Review by Kiana Mahboob

The Unforgiving City and I by Aahir Mrittika is undoubtedly the rawest piece of work I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The collection of short poems encapsulates the struggles and hardships the author endured while growing up as a girl in Dhaka. Growing into womanhood is hard enough by itself, but when you add a repressive society into the mix, it becomes a thousand times more difficult. 

Sexualization and the male gaze, violence and shame, compounding expectations and suffocating familial dynamics. The book tackles these socially-imposed growing pains. Why should simply living and growing as a girl be this painful? What kind of society does that to their women? Mrittika’s poems are unapologetic, dare I say confrontational, in their honesty and openness which is needed in a society that likes to hide the uglier parts of itself. Any girl who picks up this book, even if she is not Bangladeshi, will find herself relating to at least one poem in it, if not more. While reading it, I felt as if someone had finally put the turbulence of my girlhood into words. 

I admire Mrittika for writing about their struggles and putting it out into the world so that someone out there feels a little less alone in their suffering. 

Title: The Unforgiving City and I

Author: Aahir Mrittika

ISBN: 978-984-94846-4-6

Publisher: Bengal Publications Limited

Language: English

Date: 2022

Author bio:

Aahir Mrittika is a young activist and writer from Bangladesh. They grew up in Mohammadpur, an area in Dhaka. Mrittika studies computational biology in Vermont. They have written articles for the Daily Star and worked at a coalition called ‘Feminists Across Generations’. 

https://www.thedailystar.net/author/aahir-mrittika

Reviewer Bio:

Kiana Mahboob is an upcoming senior at the International School of Dhaka. She is an avid reader who is deeply interested in literature and economics.

Curator of the #BangladeshiLitMonth at Global Literature in Libraries Initiative:

Erin Wilson currently works as a Teacher Librarian at International School Dhaka, Bangladesh and has worked internationally for 10 years in the following countries; China, India, and now Bangladesh. She has vast experience working in diverse cultures from Native American students to inner-city students and the international community. Her other passion lies in studying Asian dances. Currently she is focused on Odissi classical dance, and uses this dance vocabulary for storytelling in the library to actively engage children. It’s never boring in the library. 

You can follow the school where she works, International School Dhaka Instagram: @ isd_library

Opinions expressed in posts on this site are the individual author’s and are not indicative of the views of Global Literature in Libraries Initiative.