Weaving Water - Tapa blanda

'Never before, in Guyanese or West Indian literature, has the second novel of an author fulfilled the promise of their first like Weaving Water. It is not only Shah's expertise in magic realism which, after all, enjoys an inherent advantage through a subject consisting of endless legendary exploits of gods, goddesses and sages, not to mention infinite resources of Hindu lore, mysterious ancient and deep; but also her philosophical mastery of Hindu metaphysics like her compatriot Sharon Maas in three novels, and her superb technical skill in fluent sentence structure, graceful balance and soothing rhythms. (Like Shah Maas was not born Hindu.) There are no two ways about the Hindu world view in Weaving Water: it was the way of the gods that they moved in and out of your very lives to create, to destroy, to change and transform the world in order to fulfill the fate that was already written. Perhaps Shah's greatest triumph, as a Muslim author, is to delve with such earnest and admiring sympathy into Hindu cultural heritage in Weaving Water and achieve the universality of art that allows her to see through the very eyes of God.' - --Frank Birbalsingh