| Title | : | Haveli (Shabanu, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0679865691 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780679865698 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1993 |
Haveli (Shabanu, #2) Reviews
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The Shabanu series sure does immerse readers in a whole new world, a contemporary land uniquely faithful to ancient customs. Old culture collides with new in twentieth-century Pakistan, seen through the eyes of smart, willful Shabanu (pronounced "Shah-bah-noo"), free-spirited daughter of a camel herder in a region where females are obligated to defer to the men in authority over them without complaint or independent aspiration. Preteen Shabanu bucked the notion of marrying a man several decades older than herself in Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, a 1990 Newbery Honor book, but came to realize that her sanity and survival depended on accepting the harsh realities of Pakistani culture. Deriving strength from the wisdom of her Auntie Sharma, who created her own path in life against all odds, Shabanu would go on to marry middle-aged Rahim without relinquishing her dignity. She's around eighteen years old and mother to Rahim's five-year-old daughter Mumtaz (pronounced "Muhm-tahz") when Haveli picks up the narrative, but danger is ramping up anew for Shabanu and her family. She's gone from a bad situation into one that might get her killed.
"You must take control of events before they take control of you...If you don't do what you can for yourself, no one else will."
—Sharma, Haveli, P. 65
Being the youngest and favorite wife of a wealthy bureaucrat has its perks, but Shabanu has to watch her back in the company of Rahim's other wives. He's captivated by Shabanu's youth and air of mystery, and the senior wives hate her for it. Every few days they threaten her in some way that can't be traced back to them, even murdering a puppy belonging to Mumtaz. Rahim shrugs off Shabanu's concern, not wanting to see fighting in the family. Shabanu can hold her own against Amina and the other bitter wives, but Mumtaz is an innocent child liable to fall into the traps they set, and Amina has shown she isn't above harming her. Shabanu envisions moving to Rahim's haveli in the city, his ancestral three-story manor that has deteriorated into less than the posh estate it used to be. She'd be safe there with Mumtaz, and Rahim could visit frequently when he's in the city on business. Convincing Rahim to let them give the haveli a try takes patience, timing, and luck, but Shabanu breathes a sigh of relief to temporarily leave Amina and the other vipers behind. For the first time in years she's able to relax without fear of retribution.
Shabanu's plans for Mumtaz's and her own education at the haveli are put on hold by the announcement of two major weddings agreed upon by Rahim to unify the family land holdings for the first time in centuries. Omar, Rahim's nephew, is to wed Leyla (Rahim and Amina's daughter), and Zabo (pronounced "Zeh-boh"), Shabanu's dearest friend and Rahim's niece, is betrothed to Rahim and Amina's only son, Ahmed. Zabo's father is the unscrupulous Nazir, Rahim's brother, and her union will reconcile Nazir's portion of the family land to Rahim's. Zabo is repulsed by Ahmed, a physical weakling with profound mental deficiencies, but her wishes count for nothing against the plans of Rahim and Nazir. Zabo confides to Shabanu that she'd rather kill herself than be Ahmed's wife, but Shabanu believes her friend's life can be spared if the right scheme is implemented. Years ago Auntie Sharma fled an undesirable husband of her own and now lives happily with her daughter in the desert, so it can be done. Pressure mounts on Shabanu at the haveli as the days dwindle until her return home where Amina will be waiting to torment her, and the emotional turmoil spikes when Shabanu meets a young man very much unlike Rahim, a Pakistani who has spent time in the Western world. Shabanu knows marriage only as a responsibility, not the natural outgrowth of love between two people, but that changes with the emergence of this Westerner. How much longer can she stand to be bound by traditions that prohibit her from seeking freedom and fulfillment because she's female? What future is there for Mumtaz under these conditions? A perilous situation grows steadily more untenable until the day everything erupts in a geyser of madness, and only one thing is sure about Shabanu's future: her life will never be close to the same. The two family weddings and what happens afterward are the doorway to a new era of Shabanu's existence.
The key decisions of her life haven't been Shabanu's to make since she wed Rahim, a relatively kind man who specifically requested her as his wife in the previous novel. Because she was forced to first take a husband and then grow into something resembling love with him, Shabanu never experienced young love that could mature into something lasting, and she goes haywire when she runs into it in Haveli. Shabanu listened to Auntie Sharma's advice about how to hold a husband's attention and keep him from wandering on to new challenges, and it's served her well while frustrating his older wives. Why does Rahim stay fascinated with Shabanu? It goes back to Sharma's words. "The secret is keeping your innermost beauty, the secrets of your soul, locked in your heart...Trust yourself. Keep your inner reserves hidden." Shabanu learned to implement what Sharma told her. "At the time, Shabanu had thought she hadn't any inner reserves to hide. But Sharma's advice had guided Shabanu's life. She tucked away each small happiness so that it glowed within her. And Sharma was right: Rahim was mesmerized with her mystery. He reached out to her in every way he knew, but he never quite touched her." To capture the attention of a romantic prospect, you must let the little joys of discovery and insight sparkle within you like fireflies against the dark night. That glow will attract people to find out why you seem special, but it's up to you whom you allow access. We can all benefit from Sharma's philosophy. Shabanu has made the best of her marriage into Rahim's household, but the weight of it all is suffocating her. She recalls the story of Anarkali, a harem girl to the Mogul emperor. The emperor's son fell for Anarkali, and the first time she returned his smile, the emperor ordered Anarkali buried alive, so great was his jealousy. "I have been like Anarkali, thought Shabanu, buried alive all these years. And I never knew it until I fell in love." It can take a dramatic event to reveal the depth of our own suffering, but once we're aware, coping is harder than ever. Is Shabanu destined to ever know contentment?
"The only thing we have in this life is time...And we never know how much of that we have."
—Sharma, P. 218
I loved everything about Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind: the lyrical language, the extraordinary wisdom, the message to readers who feel trapped like Shabanu, seeing nothing but misery in their future. Haveli is good, too, if not as interesting on a page-by-page basis as its predecessor. This second leg of Shabanu's story has moments of raw heartbreak that begged me to round my two-and-a-half star rating to three, and perhaps I should. Perhaps I will. Even in a culture where there's no hope for you to live as you desire because you're different from most people in some taboo way, the future you want is not lost if you want it badly enough. Sharma achieved it, and that's Shabanu's goal, too. Accompanying her on the journey there is compelling reading, and there's more of it in book three, The House of Djinn. I'm already looking forward to it. -
I read the first novel in thie series when I was 13, and it always stuck with me. So discovering there was a follow up novel was a nice surprise. There was too much descriptive writing in this book, to a point I was so dazzled by all the names of flowers and shrubs and the different jewellery and elaborate interior decoration of the haveli, I started reading those parts diagonally. But Fisher Staples manages to keep Shabanu alive amidst all of that, which made me want to read on, and buy the third installment of the series too, just to find out what happens to this beloved character of mine! A nice little bit of nostalgia.
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This is a strong novel that truly captured my interest. First, the setting is vivid, so well described that I felt I was really there, experiencing Pakistan through the eyes of a young wife. As for the plot, it resisted predictability and did not cave in to any "happily ever after" clichés, just like Shabanu. I appreciate that realism and the vividness of the story. I also admire the way Shabanu was shown to be so brave, and yet also full of doubts and contradicting loyalties. The writer laid out her hero’s choices and showed us how she struggled to make her decisions, and this enhanced both plot and character.
At the same time, Haveli is not as compelling as is Shabanu. Part of this is due to the fact that the author didn't do as good a job of portraying character, in Haveli. Especially when it came to Zabo, I felt like I didn't know her very well. This absence of character development stemmed from the point of view. I can understand why the author chose third person for the telling of this story; for the sake of the rich description and the heightening of danger which is involved in this story, the third person point of view makes sense. Most of the time, we experience things along with Shabanu, but there are lots of other times when the POV shifts from person to person. I think the third person should have been more limited, so that we only felt things along with Zabo and Shabanu. I missed feeling that closeness with Shabanu, that intensity of experience which came in the first novel partially through the use of the first person point of view. -
The author must have fallen in love with the desert and the desert people when she lived in Pakistan. Her images of their lives, their ways are gentle and loving. Even more so when compared to her descriptions of the wealthier classes. Those who stay true to their role of protecting and looking after the land and the poor are still honored, but those who are greedy and think only of their wealth are treated with scorn and disdain.
I found the descriptions of the rich, nurturing community of women most fascinating in this continuation of Shabanu's story. They lead such hard lives and yet find it possible to love and laugh and live. The community of wealthier women - those with leisure - are cruel and hateful.
The book is set five years after the first and Shabanu is the fourth wife of a wealthy landowner, 42 years her senior, and has a young daughter. She has clearly grown in wisdom, and I found myself wanting to read more about how she gained that. Why did she grow wise and strong in such an oppressive atmosphere? I conclude - which is perhaps the author's desire - that it was her upbringing in the desert.
I think my favorite theme of the book is the idea that we always have choices. Sometimes the choices aren't easy but we always have them. -
Read as part of my ongoing shelf audit. Verdict: Destined for the library book sale.
Honestly after finishing Shabanu I was pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy this much more, but I was at least a little curious to see if Shabanu would finally get an actual happy ending with some agency in her life, and I already owned it, so... why not. Unfortunately, the answer to that is... sort of? But mostly this is another installment of powerful men making Shabanu's life awful (with the occasional not-very-powerful woman taking the opportunity to punch down). She does end the book with more freedom than she began it, but at the cost of almost every relationship that matters to her. Again, it may be realistic, but it also just makes the book feel sort of pointless, because so little is achieved despite her best efforts. -
The second sequel of Daughter of the Wind. Under The Same Stars told the story of Shabanu, five years after her marriage to Rahim. She had a daughter named Mumtaz and lived modestly, away from Rahim's vicious elder wives. She missed her life in the desert dearly. Shabanu was still a strong spirited woman as she was and this time, she going to help Zabo, her new friend and husband's niece from her unwanted marriage and abusive father.
This second book is as good as the first one. Though the story was not a happy one. Shabanu continued being left out and the abusive men in her life continued to be even more abusive. The story portayed on how strong Shabanu is when she faced upon countless of tests and misfortunes, thrown at her. I cannot wait to read the next one. -
Suzanne Staples has succeeded in writing a sequel equally as exciting and emotional as her first novel, Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind.
*SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT!!!!*
In Haveli, Shabanu copes with life living with Rahim and his other wives who plot against her. She cherishes her only child, her daughter named Mumtaz, and tries to please Rahim.
Eventually, in order to settle land disputes, Rahim requests that Shabanu's close friend Zabo be betrothed to Ahmed, Rahim's brother Nazir's son. Ahmed is foolish and unsuitable for Zabo, and Shabanu tries to comfort her. The two friends create a plan in which they will save money by buying fake rubies and jewels for Zabo's wedding. With the saved money they will escape to Sharma's home and live off of their savings.
After a turn in events, Shabanu sends Mumtaz to her parents home to protect her. Nazir kills Ahmed in order to gain land and sets a trap for Rahim. Rahim is murdered (by Nazir) and Shabanu and Zabo are captured by Nazir. Apparently satisfied and confident about himself, Nazir demands that Shabanu marries him, and she proudly refuses and announces that she would rather die instead of marrying him.
After two days, Omar sends men to attack Nazir's home. The two girls escape and go to Lahore, but Nazir was waiting. Zabo is shot by one of Nazir's men and Shabanu grieves. She decides that she must stay at Selma's house for a while so that Nazir will think she is dead and will stop pursuing her death. Sad and alone, she waits, living on the roof of Selma's haveli, for the right time to immerse from her prison. -
Haveli is the sequel to Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, another book set in modern day Pakistan that explores the subjugation of women in a repressive society. Haveli continues the story of Shabanu after her arranged marriage to Rahim as his fourth wife. What I liked most about Haveli is that is resists completely falling into accepted stereotypes. Rahim actually cares about Shabanu, and she respects him and appreciates certain aspects of her life, including the freedom she has had in raising her young daughter Mumtaz. Her biggest threat comes from Rahim's first wife Amina, who seeks to secure the fortunes of her own children to one day enable one of them to take over from the aging Rahim. Because Haveli addresses Rahim and Shabanu's sexual relationship and birth control, it is best for mature readers in grade 7 and up.
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This books shows the difference between the nomatic lifestyle that our main character is used to, and the world that she lives in now. This battle is shown through all the conflicts in the story and how she interacts with the other characters in the book, especially her husband and her daughter. Overall, I thought this book was amazing. It again shows the lives of people living in rural Pakistan and how different it is to not only more Urban Pakistan, but also the Western world. The book leaves you wanting more, and the next novel wasn't published until about ten years after this one was released. I am so happy that I just have to wait for Amazon to ship it to me, instead of all this time. Very excited to see what happens to her next.
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As Shabanu is married, her life became full of drama. It’s still full of wonder and hope (even in the middle of dark turmoil), but the gap between her life before and after married is really prominent. Shabanu is getting more mature and braver and smarter as she has her daughter. And I love how Rahim, Shabanu’s husband, was kind to her even though a little bit ignorance to the drama.
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This isn't as good as Shabanu, to which it's a sequel, and it's pretty grim, but it's far above the typical standard of YA fiction and is full of fascinating cultural background about women's lives in Pakistan.
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This book was really good but i wish they had more book after. They both were good but i think the first book was better. But i loved both and I would be happy if they would write more....
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Finished Haveli! If you liked Shaba and want to learn more about her and her secretive yet bold life read Haveli.
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Vivid description of the lifestyle in a joint-family system.
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I liked Haveli. It continues the story of Shabanu from
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind. In this book, Shabanu, now 18, has been married for about 6 years and she has a daughter who is almost 5 years old. Shabanu's husband is wealthy, and he has many wives and servants. Her husband Rahim is also much older. He is in his fifties.
Rahim's older wives are jealous of Shabanu because Rahim in only interested in taking Shabanu to his bed. Also, the other wives look down on Shabanu because she is uncultured and uneducated. When there are parties or cultural activities, Shabanu is left at home because she would not fit in with the upper-class and would be an embarrassment. The other wives torment Shabanu whenever they can and are a threat to her child. Shabanu is worried about what will happen to her and her child, Mumtaz, when Rahim dies. Since Rahim is so much older than she, Shabanu worries about this often.
The book shows how married women are treated in Pakistan. It shows what their lives are like in an upper class household where there are many wives all jostling for the attention and favor of one man. In Pakistan, girls are married off as soon as they are able to conceive, at the age of 12 or 13. As an American woman reading this book, I had to try to keep an open mind about this practice to full enjoy the book. The book shows how little control women have over their lives in Pakistan. -
This book is actually the sequel to Shabanu which was a great book as well. This was a very hard book to grade I would really give it a 3 and a half but that doesnt exist. Awyway this book is about Shabanu after she left her home and went to live with a a rich man far away who had many other wives. In this book she strives to keep her daughter and herself safe from the wrath of the other wives she must live with. This book had love prospects, secrets, deaths, brother rivalry and more. It was above all a crazy but beautifully told drama. Though I dont think it was as good as the first book it definitely has my respects. It was a great book, it was very hard to imagine a life like that of Shabanus, one with sadness anger and irrestible yet forbbiden love. Many of the times I found myself getting angry with her for not giving into the love of Omar, many of the times I also disagreed with her choices, like her decisions to humble herself under the eyes of her evil husbands wives. This was a great bok simply, it was a bit too fictional though at times, but I would advise anyway who is into such stories to read this book(BUT AFTER THE FIRST BOOK)!!!! They will fall in love with the strong willed and hardheaded yound Shabanu like I did.
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I wish I could give out half stars! I would like to give this one 3.5 stars. The story itself I think is worth 4 stars. It was a good book, was interesting, and by the end I did care about what was going on. This is the sequel to the Newberry Honor winning Shabanu, and continues the story of her life after she is married. After I got into the story, it went quickly, and I was interested in how the story ended. However, I am giving it 3 stars (or 3.5...) because it took me a very long time to get interested in reading this book. When I put it down, I felt no need to pick it back up. I think almost a month went by between the first 6 chapters and the next time I picked the book up. It was hard for me to find the interest I needed to keep reading.
By the end, I liked the book a lot more than I had at the beginning, and I will read the third book in Shabanu's life, just to see what happened, but this was definitely not a favorite. Really, I could have stopped with just having read Shabanu and I would have been totally fine. Oh well. It was still worth the short time it took me to read. -
“Haveli” is the sequel to “Shabanu” where the events in the life of, Shabanu, a young Palestinian desert girl, continue to unfold. The sequel picks up after Shabanu’s marriage to Rahim, a wealthy land owner but a man old enough to be her GRANDFATHER! Shabanu has a young daughter, Mumtaz, whom she loves immeasurably and seeks to raise to be independent, a trait that is not favored in her society.
Shabanu is a headstrong, independent thinker in a society that expects her to submit to all men, and never look them in the eyes. In a life devoid of choices, she works hard to hold on to the innermost part of herself.
“Haveli” possesses adventure and action due to the life threatening land disputes her husband and his tyrannical brother have. As the youngest and most beautiful wife in a harim of three other wives, Shabanu is hated by the other women and the household servants. I won’t tell what Haveli represents, you’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out.
320 pages
1993 copywrite -
I loved Shabanu, and cried and cried at the end of that book when she was going to be married to an older man with other wives. I was relieved and also terrified to find Haveli, the sequel, and find out what became of her. Just as amazing as Shabanu, Haveli is a richly detailed look at life for a Pakistani woman.
With a wealthy husband who loves her and a charming young daughter, Shabanu's life should be perfect. But his other wives and their children find little ways to abuse her, and Shabanu must always fight back. My personal favorite revenge: she does the mending for all the other wives and daughters, so each time she makes the seams a bit smaller so that their clothes become tighter and they all go on diets. Her husband also has many enemies and her life is very dangerous.
I loved this book, it was as beautiful and heartbreaking as its predecessor, and I highly recommend it. -
Haveli is the sequel to Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples. In it, young Shabanu is a mother of 18 years old. She worships her daughter Mumtaz and tries to teach her to be good. But when she goes to the haveli, she falls in love with Omar. And with her husbands other wives after her, she can't risk anything dangerous. She must protect her daughter and herself from all of the dangers that lie ahead. Even her own brother in law.
One of this story's main themes is the bonding of women and how strong they can become. Shabanu and Zabo have to support each other through tough times and keep a brave face while doing it. They also turn to other women for support and help and their plans are perfect. Just because they don't work out, the women's friendships will last forever. -
In the sequel to
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, Shabanu raises her own daughter, Mumtaz, and plans for the day when they will care for themselves. Although Rahim loves Shabanu and Mumtaz very much, Shabanu knows that his other wives and their children do not care for Shabanu's desert ways. Shabanu's life changes radically when her favorite niece faces a horrible marriage. -
DNF.
I remember that when I read this the first time in junior high I thought it was good. I’ve made it 30% of the way into the book today and it’s very upsetting to read. Our protagonist has been married since age 13 and she’s now 18 and her husband is 60. His other wives constantly torture her existence. He doesn’t pay attention to her harsh reality, and why would he? I accidentally read a brief plot summary of what I can expect from the rest of this book and the next one, and I just don’t have the energy to put myself through the psychological pain of reading them. -
کتاب خوب و خوش خوانی بود بزرگترین حسنش این بود که قبل از حملا 11 سپتامبر و به دور از قضاوت ها و کلی گویی های رایج درباره خاورمیانه و پاکستان نوشته شده بود.
نکته مثبت دیگر برخواستن نوشته از تجربیان ملموس و شخصی نویسنده از زندگی با مردم پاکستان بود. این به نظرم باعث شده بود تا همان نگاه تک بعدی رایج درباره افغانستان و پاکستان و این نواحی در کتاب شکل نگیرد.
نثر و روایت هم همان شیوه ی معمول بست سلرهای آمریکایی،روایت های ساده و بدون لفاظی!
بهرروی خوب بود!همین! -
"The author’s right to tell a story is something I never thought of until I entered high school and had a Pakistani classmate bring into question the authenticity of Shabanu’s story. "
Read the full review here:
https://introvertinterruptedcom.wordp... -
I found this a rather stressful read, as Shabanu's life is one of nearly constant anxiety and hidden danger. Of course, this also made for a quick and compelling read. I'm not entirely satisfied with the book's ending, but there is a third book, so I will probably read that one and see if it resolves some of the things I found problematic.
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Still good years after I read it the first time. Now Shabanu is trying to protect herself, her daughter Mumtaz and her friend Zabo from the evils in life. I can't wait to read the next one and find out what happens to Shabanu, Mumtaz, Omar, and all the rest.
