Born Behind Bars - book review

Opening lines:

Beyond the bars, framed by the high, square window, slides a small patch of sky.

For months, it’s been as gray as the faded paint flaking off the walls, but today it’s blue and gold. Bright as a happy song.

Genre: Realistic fiction

Reading age: 9–12 years

Themes: Family, friendship, belonging, caste, poverty, child abuse, religious biases

Favorite quote: “I lean back, close my eyes, and pretend I’m asleep. What a mixed-up world. Bedi Ma’am was right — adults are terrible at sharing. They are even worse than the boys in jail school.” Ch 44

Summary:

The book follows the story of 11-year-old Kabir who was born in jail and never experienced the world beyond it. Years ago his mother, being a woman from a lower caste, was falsely accused of a crime and then imprisoned.

Life behind bars is hard and oppressive. But it looks like Kabir and his Amma always look on the bright side. Until it’s time for Kabir to leave the jail and start a life of his own. In the city of Chennai. As Kabir Khan.

Street life is unpredictable and unsafe. There are many dangers lurking around every corner. But Kabir is lucky to find Rani, a girl who has been living on the street for quite a while and knows how to protect herself.

Kabir desperately wants to meet his father, as he believes his father can help free Amma from imprisonment. He knows about him only from the memories his mother shared with him.

Despite the uncertainty, he is ready for any challenges to find his relatives who might know something about his father. Together with Rani, he embarks on a journey to get his life back.

The reason why others should read it:

This book evokes so many emotions and gives hope. It makes you think about the fates of so many Kabirs who are forced to live on the streets and try to survive another day. The overarching themes of the novel are the social issues that permeate our societies — casteism, religious biases, imprisonment of the innocent, etc.

However, this is also a story of a strong child-parent bond, an unexpected friendship that is long-lasting as any true friendship should be, and of unbeatable hope that the main character shows.

For me personally, this is also a story of a gentle soul that was captured in the very circumstances, but never gives up his

A little about the creation of the book: At the end of the book one can learn how Padma Venkatraman approached creating this novel. There was a lot of prior knowledge that she had growing up in India, as well as solid research wherein she “read books and articles on jails in India, visited a prison, and spoke to people who worked with inmates.”

You can learn more about the author at https://padmavenkatraman.com/