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

Bapsi Sidhwa Bapsi Sidhwa (; 11 August 1938 – 25 December 2024) was a Pakistani novelist who wrote in English and was resident in the United States. Sidhwa was best known for her collaborative work with Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta: Sidhwa wrote b ...

. The novel is about a

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

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 ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, India and by

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used 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 e ...

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. It was the first time that any History of monarchy in the U ...

in 2022.

Plot

The book is about a Parsi family, the Junglewallas, in pre-partition India and their move from central India to the city of

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. 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