Five years ago, Geeta's no-good husband disappeared, and most other people in their rural Indian village think she killed him. She didn't. But her reputation gets around, and some other women with terrible husbands start seeking her help with offing them, and shenanigans ensue.

There are things to like about Parini Shroff's The Bandit Queens—mostly the moments of somewhat dark humour, and the complicated and prickly female friendships—but this was a debut novel that needed not just one but probably at least two more drafts before it was published. The tone is wildly uneven and the dialogue often stilted.

I get there are always compromises to be made when you're writing a book in English but the characters are really "speaking" in another language (in this case, Gujarati). Not every concept will translate, capturing particular cadences might be difficult, and so on. But here Shroff repeatedly indulges in one of my pet hates, where a word that does have an equivalent in English is left in the "original" language for... coyness? Humour? Colour? I don't know. But I do know that every time a character goes to "make su-su" in this book (and it's a lot), I was gritting my teeth and saying "just say 'pee'!" Shroff's linguistic register is also all over the map—characters sprinkle their dialogue with as many "likes" as an American millennial and much of the prose is fairly informal, but occasionally we're told that a character has a "falcate back" or that one of the women has made an "aperçu". At one point, one woman refers to another as "zaftig." Encountering Yiddish slang in a rural west Indian context does break suspension of disbelief a little.

And that ties into the other major issue that I had with The Bandit Queens, which is that there was a lot about the framing and subtlety of approach (or lack thereof) which made it clear that Shroff is an American of Indian heritage rather than being born and raised in India. I had the sense that for an Indian to read this would probably be what it's like for me most of the time when I read a book by an Irish-American set in Ireland.

I think Shroff has potential as a writer and I wouldn't swear off her future work, but this was a bit of a disappointment. ( )

This is more than a darkly funny story about women killing their husbands. It deals with serious issues like patriarchy, the caste system, abuse and societal pressures. I liked the rural village setting and the way the author wove in customs, superstitions and folklore to create a strong sense of place. Geeta was a wonderful character -- independent, emotionally damaged, a little awkward. She is the kind of character I could really feel for.

At the end, though, the book left me sad. The reason this book works at all; the reason it is darkly funny, is that the women have so little power and so few alternatives compared to men. It shows that we still have a long way to go to achieve equality in our justice system and society more generally. ( )

Really a 3 1/2 star

From the description, I was expecting something different. I figured there'd be empowered women taking a stand, and while there was some of that, there also wasn't.
What there was was a great description of how powerless women in India are, locked into the traditional views, and how caste influences their lives. No doubt, part of my disappointment at how insipid the women were, stem from the fact that I've never faced such restraints. So in this case, the author got her point across. Also, while the women in the story were struggling to overcome all the obstacles they faced, they came together as sisters to support each other, and that was touching.
A good, interesting book, just not my favorite. ( )

[3.25] The Bandit Queens” lives up to its billing as a “feminist thriller” that examines the strength and resiliency of women who find themselves in harrowing situations. It’s a tale laced with acts of survival and revenge that — for the most part — effectively employs dark humor to develop the characters. In an interview with NPR, the author said she wrote this debut novel during the pandemic and turned to dark humor because she “needed some levity during the darkness.” I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book. By the third quarter, I was muttering: “OK, let’s call it a wrap soon.” And as I plodded through the final quarter, I couldn’t wait for the book to end. In my estimation, this is yet another novel that would have been more effective had the author and editor(s) delivered a slightly shorter manuscript with a smaller cast of characters and fewer plot twists. Nevertheless, the setting of a rural village in India was intriguing — particularly as the author explored issues that ranged from social class disparities and toxic relationships to the impact that rumors can have in small, close-knit communities. ( )

What a group of women! Somewhat implausible but a fun ride. Go bonobos. ( )