Across the Sabarmati

An Autobiographical Novel

Fiction - Cultural
264 Pages
Reviewed on 05/18/2014
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Lorena Sanqui for Readers' Favorite

Across the Sabarmati: An Autobiographical Novel by Sriram Ananth is the story of Jayram and his volunteer work in Gujarat after the place experienced a violent melee. Growing up in a privileged life, the aftermath of the religious riot, as some would call it, was a surprise and an eye opener for Jayram. There he met other volunteers, like Abhay and Maria, whom he can relate with because they all have the same sort of upbringing. And there are also other volunteers, like Nasir and Vijay, who are more immersed in the lives of the people that they are helping. Nasir and Vijay have an experience in the violence and are doing all they can to help the people get back on their feet again. Jayram will realize the distinction between the lives of people on the different sides of the Sabarmati River.

Across the Sabarmati sets out to tell the story of the volunteers of a human rights movement after the massacres that happened in Gujarat back in 2002. The stories mentioned by the witnesses were heinous and really show the reader how inhumane some people could be, although the work of the volunteers restored some of my faith in humanity. The novel focused mostly on the violence and how the volunteers were doing good work in helping the victims get their lives back together, but there were also issues of family, education and bisexuality. It is kind of confusing because this is an autobiographical novel, but I gathered from the acknowledgements part of the novel that this is a fictionalized account of real events. Still, I liked how the author delivered his story and represented his characters.