Trail of Broken Wings - Sejal Badani - Review

Trail of Broken Wings

By Sejal Badani

370 pages

Available at: IndieBound || Amazon.com || Barnes & Noble

Remember when I suggested a book club ? Well its that time of the month! Review Time, but first a little background - 

Background - When her father falls into a coma, Indian American photographer Sonya reluctantly returns to the family she’d fled years before. Since she left home, Sonya has lived on the run, free of any ties, while her soft-spoken sister, Trisha, has created a perfect suburban life, and her ambitious sister, Marin, has built her own successful career. But as these women come together, their various methods of coping with a terrifying history can no longer hold their memories at bay.

Buried secrets rise to the surface as their father—the victim of humiliating racism and perpetrator of horrible violence—remains unconscious. As his condition worsens, the daughters and their mother wrestle with private hopes for his survival or death, as well as their own demons and buried secrets.

Told with forceful honesty, Trail of Broken Wings reveals the burden of shame and secrets, the toxicity of cruelty and aggression, and the exquisite, liberating power of speaking and owning truth.

My Review -

I didn't want to finish the book so I took my time :) This was my first book about domestic violence by an Indian author, and Sejal Badani is an amazing debut writer. She was able to write a book that felt real, was very honest, and brought about a rush of emotions and questions. The first thing I noticed was how different/distinct each character's voice was. Ranee, Marin, Trisha, Sonya and Gia became women I wanted to protect. I understood how violence of this nature got to the point it did because there is a cultural aspect. The Indian culture or any culture in general is a very community oriented culture. It is very possible that in cultures where their beliefs and way of life is in the air they breathe, the food they eat, and the way they talk, violence can be hidden by both the perpetrator and the victim.  Why would they hide it ? Because it brings a type of shame that will not only affect the abuser but the victims as well in a way that can never be erased. In this book, each character handled the abuse differently. At first I hated Ranee, because I thought, as a mother you should always protect your children no matter what, but I soon realized that if she died or ran away, she wouldn't have been able to protect them. I disliked Trisha because she was insensitive and very selfish, I felt she needed to grow more and understand more of how she became the way she did. I also did not like Gia, but I think because she was young and didn't understand a lot about violence, and was misled by two people she loved, it is understandable how she felt the way she did. My favorite characters were Marin and Sonya because they were the strongest women in this book. They both handled the abuse as well as they could, and were able to start finding lasting ways to heal. It wasn't only physically healing but also mentally healing because abuse doesn't just hurt physically, it causes psychological problems that take years and love to heal. By the end of the book, we notice that each character is healing and going in the direction of  not only forgetting the past, but also learning from the past to build their future. 

I absolutely loved this book, and I will recommend it to everybody!

If you know anybody that is suffering from domestic violence, please speak up, or let somebody know. I have personally not experienced domestic violence and I know that nobody can understand what the victims feel but they should know that they are loved and prayed for. I checked my analytics and the top 5 countries that visit my blog are from the US, France, Russia, Germany and the UK. Thank you to all over 14,000 of you!

Please see below for websites you can get more information on helping to report or learn more about domestic violence. 

US - The National Domestic Violence
France - This is a list of counselors, and crisis support information that can be used
Russia - Anna Center
Germany - Big Hotline and also this brochure that has a lot of information on reporting violence and what happens after the police is involved.
UK - The National Domestic Violence , Women's Aid , Men's Advice Line (because boys and men are also victims of domestic violence)

I know this isn't much help, but it is a little bit of what I can do as a voice on the Internet.

I will be talking about our next book for the month tomorrow!! Can't wait to share it!