What do you think?
Rate this book
The Python
Nothing is beyond politics-overtly or covertly. Family is the microcosm of a political entity where powerful/powerless, or the ruler/ruled relationships are discreetly downplayed. Inconspicuous though, it, however, is widely prevalent in families, giving rise not only to love and hate but also hit and win relationships. If observed closely, it can be figured out. "The Python", a novella, unveils this subtle politics in human relationship through the "hate and hit" game of Shojib, the powerless and Bhabi, the powerful. Finally, Shojib, the resistance force, gives in to the design of Bhabi, the commanding authority, and as a consequence, Rehana falls an innocent victim to the power struggle.
95 pages, Unknown Binding
First published February 1, 2012
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 9, 2019
Professor Haroonuzzaman was a favorite professor of mine at Independent University, Bangladesh where he has taught for the last 21 years and plans to retire at the end of 2019. He is a celebrated member of “Dhaka city’s literary glitterati”. His books have been listed as some of the best coming out of Bangladesh by CNN, Forbes and BookAuthority. Professor Haroonuzzaman has written many translations widely held in IVY-League universities and other universities in Europe and Oceania. His translations have been critically acclaimed as some of the best books written in English to have come out of Bangladesh including "The Chronicles of 1971", English translation of stories based on the Liberation War of Bangladesh, that have received readership at home and abroad.
As his student, I remember a teacher dedicated to his craft. With the same passion that we were taught in class, that same vibrant energy could be felt in the book. The characters grapple with difficult power dynamics that plague youth from all generations-powerless due to economic dependence during student life, the restrictive nature of the family unit, the struggle to find hope all while interacting with a colourful cast of poets, misfits, student politicians and romantic relationships.
What is most striking is Haroonuzzamans’s treatment of politics. Here the political is not only personal but visceral. All the characters reflect in even their small thoughts and reactions the constant blows of the system in which they live. The hero struggles through what seems from the outside normal, a family that collides against the sociopolitical panorama of post-war Bangladesh. The hero, Shojib, may at first look approachable: built around central friendships with poets, student politicians, romantic interests and enigmatic yet turbulent family history, going to university in post-war Bangladesh, is the seemingly realist saga full of family intrigues and love affairs and rivalries.
“The Python” is Professor Haroonuzzaman’s third novel. It can be absorbed in one sitting, only 95 pages, and leads to an evocative experience young people can relate to. Shojib is a university student during the years directly following the Independence War, as the nation struggles to find its new identity in the same way that a young man must find his. It is an epic struggle for power and a family saga where the political and the private are inexplicably intertwined. The novella is a romantic family saga, a coming of age story and a portrait of a society on the cusp of a profound new stage as an independent state. Shojib is forced to come to terms with a difficult past as well as navigate through an uncertain future.
Exploring the physical and emotional landscape of war through its aftermath, Professor Haroonuzzaman’s novel traces the history of Shohib’s family that moves, not always seamlessly, between the fleeting past and present. What comes through is the lesson I have learned from my prolific teacher both in his lectures and his novel-that writing is a compulsion that is a labour of love and also a matter of life and death.
As his student, I remember a teacher dedicated to his craft. With the same passion that we were taught in class, that same vibrant energy could be felt in the book. The characters grapple with difficult power dynamics that plague youth from all generations-powerless due to economic dependence during student life, the restrictive nature of the family unit, the struggle to find hope all while interacting with a colourful cast of poets, misfits, student politicians and romantic relationships.
What is most striking is Haroonuzzamans’s treatment of politics. Here the political is not only personal but visceral. All the characters reflect in even their small thoughts and reactions the constant blows of the system in which they live. The hero struggles through what seems from the outside normal, a family that collides against the sociopolitical panorama of post-war Bangladesh. The hero, Shojib, may at first look approachable: built around central friendships with poets, student politicians, romantic interests and enigmatic yet turbulent family history, going to university in post-war Bangladesh, is the seemingly realist saga full of family intrigues and love affairs and rivalries.
“The Python” is Professor Haroonuzzaman’s third novel. It can be absorbed in one sitting, only 95 pages, and leads to an evocative experience young people can relate to. Shojib is a university student during the years directly following the Independence War, as the nation struggles to find its new identity in the same way that a young man must find his. It is an epic struggle for power and a family saga where the political and the private are inexplicably intertwined. The novella is a romantic family saga, a coming of age story and a portrait of a society on the cusp of a profound new stage as an independent state. Shojib is forced to come to terms with a difficult past as well as navigate through an uncertain future.
Exploring the physical and emotional landscape of war through its aftermath, Professor Haroonuzzaman’s novel traces the history of Shohib’s family that moves, not always seamlessly, between the fleeting past and present. What comes through is the lesson I have learned from my prolific teacher both in his lectures and his novel-that writing is a compulsion that is a labour of love and also a matter of life and death.
Displaying 1 of 1 review