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ksoles
Sep 12, 2013ksoles rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Transitioning from short story writer to novelist, Saleema Nawaz has produced an ambitious, beautiful debut set in Montreal and Ottawa. "Bone and Bread" centres on Beena and Sadhana, two sisters from a previously published short story, and explores the theme of motherhood as both a blessing and an affliction. The novel opens with news of Sadhana's sudden death. Beena, taking on the role of narrator and memoirist, depicts the sisters' physical and psychic connections while also reconstructing the family's past and her own present. She describes her childhood, living in a small apartment above their Sikh father's bagel shop in the heart of Montreal's Jewish community and ultimately dealing with the death of both her parents. When Sadhana's eating disorder takes over her life and Beena becomes pregnant at 16, the sisters' lives diverge into virtual estrangement. As Nawaz writes through Beena, she evokes memories with verve, attacking them with precision and often anger. Despite an awkward sub-theme of racial politics, "Bone and Bread" delivers a subtle, astute study of sibling rivalry that grasps readers' attention and provokes thought about the solitudes of family life.