Book Review: ‘Raw Umber: A Memoir’ by Sara Rai

The author is a granddaughter of the writer Premchand whose influence still echoes in Indian letters. So, when an acclaimed novelist, short story writer, and literary translator like Sara Rai publishes a memoir, the reader can be forgiven for approaching it with some expectations, especially since there are at least two aspects of the writer’s life that are not ordinary. Raw Umber: A Memoir By Sara Rai Context 240 pages Rs.699 Although advertised as a memoir, this book is actually a set of essays that broadly fall into three categories: pieces on the author’s family, descriptions of the two old houses the author grew up in, and discussions on the development of the writer’s sensibility. Premchand’s wife, whom the author knew personally, and the author’s mother and aunt, all of whom also wrote short fiction at some time or the other, also feature in the book, as do the author’s father, the well-regarded publisher Sripat Rai, and her older brother whose tragic life is laid out for us in the manner of a long-winded tale told at a family dinner about a distant relative. “The jumble of registers employed in ‘Raw Umber’ prevents any single mood from building, prevents us from feeling that intimacy.” Apart from the historical aspect, there is an interesting tension between English and Hindi, and even Urdu, that sometimes shows itself in this book.