The Village by the Sea | Book review

‘The village by the sea’ is a young adult novel written by an Indian writer ‘Anita Desai’. The novel was published in London in 1982, while the US version of the book was released in 1984.

 

The novel won The Guardian children’s fiction prize, a British book award. It is based on poverty, hardship, and misery.

The book tells the story of two Indian siblings. Lila and Hari, as they try to improve life for their impoverished family. Lila and Hari are the oldest children in a poor family. They live in Thul, a small fishing village located next to the sea in a rural region of India. The family has not always been poor, but fell into a bad fortune.

 

When the children’s father paid a large sum of money to a man who promised to get him a job, in Mumbai. However, the man lied to him and disappeared with the money. After the accident, they fell into deep despair and began drinking and neglecting the family. He did earn a living, but borrowed money from the neighbors to buy alcohol since the children’s mother was very sick and confined to her bed most of the time. Thirteen years old Lila and twelve years old Hari has taken over parental duties for their younger siblings, Bela and Kamal. Lila takes care of her mother and performs the household chores while Hari works as a laborer in the field to earn money to support the family. Hari is always looking for new work and ways to alleviate his family’s poverty.

 

The villagers receive the news that a factory may open in town and many boys wait eagerly to sign up for work. However, the sibling’s luck improves when a wealthy family, the Desilvas moves into the house next door and pays Lila and Hari to do some work around their home. The Desilves live in Mumbai and are just spending the holidays in Thul, after he hears about the children’s flight, MR Desilva tells Hari he can get him a job at a car wash in Mumbai. Although the job offers fall through, Hari thinks about going to Mumbai to look for work, especially after the family dog pinto is poisoned by neighbors as revenge for their father is not able to pay back. Biju a fisherman is building a boat with an engine. Some of the villagers in Thul are not upset that factories are being built on their land and decide to travel to Mumbai to complain to the government.

 

Hari took advantage of the opportunity to go with them. When he gets there, he looks for Desilvas but learns they are away on vacation. Desilvas’s servant introduces him to a man who offers him a job in a hotel. While another man asks him to work as a skilled watchmaker. Now he is able to support his family. After some of his mother and father both improved their condition he reaches his village and starts his own business.

The main theme of the book novel is family, responsibility, poverty, and dealing with adversity. By the dent of hard work both siblings got benefits but also from kind individuals. The message of the story is to preserve in the face of hardship and take advantage of every opportunity to make a better life while helping others. Desai has filled each line with a deep meaning of great importance. The novel also points out a picture of a changing world that is becoming more industrialized and in which skilled labor is increasingly replacing agriculture as the primary means of making a living.

 

Whosoever have the book, the book is not just to be read as a wonderful abstract work, or to be cherished or for joy but for inspiration or motivation. One needs to acknowledge the difficulties of life and endeavor to meet them with dignity. This book is about how Hari and Lila transcend their struggle and emerge victorious in their journey for survival.

 

-Sameen Abid