The man jokingly comments to Biju that he’s building another ordinary fishing boat, which irritates Biju; he tells the man about all of the boat’s special features. The man laughs and says that soon fifty miles won’t be enough as the area is being overfished. He tells everyone listening that the Thul villagers should give up on fishing and move onto other things. Biju says that fishing is the village tradition, and always will be, and even if it wasn’t, they still have their fertile crop fields. The man points out that soon the factory landowners will buy up the rice fields. Even if the Thul villagers don’t want to sell it, the government will force them. Meena Khorana (1991). The Indian Subcontinent in Literature for Children and Young Adults: An Annotated Bibliography of English-language Books. Greenwood Publishing Group. p.131. ISBN 978-0-313-25489-5 . Retrieved 13 August 2015. The story revolves around their life in the village until one day they find out about the new contruction project going to happen which would destroy their village. Some villagers join in a protest that they were going to take the Bombay governor. Hari tired of the same old work with nothing changing for the better decides to run away to Bombay a big city to find work, by joining the protest. This book is one which made me reflect on so many things including the smallest everyday decisions. One of the best middle grade fiction I have ever read.

The village is angry. Hari goes to the market to search for ice to cool their mother’s forehead. Hari notices a large crowd outside the temple on his way. Boys, fishermen, farmers, women, and all sorts of diverse villagers have gathered to hear a young man speak. The man has come from the district capital of Alibagh. He is concerned about the string of fourteen villages that are threatened by the new factory development, telling them that the waste from the factory will be dumped into the sea and will kill the fish. What will they do without the sea? Phil Burgess, Group Director of The Architects Design Group, said: “Mount Wise is a very special place with a unique collection of Georgian buildings set in a remarkable landscape in the heart of an urban area. Our challenge has been to integrate new buildings into this setting in a manner that will enhance and not detract from the beauty of the place. The pace is uneven. The book would have worked better if the pace were faster in the crucial first few chapters The first time i read this book was at school. It was our literature book in Grade 8. I thought oh no heres another boring literature book and i started reading it. But i was wrong. :) Wonderful book. Anita Desai's writing is marvelous! Simple yet with a touch of intricacy, delicacy. :)Explanation of Rating: The Village By The Sea is the story of the evolution of Lila and Hari into adults as they face their family’s predicaments. The story has a gentle voice of the author and it is an impressive book. I have realized again that there are people who have a tougher life than me. Moreover, it made me embarassed that I have thought I am poor at times. I love the book because it tells about a life style and love of a poor family who live in Thul, which is fourteen kilometers away from Bombay. Winner of the 1982 Guardian Award for children's fiction, The Village by the Sea is a survival story by the novelist Anita Desai. Recommendation: I strongly recommend this book to people who may have thought they are poor and something they do not have enough to live. Also, to foreigners especially who want to know more about India and about how the people live in India. I really appreciated about author’s writing style. She has a beautiful writhing skill, which is smooth and dainty. Thus, I felt I became Lila, and I felt all the feelings which Lila would felt about her family’s predicaments while I was reading.

Anita Desai writes about things she knows and things she does not, in the book, 'The Village by the sea'. Things she knows, Mumbai, wealth, how to sell Indian culture and the colors of India. What she does not know (among other things), poverty, what people who have no money are thinking, daily life. Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners". The Guardian 12 March 2001. Retrieved 5 August 2012. The book begins incredibly slowly, the excitement does not seep in until after the halfway mark, when Bombay comes into picture and changes things. The narrative though, is very vivid. Desai makes it so beautiful that we can smell the salty tang in the air, feel the sea breeze on our faces, and also feel the pain of the hunger and poverty and the hope and dispair of a little family in the village. Desai brings the scene alive in our minds and engages us with little responsible Lila who wears her special pink saree to the village market and of small determind Hari who wants to go to Bombay so his family will have good lives. It is this speciality of the author that makes the book work for me. I have read many books that were claimed literary masterpieces but I feel this book is better than some of them. The celebrations are delightful and heartwarming for the family. Hari slips away for a moment during the preparations to see the man at the Mon Repos. He talks with him briefly about bird watching and suddenly realizes that he is Sayyid Ali, the impassioned speaker from Bombay. Ali is kindly like Mr. Panwallah but expresses sadness about the changes coming to Alibagh. Hari tells him what he is doing and Ali perks up, admiring Hari’s will to adapt.Jagu might have a restaurant with a lot of customers, but he still lives in a slum, Hari realizes. The hillside is muddy and the huts are derelict; Hari wonders why Jagu brought him here. The huts cannot keep the rain out. It is dark inside.

During the monsoon season, things are tough in Thul as well. Try as they might, the girls cannot keep water out of the hut. Fires are smoky and the huts are damp. There is no fish for the village. This was the worst book I have ever read, this book made me suffer through all of the floweriness and it wanted me to puke. The similes are BS and they make we want to die. I don't know why I read it in the first place, well, it was a gift and maybe that's why. Not head over heels on it, not at all. Desai's subject matter may be stereotypical, but her treatment and sensitive prose give depth to the story, Every minute detail and image... assumes meaning and fits into the intricate, multi-layered pattern of the novel." [3] Adaptation [ edit ]Jagu agrees to let Hari work in his restaurant so Hari sends home a postcard letting his sisters know where he is and that he is going to bring his earnings to them. Life is hard for Hari in Bombay but he works hard. While working for Jagu, Hari meets Mr. Panwallah who takes Hari under his wing and starts to teach him how to make watches and how to repair them. During the time Hari is in Bombay, Lila finds succor from the de Silva family. When they come for their vacation, Lila works for them. She asks Mr. de Silva to take her mother to the hospital when she hears he is driving that way, and he immediately agrees and says he will take care of everything. When Lila’s father hears of this, he yells at her in a drunken rage, but he goes to the hospital and remains at his wife’s side. He also gives up drinking and is much more subdued. Lila visits every week, and her mother improves more and more. The reflection of the society, painted through the book is not a pretty one. Yet it stands true till date. The author has managed to capture the very essence of a village life in India. Extreme poverty, poor health care system and below average education rate is not really encouraging, rather it was pretty depressing. Child labour, represented through Hari while he worked at the restaurant in Mumbai alongside other boys, is another harsh truth of our country. The difference between Urban India and Rural India and between the rich and the poor is accentuated at various points. Also the attitude of the city people and the villagers, towards each other, felt so completely appalling even though somewhere in my heart I knew it was true.

Biju, a fisherman, is building a boat with an engine. Some of the villagers in Thul are upset that factories are being built on their land and decide to travel to Mumbai to complain to the government. Hari takes advantage of the opportunity to go with them to Mumbai. When he gets there, he looks for the DeSilvas but learns that they are away on vacation. Hira La, a servant in the DeSilvas’ house, helps Hari by introducing him to a man named Jagu,who offers him a job in his restaurant, the Sri Krishna Eating House, and pays him a rupee a day for his work. Hari sends a postcard to his sister to let her know where he is, and sends the money that he earns home to help the family. Jagu growls at his wife to get the boy food and his wife begins to complain that she cannot feed their own children. Jagu is fed up with her and leaves to go get a drink. After he leaves, she falls silent. Hari is embarrassed and feels bad for her.Working from the base of an excellent masterplan, we have developed an architectural approach that combines the latest environmental standards with new buildings that match their neighbours, by reflecting the essential Georgian elements of proportion, simplicity and close attention to detail. The main issue at play in the novel is the changes coming to the Alibagh district and what that might mean for the villagers. At first, Hari is somewhat optimistic about the factory that is to be built in Thul, and he is also optimistic about potentially getting work on Biju’s fancy new boat. Even though he tells himself, “He could not afford dreams, he must be practical and think out a scheme” (45), he is a bit “excited to think that life held so many possibilities” (48).