Do not let the title scare you, this book was a spice level of like 1.5 and the erotic stories were not anywhere near the focus of this book. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows is a international bestseller and was chosen as Reese's Book Club's pick of March 2018. It focuses on the concept of community and the good and bad that comes with a close community, and the secrets that we keep from everyone, even the one's we love. It is not graphic but it does reference adult/minor relationships, bullying, cancer, child abuse and death, infidelity, misogyny, sexism, suicide, pedophilia, Islamophobia and xenophobia, grief, stalking, a car accident, murder, lesbophobia, and a fire. It seems like a lot, but many of the references were fleeting.
Nikki is the daughter of Indian immigrants trying to make her own way in London. She lives above the bar that she has been working at, dating as a woman in her early twenties should, and teasing her older sister for being more traditional and wanting to settle down. But when her father dies unexpectedly from a heart attack, she decides to help her mom and sister out with the bills so she accepts a job teaching a creative writing workshop for women in the London's close-knit Punjabi community of Southall. Or so she thinks. When she arrives, she realizes that most of the women don't know how to read or write in English, and they don't really want to learn. What they're craving is a space to be themselves. When they find a spicy novel in Nikki's bag, the women have ideas of how they'd like the class to proceed but they have to be careful of The Brotherhood, the self-appointed morality police. Especially when more and more women start coming to the class. Nikki ends up learning that she has more in common with these traditional Punjabi women than she ever would have expected, and they inspire her to give up on dreams she had already put aside. And she solves a murder in the meantime.
This book really surprised me! I was not a huge fan of Nikki when the novel started and was not sure I was going to enjoy it, but she really grew on me. It gives you an inside look at the way the community works, which I loved to learn about. The writing is pretty good and the story is delightful, I love the side characters (they were so snarky and fun!), I enjoyed watching Nikki reconnect with her heritage and deal with the grief around her father's death. They did talk a lot about food though, which often left me hungry and craving food that was not in my pantry.
I'm giving Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal 4 stars out of 5. Spice level was a 1.5. It was a story that was completely unexpected for me but in the best way. A love story, a murder mystery, a story of female empowerment, and it was quite funny at times.
Check out Balli Kaur Jaswal's website at https://www.ballijaswal.com/
Pairs well with homemade roti and a creative writing class.
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