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    A Golden Age
    A Golden Age
    A Golden Age
    Audiobook9 hours

    A Golden Age

    Written by Tahmima Anam

    Narrated by Madhur Jaffrey

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    As young widow Rehana Haque awakes one March morning, she might be forgiven for feeling happy. Her children are almost grown, the city is buzzing with excitement after recent elections. Change is in the air.

    But no one can foresee what will happen in the days and months that follow. For this is East Pakistan in 1971, a country on the brink of war. And this family's life is about to change forever.

    Set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence, A Golden Age is a story of passion and revolution, of hope, faith, and unexpected heroism. In the chaos of this era, everyone must make choices. And as she struggles to keep her family safe, Rehana will be forced to face a heartbreaking dilemma.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJan 8, 2007
    ISBN9780061580024
    Author

    Tahmima Anam

    Tahmima Anam is an anthropologist and a novelist. Her debut novel, A Golden Age, won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book. In 2013, she was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and was a judge for the 2016 International Man Booker Prize. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she was educated at Mount Holyoke College and Harvard University, and now lives in Hackney, East London.

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    Reviews for A Golden Age

    4/5

    25 ratings21 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I'm very enthusiastic about this book, and not only because at one point it refers to Sultana's Dream and I'm like, “Yes, I've read that!" As one might half expect from such a reference this is a deeply feminist story: the story of those who wait, but don't just wait.

      The prologue tells of Rehana's children being taken from her after her husband's death, so it's a bit of a jolt to have chapter 1 begin 10 years after she's won them back. But this lacuna becomes instrumental later while the story explores her determination to protect her children in another context entirely: Bangladesh's struggle for independence from Pakistan. Her love of and fear for her son Sohail is a staple of such stories, but I especially liked the development of her more difficult relationship with her daughter Maya; and of her own character in supporting her children and friends and country – with which she has yet another nuanced relationship. There is a subtle but I think a very deliberate interplay of themes which holds the tales of family and country effortlessly together.
    • 4/5
      ’m always thoroughly pleased when a book surprises me. And this one was a wonderful surprise. Perhaps it was because I started off with almost no expectations about A Golden Age. All I knew about this book was that it was set in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in the 1970s. And what do I know about East Pakistan today, let alone in the 1970s? I guess that’s why it took me a while to pick up this one – really close to the library’s due date. I even renewed it online as I wasn’t sure if I would finish it, but then, after an initial setback when reading the prologue, I found the pages flying by (once again, a prologue throws me off track… huh).

      A Golden Age is a story of a brave woman, who at first doesn’t seem so brave. Rehana Haque is a widow, the mother of Sohail and Maya, who are caught up in the resistance movement, attending meetings, rallies, debating their fight for independence. Rehana “did not have the proper trappings of a nationalist. She did not have the youth or the appearance or the words”. Rehana was born in western Pakistan and speaks the ‘enemy’ language of Urdu, but has called East Pakistan home since her marriage.

      But this is 1971 and war is looming. And everyone has to play a part, and Rehana knows that she cannot stop her children from joining the freedom fighters, although there was a part of her that “wanted them to have nothing to do with it all, to keep them safe at home”. Rehana too enters the fray, opening her house to the resistance movement, taking in refugees and fighters, helping out at a refugee camp.

      A Golden Age is such an accomplished first novel. It is strong, but soft at the right moments. With the fight for independence, there is violence and terror and fear. But Anam also manages to paint us into 1970s East Pakistan, describing its landscape, cuisine, dwellings, sights, sounds and smells with a loving hand. And creates such a strong character in Rehana, someone I couldn’t help admiring and loving.
    • 4/5
      Not a tight plot at all -- a great deal of meandering in the middle -- but I liked Rehana a lot and the ending was very effective.
    • 4/5
      I found A Golden Age to be highly enjoyable. It's a beautifully written novel that follows Rehana and her two college-age children through the Bangladesh War for Independence in 1971. The look at how war can affect families is very realistic. The descriptions of war are truly haunting. The complete love Rehana has for her children is touching. She will do anything for them, including stealing from a blind man, hiding contraband weapons, and lying to the Pakistani army.A little slow in the beginning, the novel quickly picks up as Rehana and her family have to make some impossible decisions. The last few chapters are truly page-turners and leave you hungry for more.
    • 5/5
      This book opens with a startling line, "Dear Husband, I lost our children today" which the book's main character, Rehana Haque speaks at her husband's grave. While his death had left her penniless, alone, and unable to cope, his brother and wife, who are childless, take her to court to take her children from her. Her pain is raw and very real. In this book, set against the backdrop of Bangladesh achieving its independence, Rehana is pulled with the currents, but finds her own way, and her footing, as a mother and a rebel. Bangladesh is as much a character as the people in the book and you feel the characters' dedication to the struggle. There is a lot of love and sacrifice in this book: mother for child, in Rehana's preference for her likable son, Sohail, and in her struggle with her daughter, Maya, who she can't seem to understand, but also Rehana's love for her husband's memory, and the struggle to love and forgive herself and consider herself worthy of love. The youthfulness and optimism of Sohail, Maya and their friends and their gradual involvement in the student movement which eventually pulls Rehana into the midst of war, is perfect. Everyone was just doing what they felt like must, never imagining where it might lead. Rehana makes hard choices, some of which I find hard to identify with, but she learns not to live by default and makes her own choices. I will definitely be reading more books by this author.
    • 4/5
      Set in Bangladesh at the time of the Pakistan civil war that created Bangladesh. A story about a single mother raising her two children.
    • 4/5
      Exemplarisch am Beispiel einer alleinerziehenden Mutter und ihrer beiden jugendlichen Kinder wird in diesem Buch der Bangladesh-Krieg dargestellt. Das Buch ist toll erzählt und fesselt nicht nur durch seine historische Anbindung, sondern auch durch die interessanten Charaktere. Vor allem die Hauptfigur Rehana ist absolut gut gezeichnet.Wir wissen viel zu wenig über dieses Land, diese Nähstube der Welt:http://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/bilderserien/panorama/Die-marode-Naehstube-der-Welt-article10544481.htmlLeider konnte sich dort nach dem im Buch geschilderten Krieg kein stabiles politisches System bilden und so ist Bangladesh bis heute eines der korruptesten Länder der Welt. Dieses Buch zeigt uns ein bisschen auf, um welche Menschen es da geht, woher diese Leute kommen, die jetzt für unsere billigen Kleider in brennenden und einstürzenden Fabriken sterben.
    • 3/5
      A book about a far off land, a war, and a widow... I was certainly expecting a thrilling, suspenseful, maybe even adventurous novel through the sights and sounds of east Pakistan (now Bangladesh). In contrast, even though this is a very short novel, the author seemed almost afraid to delve into creating a page-turning brutal war novel. This felt like a slow read through the highlights of Rehana Haque's life. Further development of the sights and sounds of this first novel by Tahmima Anam would have taken the reader further into Rehana's world. In doing so, Tahmima Anam could have created a beautiful, vivid landscape set against the pain and stress of war. I really think she missed a great opportunity in this. Also, other than Rehana Haque's character, the other characters are only mildly developed, leaving the reader wanting to know more. I commend the author however for her storyline, I think this would make a very incredible screenplay. I felt the story itself is truly worthy of a voice, and this book was on a must read list. I was unfamiliar with this historical war, the Independence War of Bangladesh, and the author did a wonderful job of bringing this story to the novel reading public. If you enjoy historical novels, or are looking for a quick read, this book might interest you. The last 1/4 of the book is fantastic, where author Tahmima Anam really shows her talent for the pen. I would have liked to have seen an included glossary, as many terms are thrown around as if they are English, and nothing will disrupt a novel like going to your dictionary to look up a word. For reading flow, it would have been nice to include that, as well as a pronunciation guide to the names. Those things would have helped the reader to connect more closely to the story. I hope to see many more books by Tahmima Anam, she is a truly promising young author. I should note that this book would be excellent college reading. It's short enough and has passages subject to interpretation.
    • 3/5
      Meet Rehana Haque. A widowed mother of two in 1970s East Pakistan, Rehana would do anything for her children. Shortly after her husband's death, Rehana allowed her brother-in-law to take custody of her two children for a year, and she never lets herself forget it. She is a devoted mother, perhaps to a fault, and the unchanging love of a mother for her children is at the forefront of this novel about the war for Bangladesh's independence.This novel starts out strong, but without a baseline knowledge of the Bangladesh War for Independence, the reader could easily feel a little lost. Also, I had a very hard time making a connection with Rehana's two children, Sohail and Maya. I found that I didn't really care what happened to the characters in the novel.Luckily, the second half of the novel takes on a suspenseful edge as the war and the Haque family's involvement in the resistance increases. The last chapters are page turners indeed, and makes this book worth reading.
    • 4/5
      I am embarrassed to admit I really knew nothing about the Bangladesh Liberation War and genocide...even with a shallow knowledge of George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh. So this book was a crash course in that--I was wrapped up in the lives of the characters while simultaneously researching the history of the war (and country as a whole). The book started a little slow and I was wondering how committed I would be, but I was hooked by the end. The audio was fantastic--the reader, Madhur Jaffrey, made you feel like you were sitting with an auntie, telling the story from Rehana's POV. I look forward to checking out the next book the trilogy.

      ********
      Read Harder: A book about war
    • 4/5
      "Make every home a fortress", 5 February 2016This review is from: A Golden Age (Paperback)The story of the terrible 1971 Bangladesh-Pakistan conflict, as the former sought independence from a joint East-West Pakistan.Told from a family perspective, I found this quite a gripping read, as the story follows mother, Rehana, still feeling guilt at having let her children be temporarily adopted after her husband died. And then there's the children, long back home, and now working as freedom fighters - prickly Maya, and her brother, Sohail. Friends, neighbours ... only some of whom come out of the war unscathed ... and an interesting, sometimes shocking, look at how Bangladesh suffered.Nonetheless, I didn't particularly engage with the characters (But certainly want to see what happens next and would give the sequel, "A Good Muslim", a go sometime!)
    • 4/5
      Set in Bangladesh during its war for independence from Pakistan, this is a lovely novel about one woman finding her strength and purpose amid the uncertainty and terror of war. I was not at first sure what to think of the book - the writing was good and the sense of place was very strong, but it didn't strike a chord with me or engage me very strongly. But the narrative slowly gained momentum, and I began to appreciate the development of Rehana and the other characters. Anam has really written a novel about relationships - specifically female ones: wife, mother, daughter, friend, lover - and set it in an exotic milieu, both in terms of actual place and context. By doing so, she illuminates the universality of experience and emotion: the pain of loss, the value of love, and the enduring strength of family and community.
    • 4/5
      This novel by Bangladeshi author Anam is set during the Bangladeshi war of independence (known as the '71 war in Pakistan) where East Pakistan, as it was then known, won its independence from West Pakistan (or just Pakistan as it is now known). The catalyst to this even was the stolen election of 1971 which was won by a politician from the East, who was denied power by the powerful, western-dominated army and politicians from the west.This story, despite its dramatic political backdrop is much more focused on the story of one woman, the widow Rehanna Haque. Essentially apolitical, she is gradually drawn into the independence movement due to her love and desire to shelter her college-going children (son and daughter), who are fired up by nationalist ideas and who become deeply involved in the insurgency against the army. As the tale progresses we see Rehanna's devotion to her children, all the sacrifices she has made and is willing to make for their sake, and also her fear as her children become more and more committed to the cause and less and less devoted to, and dependent on, her. In that sense Rehanna also learns to let them go, a stark contrast to the way that West Pakistan desires to hang on to and keep East Pakistan tight in its grasp, despite the wishes of the majority of people for independence.The story is a bit slow to start out with but gradually builds up to a tragic and fitting climax. While Rehanna is well drawn and a character we can empathize with, other characters are somewhat more sketchily drawn - her children in particular are somewhat distant which means one doesn't necessarily feel as concerned about them as perhaps one should.
    • 4/5
      I read this book for a RL book group. In this group we read books based in different cultures. This book was set in East Pakistan in 1971 just as their war for independence from Pakistan breaks out. They become the nation of Bangladesh. I had heard of Bangladesh, but had no real in-depth information. Just that it seems to be poor, flat and floods a lot. I didn't realize that it was the former Indian state of Bengal (which I thought was still part of India). So it was a very interesting read. The author is from Dhaka and has worked her interpretation of events into the book.The story follows a woman, Rehana Haque, whose husband dies unexpectedly in 1959. He did everything for his wife and 2 children. Once he dies, she has no means of support and his childless brother and wife petition the court to take Rehana's children to live with them in Lahore. Rehana's blood relatives are formerly rich and important, but have nothing at the current time to help her. In fact her family and the brother-in-law and wife live in Pakistan and can't understand why she stays in East Pakistan. It is poorer and separated from Pakistan by a 1,000 miles of India. Rehana wants to stay in her house and neighborhood where her husband had lived, and her children were born.Rhana has her children taken and she spends 2 years struggling to find a way to support them so she can have them back. The exact means that allow her to build a guest house and take in a permanently lodging rich Indian family, are shrouded in mystery. Eventually she brings her children home to Dhaka. The story jumps 10 years and her children are grown and her life has been good, but the political situation has deteriorated. East Pakistan has been denied the ability to make its own decisions, and those forced on them from Pakistan rankle.Eventually the students at the college in Dhaka begin striking and police try to quell them. The situation escalates and troops from Pakistan arrive, and the students become insurgents. Violence reigns in the streets with battles between the students and the troops, and the troops conduct house raids and carry people off in the night; those take are never seen again, though there are rumors of horrible humiliation and torture.Rhana's children are of course involved in the student movement. The son joins the insurgents, and the daughter goes to Karachi (Pakistan) and writes in a protest paper in support of the insurgents. She uses her real name, and eventually it comes back to the family, who are based in Pakistan and don't support the fight for independence.Rehana's brother-in-law comes to Dhaka as the top civilian sent by the government to regain order, and rule over the locals. Rehana has to tip-toe around him to keep her son safe, and to help other families who have lost members to the jails. Rehana, while seeming to support the government, works to gather supplies, and food for the insurgents. She even lets her son hide guns in her garden. She does all this not out of patriotism, but because her son is involved and she wants to keep him safe, and from going away.Rehana's family of Indian lodgers must eventually flee because they are Hindus in a Muslim land. It has become an issue in the upheaval, but it didn't matter during the peace. Also India seems to be about to support freedom for East Pakistan and the government troops are rampaging against Indians. Eventually it all becomes too dangerous and Rhana goes to be with her daughter in Karachi and her son goes into to wilds with his friends to join their troops fighting against the government.In Karachi, Rehana comes face to face with the horror of the refugee camps: no shelter, no food or water, no sanitation, and little medical help. She finds the wife of the Indian family who is now alone and is so traumatized she can't speak or interact with any human.Rehana returns home as the revolution winds down. Her children and house are safe, but neighbors have had their lives destroyed. She has a chance at happiness with a man in the insurgents, but tragedy and self-sacrifice derail it.Through it all Rhana defines herself first as a wife and then a mother, and a good family member. She never deals with what she wants, as a person or a woman. While her family is her strength it is also a weakness when it demands that she behave a certain way, rather than as she wants. Her children are sketchy characters in the book, as they are in Rehana's life. She devotes everything to them, and they barely have time to acknowledge her.On a larger scale the story tells the tale of the 2 Pakistans. They are 'families' who fight and tear at each other, just a Rehana's relatives feel they have the right to plunder her children and order her to do things for their benefit not hers. There is both a societal and a familial hierarchy of who is the best and the strongest and those further down the ladder must submit to the wishes of the their betters.It was an interesting book, and well written. There were some issues with the children because they don't really come across as vital characters, but perhaps that is symbolic of the one-way relationship they had with Rehana. It had sad moments, but also showed how Rehana eventually started to think about and assert what she wanted. There was a lot of information and context, and it was worked well into the story so there were no slow spots.
    • 4/5
      Months after finishing this book I can still clearly recount scenes and characters from the story--surely signs of a good book. The choices made by Rehana are heartbreaking yet make sense in the context of her life. That her children seem oblivious to the strength and self-sacrifice of their mother adds credibility to the story while still infuriating me. Yet how true to the lives of most adolescents. The closing scenes still haunt me.
    • 4/5
      A Golden Age is a complicated novel about a woman during the Bangladeshi War for Independence. Rehana Haque is a widow with two children on the cusp of adulthood in the spring of 1971, when a revolution in Dhaka changes their lives, and those of their friends, forever. While the world rages around them, Rehana attempts to come to terms with the choices her almost-grown son, Soheil, and daughter, Maya, have made. And, despite herself, Rehana finds herself getting involved into the revolutionary movement, despite her indifference to it.Family relationships play a strong role in this novel, for a poignant revelation about what a mother will do for her children. The novel is short, but complicated and dense. You can't help but get sucked into these characters' lives, so different from our own. The title of the book, A Golden Age, is a bit misleading (considering that the period was hardly golden), but it comes from the name of Rehana's house, Shona, which means gold in Bengali.While the novel is a little bit choppy in some places, Tahmima Anam is a powerful writer who only promises to grow stronger. A Golden Age is the first book in a trilogy.
    • 5/5
      Winner, 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First BookI had been wanting to read this book almost since it first came out. When I saw it in the library on audio, I knew I had to listen to it, and I’m so glad I did. It was wonderful, especially for a first time author.The book is essentially about the 1971 war for independence in Bangladesh, but it’s also about how far a parent will go for his or her offspring. Rehana is a widow with two children, a boy and a girl, in their late teens. As they get more politically involved in the fight for their country, it is always in Rehana’s mind that she must keep them safe from harm at all costs. The novel describes the horrors of war and the fallout from it in a very vivid fashion. It reminded me quite a bit of Adichie’s excellent novel, Half of a Yellow Sun. It’s a different country with a different outcome, but I loved both of these books.Anam has planned for this to be a trilogy, of which the second is The Good Muslim. I will definitely be reading that book as well, hopefully in the new few months or so, so that I can read the third one right away when it comes out.Highly recommended.2007, 304 pp.
    • 4/5
      A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam is the story of one family set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War for Independence in 1971. Widow Rehana has been keeping her head averted from national events and is very much in denial about the situation while her son and daughter, both university students, are deeply involved and committed to their country’s independence from Pakistan. As Rehana is drawn gradually into the conflict, the reader learns not only about the war but also sees this character grow and show exceptional depth, strength and focus. All the characters in this book are well drawn with the perfections and flaws of real life vividly shown.I am ashamed to say that although I was a young adult at this time, I have very little remembrance of this war. I do remember the Bangladesh Concert that was given to raise money for the starving people, but I think the news in those days was so riveted on Vietnam that little attention was given to this conflict. A Golden Age has inspired me find other books that deal with this subject as I would like to learn more of these troubled times.A Golden Age is both a powerful story and a subtle one. Much is left between the lines for the reader to discover for himself. I felt that first and foremost this was a story about a family living through difficult times and the sacrifice a mother would make for her children. The author’s beautiful writing and descriptions bring this book to life and although I never totally bonded with the main character, I certainly understood why she acted as she did.
    • 4/5
      Dear Husband,I lost our children today.Rehana Haque, a widow and mother of two, lived through the loss of custody her children after her husband's sudden death. When war comes to East Pakistan in 1971, Rehana is determined not to lose her children again. Maya and Sohail, her children, are now young adults and are caught up in the independence movement. Rehana isn't interested in the political aspects of the war, but she loves her children and becomes involved in the resistance efforts for their sakes.Although Tahmima Anam wasn't yet born during the Bangladesh War for Independence, she writes about it as if she was there. Maybe it's because many aspects of the novel are based on her own family's history and she grew up with their stories of the war. While the war provides the backdrop for the novel, it's not a war novel. The story is driven by relationships – a mother's love for her children, an immigrant's love for her adopted country, and friendship that transcends cultural and religious differences. The edition I read includes an annotated bibliography of Anam's favorite books about Bangladesh. I wouldn't be surprised if this book shows up on other readers' lists of favorite South Asian books.
    • 5/5
      Just finished listening to Jaffrey‘s narration of A Golden Age. It is one of those books best “read” by listening. Knowing very little about that national split—and obliged to be a “joibangla,” (sp?)—I really did enjoy it. I was steeled for the end, but did not cry. It was not what I expected, but was the only ending that could have made sense.
    • 3/5
      This book is set in the East Pakistan of 1971 as it is about to become Bangladesh. The story centers on the matriarch of the family, Rehana, as her two beloved children become embroiled in the resistance movement. The small details of Rehana’s quotidian life bring a real sense of how universal this story really is. We all gossip with neighbors, plan family events, struggle to make ends meet. The wonderful way Anam combines the mundane with the burgeoning political struggle brings cultural depth to the story. We actually meet the family about in 1959 as the children are being taken from R, after her husband has died and she’s left penniless. This family history gives us the sense of familial loyalty and love that is a dominate theme of the book, and also serves to let us know that, while this is a compelling story about the birth of a nation, it is foremost a story about finding, recognizing and keeping love in one’s heart when the world around you is falling apart.