Scan barcode
poojasinghco's review against another edition
4.0
"We raise our heads to the sky as if the sea was a window and we were climbing out of it."
- Tisha Doshani, Small Days and Nights.
🌊
Having had a normal childhood, born to parents of Italian and Indian descent, Grace finds herself in a small coastal village of Paramankeni, running away from her failed marriage and having found her sister, Lucia who was born with Down's syndrome and was kept a secret from her all these years.
🌊
Escaping the restless and highly active social life in States, grace decides to move into her mother's house, with Lucy, the village housekeeper Mallika and little dogs to surround the house.
A story that looks so simple on the surface, turns complicated as one unveils the layers of a life of a single woman living alone without any men in a village in India, by the sea.
🌊
Grace's days are filled with taking care of her sister, feeding the dogs, taking them to the beach and in the process trying to find her lost self, and make meaning of a life she has spent in Madras, Italy, the States, Kodaikanal and now Pondicherry.
But the nights are full of fear and anxiety, for the endless glares and attention a house being lived by a single woman attracts, of someone breaking in, of someone marring the beauty of the life they are trying to build here.
🌊
The prose is absolutely lyrical full of metaphors and analogies, that warms the heart and can be cherished long after one is done reading.
The beautiful description of the sea and the sand, and the nights and the days, and you can almost feel yourself walking on the beach or strolling on the streets of Italy suckling on a gelato.
The writing reminded me of Subhangi Swarup's portrayal of all the alluring landscapes.
🌊
An absolutely marvellous account of a story of survival, or finding one's lost self, making peace with the misgivings of a family, of mistrust and finding trust, unveiling secrets and accepting them.
But above all, it is a tale of the one's self-discovery amongst all the chaos, loneliness, heartbreaks and confusion.
.
.
.
.
A sad yet thought-provoking novel full of life and the various emotions of ecstasy it has to offer.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Genre: contemporary, fiction, indian-literature
Reading Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐.5/5
- Tisha Doshani, Small Days and Nights.
🌊
Having had a normal childhood, born to parents of Italian and Indian descent, Grace finds herself in a small coastal village of Paramankeni, running away from her failed marriage and having found her sister, Lucia who was born with Down's syndrome and was kept a secret from her all these years.
🌊
Escaping the restless and highly active social life in States, grace decides to move into her mother's house, with Lucy, the village housekeeper Mallika and little dogs to surround the house.
A story that looks so simple on the surface, turns complicated as one unveils the layers of a life of a single woman living alone without any men in a village in India, by the sea.
🌊
Grace's days are filled with taking care of her sister, feeding the dogs, taking them to the beach and in the process trying to find her lost self, and make meaning of a life she has spent in Madras, Italy, the States, Kodaikanal and now Pondicherry.
But the nights are full of fear and anxiety, for the endless glares and attention a house being lived by a single woman attracts, of someone breaking in, of someone marring the beauty of the life they are trying to build here.
🌊
The prose is absolutely lyrical full of metaphors and analogies, that warms the heart and can be cherished long after one is done reading.
The beautiful description of the sea and the sand, and the nights and the days, and you can almost feel yourself walking on the beach or strolling on the streets of Italy suckling on a gelato.
The writing reminded me of Subhangi Swarup's portrayal of all the alluring landscapes.
🌊
An absolutely marvellous account of a story of survival, or finding one's lost self, making peace with the misgivings of a family, of mistrust and finding trust, unveiling secrets and accepting them.
But above all, it is a tale of the one's self-discovery amongst all the chaos, loneliness, heartbreaks and confusion.
.
.
.
.
A sad yet thought-provoking novel full of life and the various emotions of ecstasy it has to offer.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Genre: contemporary, fiction, indian-literature
Reading Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐.5/5
_askthebookbug's review against another edition
4.0
Small days and nights.
~
Thank you @bloomsburyindia for sending over this beautiful book.
~
The cover is what drew me in. A free-spirited woman with three dogs accompanying her, depicts a lot of things and when I finished this book, I knew exactly what the cover was trying to say. Small days and nights is a book that talks about the feeling of home and the people you build one with. This is the kind of writing that I truly enjoy, something that reminded me of Jhumpa Lahiri and Arundhati Roy. For this is the reason why I couldn't put it down till I read the last page.
~
The protagonist is a middle-aged woman named Grace, who experiences a sudden change post her mother's death. She reminiscences about her childhood days as she analyses her parent's relationship over the years and how unhappy it made them as the years proceeded. Grace was born to an Italian man and an Indian woman, the result of her talking vastly about her life in both Italy and India. Grace then discovers the secret of her sister whom she never knew existed until her mother died.
~
Lucia, a young woman suffering from Down's syndrome has been growing up in a residential centre until Grace takes her home and assumes the responsibilitity of being her mother. The story talks in detail about her life in Madras, Italy and Pondicherry making me miss the feel of sand in my feet and wind in my hair. An almost nostalgic feeling. This is the story of Grace that revolves around her sister Lucia, the housekeeper Mallika, the many dogs that she comes to love and the coastal beauty of the city she lives in.
~
It's a wonderful read that tugs at your heart and makes you miss your family and the place you're from. Though the story was well written, there was something amiss. Probably it was the constant switching between many places that Grace recalls and talks about. Or maybe the lack of depth in her mother's character description. But the book has a natural flair of being emotionally exhausting. The kind of read that you'd want to take up when your heart craves for love and loss.
~
Rating - 3.9/5.
~
Thank you @bloomsburyindia for sending over this beautiful book.
~
The cover is what drew me in. A free-spirited woman with three dogs accompanying her, depicts a lot of things and when I finished this book, I knew exactly what the cover was trying to say. Small days and nights is a book that talks about the feeling of home and the people you build one with. This is the kind of writing that I truly enjoy, something that reminded me of Jhumpa Lahiri and Arundhati Roy. For this is the reason why I couldn't put it down till I read the last page.
~
The protagonist is a middle-aged woman named Grace, who experiences a sudden change post her mother's death. She reminiscences about her childhood days as she analyses her parent's relationship over the years and how unhappy it made them as the years proceeded. Grace was born to an Italian man and an Indian woman, the result of her talking vastly about her life in both Italy and India. Grace then discovers the secret of her sister whom she never knew existed until her mother died.
~
Lucia, a young woman suffering from Down's syndrome has been growing up in a residential centre until Grace takes her home and assumes the responsibilitity of being her mother. The story talks in detail about her life in Madras, Italy and Pondicherry making me miss the feel of sand in my feet and wind in my hair. An almost nostalgic feeling. This is the story of Grace that revolves around her sister Lucia, the housekeeper Mallika, the many dogs that she comes to love and the coastal beauty of the city she lives in.
~
It's a wonderful read that tugs at your heart and makes you miss your family and the place you're from. Though the story was well written, there was something amiss. Probably it was the constant switching between many places that Grace recalls and talks about. Or maybe the lack of depth in her mother's character description. But the book has a natural flair of being emotionally exhausting. The kind of read that you'd want to take up when your heart craves for love and loss.
~
Rating - 3.9/5.
laura_179322's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
gilmoreguide's review against another edition
2.0
(2.5)
Small Days and Nights is the first of the ten books I was looking forward to this winter. I wish I could say it delivered, but this story of Grace, an Indian-American woman who returns to India after her mother’s death never connected with me. She inherits her mother’s beachfront home in a small village in Madras. She also discovers she has a sister with Down’s Syndrome who has spent her life in a nearby facility. Grace is determined to create a new life with her sister in their mother’s house.
There are interesting ingredients to Small Days and Nights—caretaking an adult with a child’s abilities, trying to reconnect with one’s homeland, navigating life after marriage, but they never come together. Everything is relayed in a way that feels leaden, flattened. I wanted to be pulled into Grace’s story, but never was.
Small Days and Nights is the first of the ten books I was looking forward to this winter. I wish I could say it delivered, but this story of Grace, an Indian-American woman who returns to India after her mother’s death never connected with me. She inherits her mother’s beachfront home in a small village in Madras. She also discovers she has a sister with Down’s Syndrome who has spent her life in a nearby facility. Grace is determined to create a new life with her sister in their mother’s house.
There are interesting ingredients to Small Days and Nights—caretaking an adult with a child’s abilities, trying to reconnect with one’s homeland, navigating life after marriage, but they never come together. Everything is relayed in a way that feels leaden, flattened. I wanted to be pulled into Grace’s story, but never was.
skylaturner's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
daydreamereyes's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
addierr's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
upgirlcd's review against another edition
4.0
3.8 ⭐️ for Small Days and Nights. Slow and steady in a way I really enjoyed in the beginning. Very relatable- then Gracie gets really negative and down for so much of her life, I almost DNf'd. I kept going because I adore Lucy, Gracie's sister who is differently abled. Read another page and *BAM* a major development kept me reading non stop until the end. International novel set in India, Italy, and the US
mwmakar's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Shoutout Rebecca Taussig, Lucia is not really treated as a character but as an object and I would have loved Lucia to have a more dynamic person. The reader (audiobook) was rather more dramatic than most of the writing required, it made the pacing and flow harder to follow.
larose's review against another edition
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0