A Country For Men - Book Review

A Country For Men

By Rohit Kumar Singh Jadon

Review By Ila Garg

A Country For Men, a beautiful novel by the author, Rohit Kumar Singh Jadon is published by Blackbuck Publication.  He is earlier known for his debut book, A Short Affair Called Life.

The blurb reads as “This book isn’t another entertaining story; it’s the ugly and terrifying truth of our Nation. A girl born in India considered to be a liability right from her birth, she has to suffer at different stages of her life almost every day from the very people who were supposed to love her, cherish her. The increasing number of incidents of rapes and other dreadful acts against women has made things worse for them; now women aren’t safe even inside their homes.

The whole system has failed women of India comprehensively; this book is a historical, geographical and social view of the hate culture that the women are forced upon in this country ever since.”

The title A Country For Men, indicates the book must be about some gender discussions. The patriarchal society, and the feminist fights would be the themes. Even the cover art, though very simple, intrigues you from within.

It is a bold attempt by the author to put forward the poignant truth about the situation of women in India. The statistics are indeed very shocking. I finished reading the book last night and being a girl it left me traumatized. Some really strict and fast actions are needed to be implemented. There should also be openness in families, between mother and daughter about such things. They should be assured that their family is backing them and people who cannot respect women deserve to be punished and should die immediately.

It is time India woke up to the harsh and ugly side of the reality. Rohit has done a wondrous job in compiling the facts as such to present to the nation what it must have read by itself, already, over the years.

This book is highly recommended for one and all, for the sake of humanity. I wish people understand what they are doing.

Also, at this very point I would like to highlight this - this book ‘A Country For Men’ isn’t a narrative, or a simple story. Please don’t pick it up if you feel it to be a mere story. You will be disappointed because it is not a tale, it a reality. It’s a compilation of facts, facts that wake you up from your deep slumber and shake you from within.

A lot of research is put into the book which is clearly evident as you turn the pages. The author, Rohit has presented his readers with facts without exemplifying them. He is not subtle; he is not being over the top either. He is just presently everything transparently in this book.

Quoting from the book:

“But no nothing is going to get better, 40 rapes registered in Delhi in the last 15 days of 2012 while the protest was going on against the Delhi gang rape case in capital.”

“Well I could be lying here, creating sensation with my words in order to make you read this book. But all you have to do is to go on Google.com and find it out yourself whether or not I’m exaggerating the condition.”

“It is a culture that believes that the worst aspect of rape is the defilement of the victim, who will no longer be able to find a man to marry her — and that the solution is to marry the rapist.”

Overall, it's that kind of a book which will hit you squarely on your face if you are a man and get you to nod away if you are a woman. 

The book in a nutshell is about sufferings, hurt, undying objectification of women, commodification, deaths, rapes, crimes, victims, etc.

The language is easy to comprehend and there would be no difficulty in understanding what Rohit wants to convey through this.

Kudos to the writer for writing such a bold narrative which only few authors pick up… I recommend this book to all people at large.

Ratings: 3.8/5