 The Bandit Queens, by Parini Shroff.
This is a delightfully over-the-top dark comedy where very bad men get what's coming to them, but you know the dog will be fine. In a small village in contemporary India, Geeta makes jewelry for living, sharing a "microloan" with five other women entrepreneurs. Five years ago, Geeta's drunken, abusive husband Ramesh disappeared. Geeta has no idea where he went, but the village gossips are sure that she did away with him. One of the other women approaches Geeta for help getting rid of her own drunken, abusive husband. Geeta tries to protest that she known nothing about murder. But the husband is dangerous to everyone - including, it seems, Geeta - and soon she's taking inspiration from her idol, Phoolan Devi, a legendary "bandit queen" who fought back against her oppressors. The author doesn't hold back on the dark parts. The portrayal of domestic violence is chillingly accurate: Geeta's husband isolating her from her friends, wearing her down, getting her to apologize to him for his violence - then pulling her back in with promises and loving behavior. Low-caste girls are targeted for rape by men who otherwise deem them "untouchable." A young woman has to marry the man who threw acid in her face, because no one else will have her now. There are also some good men in the book, including an illegal liquor dealer whose friendship with Geeta may be blossoming into something more. And some of the women are not to be trusted. There's a scene where a would-be rapist is killed with the most ironic object possible. And the confrontation at the end manages to be both scary and absolutely hilarious. Trigger warnings for domestic violence, sexual assault, suicide, addiction, bigotry, animal cruelty, and a whole lotta murder. And if that doesn't keep you away, there's also the similarly-themed The Knitting Circle Rapist Annihilation Squad by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan. Popsugar Reading Challenge: About debt ("about" may be a stretch, but debt drives several crucial plot points) 52 Book Club Challenge: Includes a nosy neighbor (several, actually) Booklist Queen Challenge: Set in India This Challenge Killed the Bookworm: A fun book
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