unalloyed victimhood by revealing the dispossessed's active participation in corrupt networks, driven by rational in a society where formal channels favor the connected. Majumdar's narrative draws from observable patterns in Indian , where undermines and service delivery, as documented in surveys ranking 85th out of 180 countries on perceived in 2023. Elite indifference amplifies these injustices, with higher strata exhibiting detachment from lower-class plights, allowing delays and manipulations to persist unchecked. In the text, judicial processes drag without resolution, mirroring India's overburdened courts, where over 50 million cases pend nationwide as of 2024, including a backlog exceeding 80,000, often prolonging suffering for the poor who lack means for expedited appeals. Police and officials prioritize political utility over truth, as seen in PT Sir's opportunistic testimony, reflecting real-world institutional failures where understaffing and procedural inefficiencies—such as in districts with over 75% pending criminal cases—enable of mechanisms. These elements collectively emphasize corruption's roots in structures favoring short-term gains over long-term equity, without romanticizing absent .

Politics, Terrorism, and Social Media

In A Burning, a terrorist of a commuter at a station triggers the false accusation against Jivan, a young Muslim woman from the slums, who posts on : "I hate it that everything is going wrong." Authorities interpret this ambiguous expression of discontent—made moments after witnessing the attack—as evidence of complicity, leading to her swift despite lacking material proof, such as forensic links or corroboration of her involvement. This portrayal illustrates a core tension between empirical causation, where terrorist acts require deliberate planning and execution, and perceptual causation amplified by digital platforms, where a single post suffices to construct guilt amid public panic. Social media's role in Jivan's downfall exemplifies the novel's critique of how unverified claims propagate exponentially, outpacing institutional verification and fostering mob-driven over evidence-based inquiry. Her post goes viral, drawing police scrutiny and media frenzy that prioritize narrative fit— a Muslim slum-dweller as convenient suspect—over investigative rigor, resulting in her conviction and execution. The train attack itself draws from realistic precedents, such as the 11 July 2006 bombings, where seven pressure-cooker devices detonated across suburban trains, killing 189 and injuring over 700 in an operation coordinated by Lashkar-e-Taiba-linked militants. Yet the narrative shifts focus from perpetrator accountability, rooted in ideological motivations and cross-border networks, to the perils of misattribution, underscoring how platforms distort by equating online venting with operational intent. Parallel to Jivan's plight, PT Sir, a school physical trainer, ascends politically by hitching to the Jana Kalyan Party, a fictional outfit wielding right-leaning nationalist appeals that exploit terrorism fears for mobilization. He leverages anti-terror , framing internal "enemies" like Jivan to demonstrate loyalty and secure promotions, critiqued as opportunistic self-advancement amid the party's corrupt hierarchy rather than principled defense of . This rise via populist slogans and endorsements highlights the novel's view of as theater, where terror events catalyze of grassroots anxieties, subordinating of threats—such as Islamist —to performative .

Individual Ambition in Hierarchical Societies

In Megha Majumdar's A Burning, the central characters pursue upward mobility within India's entrenched social hierarchies, where class, , and intersect to limit opportunities and demand ethical concessions. Jivan, a young Muslim woman working as a sales assistant in a slum, represents restrained ambition focused on achieving middle-class security through honest labor and modest , yet her prospects collapse after a post questioning government inaction following a train is misconstrued as terrorist sympathy, leading to her and . Her drive underscores how even incremental aspirations in low-income Muslim communities face disproportionate risks from state surveillance and communal biases, with limited avenues for recourse in a system prioritizing security over individual nuance. Lovely, Jivan's former schoolmate and a member of the hijra community employed as an English tutor, channels her ambition toward stardom in Bollywood, viewing performance and public testimony as pathways to escape marginalization and attain visibility. She contemplates leveraging her connection to Jivan's trial—potentially testifying against her friend—to secure roles and social patronage, revealing the causal where personal yields to the allure of fame in a media-saturated culture that rewards performative allegiance over principle. This mirrors empirical patterns in India's entertainment industry, where aspirants from disadvantaged backgrounds often navigate exploitative networks, compromising authenticity for breakthroughs amid high barriers for individuals. PT Sir, a sidelined physical education instructor, redirects his frustrations into political ascent by aligning with a Hindu nationalist , exploiting Jivan's case to demonstrate through inflammatory rhetoric and roles, thereby trading pedagogical ideals for hierarchical and electoral viability. His trajectory illustrates how ambition in India's political spheres frequently hinges on flexibility, as rising through ranks requires amplifying divisive narratives to gain elite favor, perpetuating rather than challenging stratified power dynamics. These character arcs collectively expose the novel's causal realism: individual efforts for mobility reinforce hierarchies, as gains for one often exact costs from others, critiquing the naive belief that personal hustle alone can surmount structural rigidities. India's socioeconomic data reinforces this portrayal, with a consumption-based of 25.5 in 2022-23 indicating moderate expenditure equality post-economic , yet Gini estimates exceeding 80 highlight persistent disparities that entrench hierarchies beyond metrics, compounded by endogamy rates above 90% and limiting cross-group mobility. Majumdar's narrative thus grounds ambition's trade-offs in verifiable constraints, where empirical mobility rates—hovering below 10% intergenerational for bottom-quintile households—affirm that hierarchical persistence demands compromises, rendering optimistic insufficient against systemic inertia.

Reception

Critical Reviews

Critics lauded A Burning for its concise prose and incisive depiction of , aspiration, and social media's role in modern . The New York Times described it as a "propulsive " that intertwines the fates of three characters amid a terrorist attack and its fallout, highlighting the novel's momentum and relevance to contemporary political tensions. Similarly, The Guardian praised its "immaculately constructed" structure and "acidly observed" details, calling it a gripping blend of crime thriller and moral drama that probes and power with anthropological precision. The novel's thematic timeliness drew acclaim, with reviewers noting its portrayal of how individual ambitions collide with institutional failures. In The Sewanee Review, it was commended for offering a "piercing vision" of personal agency eroded by systemic graft, where serves as the prevailing currency. The Wall Street Journal echoed this in a roundup, with contributors deeming it a "brilliant " for its vivid insights into societal undercurrents. Yet some assessments identified structural shortcomings. The Indian Express critiqued the work for failing to transcend its "schematic structure," arguing that the orchestrated voices of marginalized figures constrain emotional depth and nuance despite the buzz surrounding its 2020 release. Other observers, including in literary blogs, faulted the plot's predictability, where characters' trajectories toward betrayal or downfall unfold along expected lines in a corrupt milieu, potentially undermining suspense. These views contrasted with broader enthusiasm, underscoring debates over whether the novel's urgency compensates for its schematic tendencies.

Awards and Recognition

_A Burning was longlisted for the in 2020. It was also nominated for the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize for Best Debut Novel that year. In 2021, the novel won the , an Indian literary award for young writers. The book was nominated for the American Library Association's Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. It appeared on numerous year-end best books lists in 2020, including selections by , , and aggregated compilations noting its presence on at least 13 such lists by December. While it did not secure major international prizes, the novel's recognitions contributed to sustained acclaim for author Megha Majumdar, whose subsequent work A Guardian and a Thief was longlisted for the in 2025.

Reader Responses and Sales Data

On , A Burning has garnered an average rating of 3.72 out of 5 from 52,615 ratings and 6,388 reviews as of recent data. Reader feedback commonly highlights the novel's brisk pacing and relatable portrayal of ambition amid hardship, though a subset of responses notes perceived superficiality in thematic resolution. Online reader communities have engaged with the book's depiction of systemic , linking characters' struggles to broader conversations on inequality; some discussions tied its release timing to heightened awareness during the 2020 protests and global unrest over social disparities. Commercially, the novel reached New York Times bestseller status soon after its June 2, 2020, publication, marking strong initial sales for Majumdar's debut and contributing to her subsequent recognition in literary circles. This performance elevated her profile, facilitating opportunities like awards and her next project's anticipation.

Criticisms and Debates

Portrayals of Indian Politics and Society

The novel depicts Indian politics as riddled with , where officials and aspiring politicians exploit vulnerabilities for personal gain, as seen in characterizations of and favoritism enabling social ascent. This portrayal aligns with persistent challenges documented in India's score of 38 in 2023, ranking 93rd out of 180 countries, though the index shows modest improvement from 38 in 2014 to a peak of 41 in before stabilizing. However, such emphasis overlooks broader post-2014 economic advancements, including average annual GDP growth of approximately 6.5% from 2014 to 2023, driven by reforms like the Goods and Services Tax and digital infrastructure initiatives, which expanded formal employment and reduced rates from 21.9% in 2011 to 11.3% by 2022 per official surveys. In terms of and , the narrative centers on arbitrary accusations and societal fallout from suspected attacks, reflecting real vulnerabilities in urban fringes. Yet this selective lens contrasts with empirical declines in terrorist incidents post-, including a reported drop in major attacks attributed to enhanced border intelligence and operations like the 2016 surgical strikes, with Jammu and Kashmir seeing 94 incidents in 2023 resulting in 117 deaths—lower per capita than pre-2014 peaks when annual fatalities exceeded 200 in some years. data from the Ministry of Home Affairs corroborates a 70% reduction in overall terror-related fatalities nationwide since 2014, facilitated by policy shifts toward proactive counter-terrorism rather than the novel's implied institutional paralysis. Depictions of slum life and police interactions capture authentic elements of overcrowding and occasional brutality, as evidenced by ongoing urban poverty affecting 65 million slum dwellers per 2011 census extrapolations. These ring true amid reports of police understaffing and graft, yet the novel's unremitting pessimism neglects documented self-help and redevelopment outcomes, such as Mumbai's Slum Rehabilitation Authority scheme, which has rehabilitated over 50,000 families since 1995 by providing free housing in exchange for land redevelopment rights, yielding stable communities in areas like . Similarly, Pune's Yerwada upgrading since 2015 integrated slum residents into , improving and access for thousands without displacement, demonstrating causal efficacy of community-led over the text's fatalistic . The arcs of individual ambition, constrained by caste, class, and networks, resonate with low intergenerational mobility rates—around 30-40% for sons escaping parental income quintiles, per district-level analyses from 1950-2015 data. Empirical studies confirm persistent barriers, with absolute mobility stagnant despite liberalization, as parental occupation predicts 60-70% of outcomes. Nonetheless, this realism understates aggregate upward shifts, including 160 million internal migrants achieving occupational gains between 2001-2011, and rising mobility for Scheduled Castes from 20% to 30% persistence rates post-1990s quotas, underscoring policy-driven pathways absent in the novel's zero-sum portrayal.

Ideological Interpretations and Potential Biases

Some literary interpreters, particularly in Western outlets, frame A Burning as an allegory for authoritarian overreach and the persecution of religious minorities in Narendra Modi's India, where social media scrutiny leads to arbitrary detentions. The protagonist Jivan's arrest following a Facebook post criticizing authorities is likened to real cases of activists jailed under laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, portraying a system that prioritizes Hindu nationalist conformity over individual rights. Countervailing views, including from Indian reviewers, emphasize the novel's restraint in engaging political realities, such as avoiding explicit or militant depictions despite allusions to events like the 2002 Godhra train arson—perpetrated by Islamist radicals, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims, yet reframed here via a that sidesteps underlying threats. Deepanjana Pal observes the work's "cautiousness and fear," noting symbolism limited to "ardent " rather than overt aggression, and a reluctance to reference contemporary directly amid politicians' open . This approach is seen by some as downplaying 's role in countering persistent Islamist , where incidents like the (166 killed) underscore causal links between ideology and violence, benefits of vigilant state responses notwithstanding. As an author based in New York, Majumdar's lens may amplify dysfunctions for international appeal, relying on familiar stereotypes of and that Indian society, per critiques questioning such portrayals' authenticity for global readers. Fiction's interpretive flexibility precludes dogmatic readings, but reliance on sources from outlets like —institutions with documented left-leaning biases favoring narratives of systemic victimhood over empirical security imperatives—warrants scrutiny in assessing ideological claims.

References

  1. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624372/a-burning-a-read-with-jenna-pick-by-megha-majumdar/
  2. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2204934/megha-majumdar/
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/books/review-burning-megha-majumdar.html
  4. https://asianreviewofbooks.com/a-burning-by-megha-majumdar/
  5. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/08/a-debut-novels-immersive-urgency
  6. https://www.harvardreview.org/book-review/a-burning/
  7. https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/announcements/bennett-majumdar-veselka-yu-among-12-prh-2020-nba-semi-finalists/
  8. https://www.the-tls.com/literature/fiction/a-burning-megha-majumdar-review-arin-keeble
  9. https://www.prhspeakers.com/speaker/megha-majumdar
  10. https://www.nationalbook.org/people/megha-majumdar/
  11. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2020/08/montage-megha-majumdar
  12. https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2020/fall/megha-majumdar-burning-novel/
  13. https://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/author_number/x15229/megha-majumdar
  14. https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mqr/2020/11/stories-worth-telling-an-interview-with-megha-majumdar/
  15. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/16/megha-majumdar-books-do-nothing-for-lot-of-people-interview-a-burning
  16. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/06/870968579/in-a-burning-striving-dreaming-and-joking-in-the-face-of-oppression
  17. https://pen.org/the-pen-ten-an-interview-with-megha-majumdar/
  18. https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/71230910-a-burning
  19. https://www.audible.com/pd/A-Burning-Audiobook/059321210X
  20. https://bookshop.org/a/113623/9791164051342
  21. https://www.meghamajumdar.com/a-burning
  22. https://www.nationalbook.org/books/a-burning/
  23. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/83586-this-week-s-bestsellers-june-15-2020.html
  24. https://www.today.com/video/megha-majumdar-discusses-a-burning-and-shares-5-books-to-read-next-86340677741
  25. https://culture.gov.in/lalit-kala-akademi/megha-majumdar-english
  26. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/12/best-books-2020/617490/
  27. https://lithub.com/the-ultimate-best-books-of-2020-list/
  28. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/megha-majumdar/a-burning/
  29. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/13/a-burning-by-megha-majumdar-review-a-brilliant-debut
  30. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6003417/
  31. https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/46860/chapter/413920471
  32. https://hesj.org/ojs/index.php/hesj/article/view/431/340
  33. https://jalt.com.pk/index.php/jalt/article/download/1300/1039/2512
  34. https://www.nls.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Justice-delayed_empirical-study-1.pdf
  35. https://www.ibanet.org/Access-to%2520justice-Indian-Supreme-Courts-backlog-is-serious-issue
  36. https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/a-burning/
  37. https://electricliterature.com/a-burning-megha-majumdar/
  38. https://www.supersummary.com/a-burning/summary/
  39. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4n4yzpx07o
  40. https://www.rusi.org/publication/mumbai-bombings-signal-sustained-rail-terrorism
  41. https://meadowparty.com/blog/2022/12/01/a-burning/
  42. http://thesewaneereview.com/articles/among-lowly-megha-majumdars-burning
  43. https://www.chireviewofbooks.com/2020/06/03/majumdar-a-burning/
  44. https://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/a-burning/guide
  45. https://worldliteraturetoday.org/2021/winter/burning-megha-majumdar
  46. https://chireviewofbooks.com/2020/06/03/majumdar-a-burning/
  47. https://scroll.in/article/963981/a-burning-an-extraordinary-debut-novel-explores-justice-and-ambition-in-an-unequal-land
  48. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI?locations=IN
  49. https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/india-is-not-your-inequality-story
  50. https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-read-what-in-2022-literary-voices-11670516591
  51. https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/why-megha-majumdar-much-talked-about-debut-novel-fails-to-live-up-to-its-promise-6512130/
  52. https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/08/08/a-burning-2020-by-megha-majumdar/
  53. https://www.npr.org/2025/10/07/nx-s1-5563894/national-book-awards-finalists-2025
  54. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51792100-a-burning
  55. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46250106-a-burning
  56. https://newsindiatimes.com/megha-majumdars-a-burning-is-blazing-up-the-bestseller-list-and-emerging-as-the-must-read-novel-of-the-summer/
  57. https://therumpus.net/2020/11/18/a-burning-by-megha-majumdar/
  58. https://www.motherjones.com/media/2020/07/megha-majumdar-a-burning-india-hindu-extremism-coronavirus-pandemic-literature/
  59. https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2023
  60. https://tradingeconomics.com/india/corruption-index
  61. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=IN
  62. https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/ind/india/gdp-growth-rate
  63. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46902935
  64. https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2023/india
  65. https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/GTI-2024-web-290224.pdf
  66. https://ppp.worldbank.org/sub-national-ppp/slum-rehabilitation-scheme-maharashtra-india
  67. https://architectureindevelopment.org/news/119
  68. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20210686
  69. https://www.orfonline.org/research/social-mobility-in-india-63480
  70. https://ijpsl.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Determinants-of-Social-Mobility-in-India-and-Policy-Recommendations_Amitoj-Singh-Kalsi-Harsh-Kapoor.pdf
  71. https://time.com/5839416/burning-megha-majumdar-review/
  72. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/27/megha-majumdar-a-burning-book-review-india-novel/
  73. https://deepanjana.substack.com/p/a-burning
  74. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-future-of-global-englishes-is-coming-a-conversation-with-rahul-raina
  75. https://www.palomopoemas.com/blog/2020/9/20/a-burning-megha-majumdar-2020
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.