In this engaging and moving middle grade novel, Saadia Faruqi writes about a contemporary Pakistani American girl whose passion for journalism starts a conversation about her grandmother’s experience of the Partition of India and Pakistan—and the bond that the two form as she helps Dadi tell her story.
When her grandmother comes off the airplane in Houston from Pakistan, Mahnoor knows that having Dadi move in is going to disrupt everything about her life. She doesn’t have time to be Dadi’s unofficial babysitter—her journalism teacher has announced that their big assignment will be to film a documentary, which feels more like storytelling than what Maha would call “journalism.”
As Dadi starts to settle into life in Houston and Maha scrambles for a subject for her documentary, the two of them start talking. About Dadi’s childhood in northern India—and about the Partition that forced her to leave her home and relocate to the newly created Pakistan.
As details of Dadi’s life are revealed, Dadi’s personal story feels a lot more like the breaking news that Maha loves so much. And before she knows it, she has the subject of her documentary.
The Partition Project by Saadia Faruqi
Pages: 416
Publishing Date: February 27th, 2024
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
MY THOUGHTS
THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THIS REVIEW COPY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.
I’ve read Saadia’s work before and it is directed toward a certain demographic and it is fun to know that POV. The setting is similar to her other novels and the nature of MC too. Mahnoor is a second-generation immigrant. Family dynamics are typical, parents are so busy settling down and running in the race that they’ve been neglecting their kids. Kids are not really connected to their history or religion.
Grandmother Rafia is a change, they might need in their life. Mahnoor is not forward to this change, a new person who is gonna join their family, and family dynamics will change forever, not only that, she is the designated babysitter of her dadi so she is grumpy. Once she started to spend time with Dadi and other people from her generation, Mahnoor got to know about Partition. I’ve never read any fiction author writing about partition (it’s the first time for me to read about that in English that too as a main theme). I am sure the majority of second-generation immigrants don’t know about it but I felt like the author underplayed a few things or it was a tame version as it was a middle grade. I’ve grown up reading and listening to stories of partition from my grandparents and their siblings so I felt like this version was more for the entire South Asian audience.
All of Saadia’s MCs are young, hot-tempered, and kind of spoiled, with time they make everything hard for them. From school life to home, they mess up everything. By the end, they go through severe character development. I am getting kind of bored of this. I hope I’ll get to read a bit different content in her next book. I enjoyed this book a lot but I felt these certain things.
