Tomb of Sand

{{Short description|2018 Hindi novel by Geetanjali Shree}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox book | name = Tomb of Sand | image = File:Ret Samadhi cover.jpg | caption = First edition cover | author = [[Geetanjali Shree]] | translator = [[Daisy Rockwell]] | cover_artist = | country = India | language = Hindi | genre = | publisher = [[Rajkamal Prakashan]] (Hindi);<br /> [[Tilted Axis Press]] and [[Penguin Books]] India (English)<ref name="IndianExpress">{{cite web |last1=Chakrabarti |first1=Paromita |title=Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell's International Booker win brings Indian literature in translation into focus |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/geetanjali-shree-daisy-rockwell-international-booker-prize-tomb-of-sand-ret-samadhi-hindi-indian-language-novel-7938999/ |publisher=The Indian Express |access-date=28 May 2022 |date=28 May 2022 |archive-date=28 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528063401/https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/geetanjali-shree-daisy-rockwell-international-booker-prize-tomb-of-sand-ret-samadhi-hindi-indian-language-novel-7938999/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | pub_date = 2018 (original); <br />2021 (translation)<ref name="IndianExpress" /> | pages = 376 (Hindi); 696 (English) }}

''''' Tomb of Sand''''' (originally titled '''''Ret Samadhi''''', {{langx|hi|रेत समाधि}})<ref name="to1">{{cite news |title=Geetanjali Shree's "Tomb Of Sand" |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/geetanjali-shree-wins-international-booker-prize-for-first-hindi-novel-3013360#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll |access-date=27 May 2022 |publisher=ndtv |date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527005713/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/geetanjali-shree-wins-international-booker-prize-for-first-hindi-novel-3013360#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll |url-status=live }}</ref> is a 2018 [[Hindi (language)|Hindi]]-language novel by Indian author [[Geetanjali Shree]]. It was translated into [[English (language)|English]] by U.S. translator [[Daisy Rockwell]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=सीमाहरू भत्काउँदै 'रेत समाधि' |url=https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2022/06/18/165551861075826986.html |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=ekantipur.com |language=ne |archive-date=22 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922070813/https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2022/06/18/165551861075826986.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2022, the book became the first novel translated from an [[Languages of India|Indian language]] to win the [[International Booker Prize]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Marshall |first1=Alex |title=Women Dominate Shortlist for International Booker Prize |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/books/international-booker-prize-shortlist-tokarczuk.html |access-date=8 April 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=7 April 2022 |archive-date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408003652/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/books/international-booker-prize-shortlist-tokarczuk.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand' first Hindi novel on International Booker shortlist |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/geetanjali-shree-tomb-of-sand-first-hindi-novel-on-international-booker-shortlist-7858369/ |access-date=8 April 2022 |work=The Indian Express |date=7 April 2022 |language=en |archive-date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408081011/https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/geetanjali-shree-tomb-of-sand-first-hindi-novel-on-international-booker-shortlist-7858369/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The 2022 International Booker Prize |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/international/2022 |publisher=The Booker Prizes |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=8 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608105257/https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/international/2022 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="to2">{{cite news |date=27 May 2022 |title=Geetanjali Shree is first Indian winner of International Booker Prize |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-61561452 |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527010646/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-61561452 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Plot == In northern India, an eighty-year-old woman slips into deep depression after the death of her husband, and then resurfaces to gain a new lease on life. Her determination to fly in the face of convention – including striking up a friendship with a transgender person – confuses her bohemian daughter, who is used to thinking of herself as the more modern of the two.

To her family's dismay, Ma insists on travelling to [[Pakistan]], simultaneously confronting the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of the [[Partition of India|Indian Partition]], and re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a feminist.

== Critical reception == The novel received praise from book critics in India and elsewhere. Writing in ''[[The Hindu]]'', reviewer [[Mini Kapoor]] described it as "a stunningly powerful story about stories that never end".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kapoor |first1=Mini |title=In Ma's metaverse: Mini Kapoor reviews Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand', translated by Daisy Rockwell |url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/mini-kapoor-reviews-geetanjali-shrees-tomb-of-sand/article65419099.ece |access-date=29 May 2022 |work=The Hindu |date=21 May 2022 |archive-date=28 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528202042/https://www.thehindu.com/society/mini-kapoor-reviews-geetanjali-shrees-tomb-of-sand/article65419099.ece |url-status=live }}</ref> Vighnesh Hampapura and Shree Thaarshini, reviewing in ''[[Scroll.in]]'', called ''Tomb of Sand'' an original and undefinable novel, appreciating its "wild tendency toward free association loosens the borders with which we frame the world," and especially applauded the translator's ingenuity in capturing the novel's dizzy language.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Vighnesh Hampapura |author2=Shree Thaarshini |title=‘Tomb of Sand’: Geetanjali Shree’s novel may be the most original and undefinable work of our times |url=https://scroll.in/article/1022001/tomb-of-sand-geetanjali-shrees-novel-may-be-the-most-original-and-undefinable-work-of-our-times |website=[[Scroll.in]] |access-date=13 March 2026 |date=23 Apr 2022}}</ref> Novelist [[Alka Saraogi]], writing in ''[[The Book Review]]'', praised the novel for "its sweeping imagination and sheer power of language, unprecedented and uninhibited".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saraogi |first=Alka |author-link=Alka Saraogi |date=May 2019 |title=Painting The Ordinary In Myriad Extraordinary Hues |url=https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/painting-the-ordinary-in-myriad-extraordinary-hues/ |journal=[[The Book Review]] |volume=43 |issue=5 |access-date=3 May 2024 |archive-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212132231/https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/painting-the-ordinary-in-myriad-extraordinary-hues/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Frank Wynne]], chair of the 2022 International Booker judges, said it was "enormously engaging and charming and funny and light, despite the various subjects it's dealing with". He added that Rockwell's translation was "stunningly realised, the more so because so much of the original depends on wordplay, on the sounds and cadences of Hindi".<ref>{{cite news |title=First novel translated from Hindi wins International Booker prize |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/26/first-novel-translated-from-hindi-wins-international-booker-prize |access-date=29 May 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=26 May 2022 |archive-date=5 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105234314/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/26/first-novel-translated-from-hindi-wins-international-booker-prize |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Accolades == In addition to winning the 2022 International Booker Prize and 2022 [[Warwick Prize for Women in Translation]] in its English translation, the French translation ({{Lang|fr|Ret Samadhi, au-delà de la frontière}}: [[Éditions des Femmes]], Paris, 2020; tr. Annie Montaut) was shortlisted for the 2021 [[Émile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Snaije |first1=Olivia |title=Geetanjali Shree on the Need for 'a Pluralistic Multilingual World' |url=https://publishingperspectives.com/2022/04/geetanjali-shree-on-the-need-for-a-pluralistic-multilingual-world/ |publisher=Publishing Perspectives |access-date=28 May 2022 |date=28 April 2022 |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527015357/https://publishingperspectives.com/2022/04/geetanjali-shree-on-the-need-for-a-pluralistic-multilingual-world/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{ISBN|978-9387462243}}: Rajkamal Prakashan (Hindi) *{{ISBN|978-1911284611}}: Tilted Axis Press (English) *{{ISBN|978-0143448471}}: Penguin Books India (English)

[[Category:2018 Indian novels]] [[Category:Novels set in India]] [[Category:Novels set in Pakistan]] [[Category:Hindi-language novels]] [[Category:International Booker Prize–winning works]] [[Category:Fictional books]] [[Category:Novels about the partition of India]]