Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

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It’s good for the police, right? They don’t have to lift a finger. If anything happens to us, it’s because we did it ourselves. If a TV goes missing from our homes, we stole it. If we get murdered, then we killed ourselves.” The world-building also adds to the tension of the story—the smog hides the children, making it easier for them to disappear, be kidnapped, or taken by djinns, which is Jai’s prevailing theory.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line: Mystery and Thriller Books

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Penguin Random House Canada for an ecopy of this novel. I am providing my honest review. This was released February 2020. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line] makes an urgent case for the protection of the country’s youngest and most vulnerable Timothy Harrison, Vogue, *Books to Look Our For in 2020* Anappara spent her early life in Palakkad, Kerala, India. [10] She is an Indian writer and journalist. Anappara worked as a journalist in India, reporting on social issues in the state of Gujarat, and in Delhi and Mumbai. Her work has focused on studying the effects of violence and poverty, particularly on young people. [10] Anappara wrote the novel while pursuing a master's degree in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. [11] Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line was originally written as part of her dissertation for her Master of Arts degree. [6] The manuscript and publication rights were sold at the Frankfurt Book Fair, [10] and the novel was the subject of a "hard-fought auction" between multiple publishers, ultimately being sold to Chatto & Windus and Random House. [12]Prasanna is a human (probably) who makes stuff up for a living. When she’s not sleeping or eating, you’ll find her in the quietest corner of the library, devouring yet another hardbound book. She vastly prefers the imaginary world to the real one, but grudgingly emerges from her writing cave on occasion. If you do see her, it’s best not to approach her before she’s had her coffee.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line Quotes - Goodreads Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line Quotes - Goodreads

In an unnamed city in India, a child disappears. Local police are called, but they don’t care. The child is from a basti, a shantytown on the outskirts of the city towered over by marble-floored ‘Hi-fi’ condos where people who do matter live. Nine-year-old protagonist Jai takes inspiration from his favourite reality-TV programme, Police Patrol, and from fictional sleuth Byomkesh Bakshi, forming a ‘detectiving team’ and recruiting his friends Pari and Faiz to find their missing neighbour. While they hunt for clues, more children vanish. And through Jai’s voice, sometimes cheeky and naïve, other t Jai’s family consider themselves fortunate to get two square meals a day—even if it is the same rice and lentils every day. In the meantime, the woman Jai’s mother works often has so much food left over, that she gives it away to her maids.A profoundly emphatic work of creative genius that will stay with you forever.”— Sonia Faleiro, author of Beautiful Thing The mystery and detection part of this book was just ok for me. What I really liked about the book were the incredible details about life in a basti (poor area) of India. The author doesn’t bother to translate for non Indians so it’s like a disorienting immersion in the country - including the homes, jobs, food, schools, pay toilets and smog. For example: “Quarter runs a gang that beats up teachers and rents out fake parents to students when they get into trouble and the headmaster insists on meeting their ma-papas.”, “...he stops at a theka in Bhoot Bazaar to drink a quarter-peg of daru, which is how he got the name Quarter.” and “His nose learned to catch the weakest of smells from hours before – marigold garlands, sliced papayas served with a pinch of chaat powder on top, puris fried in oil — to guide his steps to the right or left in dark corners.” This dazzling debut follows three children investigating a series of disappearances in the slums of India. Author Deepa Anappara has taken inspiration for her impressive debut from over a decade of working as a journalist reporting on the impact of poverty and religious violence on children in India. At a moment when there is much heated debate about the legitimacy of which authors get to tell which stories, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line makes a compelling case that nothing can beat a genuine voice drawing from profound first-hand experience.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line: LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S

Deepa is also a graduate of City’s Novel Studio programme, of which Emily Pedder is Course Director. While Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a fascinating study of India in the modern age, the plot left much to be desired. The protagonist was difficult to gel with and the pacing was far too slow to be enjoyable. None of which was helped by the rushed ending, which felt like an afterthought and unearned. Where the book is strong is in its authenticity (at least as far as I can tell) and in the way that we get a child’s view of a troubled society and a difficult life. The author was an award-winning journalist in India, specialising in the impact of poverty and sectarian violence on children (and their education). Since moving to England and taking a creative writing course, she has I think found in fiction a way to both articulate themes that her journalist bosses were not so interested in her covering; and to draw on the many slum children she interviewed as part of her research to capture something of their voice and spirit, something pure word count and style restrictions prevented her ever conveying in her journalism. It was as if she existed solely to care for her brother and a house. Afterwards, she would similarly look after her husband. Her hands smelling of cow dung cakes. Her own dreams were inconsequential. It seemed to her that no one could see the ambition that thrummed in her. No one imagined her becoming someone.”In 2020, as India is embroiled in CAA and NRC disputes, and political parties are generally reluctant to step out and support the people, it is the common man, whose life will undergo drastic changes, who has come out in protest. Our economy is in decline, rural poverty has shot up, the gap between the rich and poor keeps increasing. Even a basic necessity like the safety of women remains questionable. But is anyone fighting for it? With political parties busily blaming each other for their mistakes, very few appear willing to take up the torch of empowerment. Who suffers in all this? The common man. Reality shows on TV are popular in India as it is elsewhere across the world, and the one about cops that Jai watches called Police Patrol is based on a similar, long-running TV show in India. It seemed natural that Jai would be inspired by what he watches on TV; popular culture in the form of TV and Hindi films do exert an influence on daily lives. Jail lives in a poor slum in India. Children start going missing and he decides to investigate like the detectives do in his favourite TV shows. But Jai is just nine years old. The local police are not interested in finding the children.