Review by Erin Wilson

Set in modern day Dhaka, we are brought into the perfect married life of Rishal and Amola. Both Bangladeshis, they met in university, married, and moved back to Dhaka to run the family business. Thus, they must maintain the perfect life, a son in boarding school, wealth, and a vibrant social life. Underneath the shiny exterior, Amola carefully exposes the flaws and secrets that hold their lives together.  

Rishal, to no one’s surprise, is cheating on Amola and everyone in their friend circle knows it. It is how Amola struggles between her mother and Dadima, grandmother’s suggestions of handling a husband and family. “‘Life isn’t a game, Amola,’ Ma had once said to me, while Dadima laughed heartily. ‘Everything is a game,’ she had interjected (35).” These two women’s voices will continue to overpower her own indecisions about her cheating husband and an unexpected love. Should she leave her husband for a more attentive man? Her mother’s choice. Should she stay with her husband because it’s what society expects? Her Dadima’s choice.

Amola’s narrative questions Dhaka society, “At the end of the day, almost every illegitimate businessman in this city is looking for a way to legitimize himself and his wealth (p 121).” This not so secret secret is scandalous just by putting it down on paper as the contrast between new money and old money families is polar opposites. Amola repeatedly questions her husband’s sincerity of their marriage due to his new money wealth and his connection to her old money. This exhibits the all to convoluted societal shallow life in Dhaka. The importance of keeping up a proper face in society while everyone knows the secrets that bind or shatter one’s image. As we are taken on this reflective journey with Amola on her marriage and affair, a traumatic accident occurs in the business. Now Amola and her family are caught in a moral dilemma and need to confront the questions of their marriage, social standing, survival, and identity. 

This contemporary story is an enthralling and relatable read that lets the reader into the secret life of a Dhaka socialite grappling with societal norms and her own desires. You will find yourself invested in Amola’s decisions, hoping she finds the happiness she’s looking for with no shame from society. The ending of this book will have you question your own moral standings and reality. 

Title: Broken Voices

Author: Srabonti Narmeen Ali

ISBN:9789843450531

Publisher: Bengal Lights Books

Date: 2019

Language: English

Additional Review of the book: “A walk through the upper tiers of society” by Shah Tazrian Ashrafi

Additional Book by Srabonti Narmeen Ali

Title: Hope in Technicolor

Publisher: Bengal Publication

ISBN: 9789843379122

Date: 2013

Language: English

About the author:

Srabonti Narmeen Ali graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 2001. In 2006, she completed her first master’s degree in Culture and Creative Industries at Kings College London. In 2018, Ali graduated with her second master’s degree, in Social work, from George Mason University in Virginia. Ali is currently working as a Pre-Licensed Therapist while completing her Licensed Clinical Social Work. She worked at The Daily Star in Bangladesh as a staff writer for the weekly magazine, The Star, for six years. 

Ali is a member of Writers Block, a group of Bengali authors who write in English. Her debut novel, Hope in Technicolor, was published by Bengal Publications at the Hay Festival Dhaka in 2013 while the novel’s first chapter was included in the Writers Block anthology What the Ink? Published in 2011. her short story “Yellow Cab” was published in the anthology Lifelines, launched at the Hay Festival Dhaka in 2012. 

During her free time, Ali also tries to nurture her two other passions: dancing and singing. She teaches a Bengali and Bollywood dance class at the American Recreational Association in Dhaka and in 2011, released her first solo album, Deluded, which features both Bengali and English songs written and composed by her.

Reviewer Bio & Curator of #BangladeshiLitMonth:

Erin Wilson currently works as a Teacher Librarian in 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.