A new bride is unable to move from her husband’s motorbike as her sari comes undone. A young man wonders how he will cope with the sari’s complicated folds in a romantic clinch. A villager’s soft worn sari is her main comfort during a fever. Drawing on experiences from villagers in Bengal to scientists in Bangalore, The Sari presents both an intimate portrait of the lives of women in India today and an alternative way for us to think about our relationship wi… More >>
I really enjoyed Mukulika Banerjee’s look into the beautiful but often complicated world of the sari. It provides a great deal of information on regional customs. I was disappointed that the book did not contian more photos.
Rating: 4 / 5
Don’t buy this book if you are expecting it to have the full-color photos that are in the original hard bound edition!! This volume uses poor black and white renditions of the color images used in the original.
Rating: 2 / 5
I have had a deep interest in Indian and Pakistani dress for four or five years. I own and wear several saris and shalwar kamiz, but didn’t know much about their history or the nuances of dress; this book changed that for me. I was looking for a well illustrated coffee table book, but got that and much more! I could barely put it down from the moment it was delivered. Although there is a lot of detail, it is written in a way that is interesting and easy to read. I highly reccomend it!
Rating: 5 / 5
Mukulika Bannerjee’s book, while easily accessible to Westerners with little to no knowledge of Indian clothing customs, also goes in-depth about the many levels of nuance attached to a deceptively simple 6-yard piece of unsewn cloth. She delineates cultural sentiments about what colors and styles are appropriate for unmarried girls, the new bride, middle-aged mothers, and widows. Sections include explanations of the many fabric styles, from ethnic handloom cottons and silks to garish polyester synthetics, along with discussions on what sort of woman is likely to wear each, and for what occasion. Fascinating real-life vignettes feature all sorts of sari wearers, from Hindu to Muslim and from the poorest villager to Bollywood stars and political leaders like Indira Gandhi. The many stunning color photographs make this book a real delight to the eyes as well as a great source of information on a topic rarely covered in the West.
Rating: 5 / 5
I own about 450 books on India and Indian culture, so when I say this is one of my 2-3 favorite books on India (the other probably being Meeting God by Stephen Huyler), it truly says something about this book.
The Sari is beautiful to look at, and fascinating to read. It draws us into women’s lives in a way that is enlightening, personal, and does not play to Western preconceptions.
A cross between social antropology and coffee-table book, this book appeals on many levels. It has a ring of truth, drawn from hundreds of interviews with Indian women about their lives and their attitude towards the clothes they wear. It sets these individual attitudes squarely in the cultural milieu in which they belong.
I hope that it gets the wide readership it deserves.
Rating: 5 / 5