''The Crow Eaters'' is a 1978 comic novel by

Bapsi Sidhwa Bapsi Sidhwa ( ur, بیپسی سدھوا; born 11 August 1938) is a Pakistani novelist of Gujarati Parsi Zoroastrian descent who writes in English and is a resident in the United States. She is best known for her collaborative work with Ind ...

. The novel is about a

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

family. The book was Sidhwa's debut novel. Sidhwa said in a 2012 interview that she was "still delighted" with the novel and regularly found passages of the book " ... that still make me laugh out loud. I remember laughing a lot as I was writing the book and being in a very good humour, for the most part". The BBC described the book in 2022 as "Wickedly funny and searingly honest nda vibrant portrait of a Parsi family taking its place in colonial India on the brink of the 20th century". It was initially self-published in English in 1978. In 1980, it was published by Sangam Books of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, India and by

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

in London (). It has been republished several times including in 2015 by Daunt (). It was translated into Urdu in 2012 by Muhammad Umar Memon. The novel attracted a hostile reception in Pakistan upon publication in 1982 due to its depiction of Parsis. In a 2012 interview Sidhwa recalled that ''The Crow Eaters'' received a warmer reception in Pakistan after the novel was well received by British reviewers. Sidhwa recalled that "A lot of Parsis were offended ... It was the first novel ever written about the Parsis, and the community was not accustomed to seeing themselves fictionalised or made fun of. They certainly accept and love the book now". A bomb scare at the Intercontinental Hotel accompanied the publication of the book in Lahore. The book was included in the

Big Jubilee Read The Big Jubilee Read is a 2022 campaign to promote reading for pleasure and to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. A list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, 10 from each decade of Elizabeth II's reign, was selected by a panel of ...

to celebrate the

Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration in 2022 marking the Platinum jubilee, 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952, the first British monarch to ever celebrate one. In the Un ...

in 2022.

Plot

The book is about a Parsi family, the Junglewallas, in

pre-partition India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

and their move from central India to the city of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. The book opens with the death of the family patriarch, businessman Fareedon Junglewalla. Fareedon's conflicts with his mother-in-law provide many of the novel's comic scenes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crow Eaters, The 1982 novels 20th-century Pakistani novels English-language novels Parsi culture Novels set in British India