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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 4.
This was a beautiful story of love, friendship, growth, and most importantly female resilience.
Please check any content warnings before reading.
Rao openly discuses the abuse many women face in south Asian cultures. She does a fantastic job of showing how these “traditions” remain in place and the ways in which women are also guilty of perpetuating these conditions. The novel shows how nearly impossible escaping these conditions can be, and the ugliness of the world these women face when they do attempt to escape. The patriarchal cruelty that women face is very real and GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER informs the reader very unapologetically of this reality.
I enjoyed how pure the love between the two girls was, Savitha and Poornima. The lengths they were willing to go to find their own happiness and the way in which their will to live and love was greater than all the abuse and misfortunes they faced showed that they truly did burn brighter.
**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**
**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**
**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**
**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**
That being said, the SA that seemed to just happen to Savitha behind every single door that “opened” began to be too much. SA happens more often than we know, and it happens even more frequently to women in desperate/vulnerable situations, I am fully aware of this cruel reality. However, the reoccurring SA in Savitha’s life did not seem necessary for the plot or character development.
Savitha was visibly affected by the first assault, but she wasn’t necessarily any different as a person. Then these attacks continue to happen regularly throughout her life and she is relatively unchanged. I understand that she is a strong girl and she is fighting to survive, but these traumatic experiences should lead to a change in character. Because there didn’t seem to be a purpose for these assaults, they started to seem unnecessary and bordering “torture porn.” If it doesn’t move the plot forward or do anything for character development in any form, why include so much of it?
This was a beautiful story of love, friendship, growth, and most importantly female resilience.
Please check any content warnings before reading.
Rao openly discuses the abuse many women face in south Asian cultures. She does a fantastic job of showing how these “traditions” remain in place and the ways in which women are also guilty of perpetuating these conditions. The novel shows how nearly impossible escaping these conditions can be, and the ugliness of the world these women face when they do attempt to escape. The patriarchal cruelty that women face is very real and GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER informs the reader very unapologetically of this reality.
I enjoyed how pure the love between the two girls was, Savitha and Poornima. The lengths they were willing to go to find their own happiness and the way in which their will to live and love was greater than all the abuse and misfortunes they faced showed that they truly did burn brighter.
**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**
**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**
**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**
**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**
That being said, the SA that seemed to just happen to Savitha behind every single door that “opened” began to be too much. SA happens more often than we know, and it happens even more frequently to women in desperate/vulnerable situations, I am fully aware of this cruel reality. However, the reoccurring SA in Savitha’s life did not seem necessary for the plot or character development.
Savitha was visibly affected by the first assault, but she wasn’t necessarily any different as a person. Then these attacks continue to happen regularly throughout her life and she is relatively unchanged. I understand that she is a strong girl and she is fighting to survive, but these traumatic experiences should lead to a change in character. Because there didn’t seem to be a purpose for these assaults, they started to seem unnecessary and bordering “torture porn.” If it doesn’t move the plot forward or do anything for character development in any form, why include so much of it?
Two comments.
I was not convinced of the strength of the friendship between Poornima and Savitha. I needed it to be better developed in order for it to be believable.
This book also really dragged on at times.
I was not convinced of the strength of the friendship between Poornima and Savitha. I needed it to be better developed in order for it to be believable.
This book also really dragged on at times.
Beautifully written and utterly brutal. The story is a stunner and the writing is gorgeous; there is a deep love at its center, but fair warning - it hurts to be a woman and read this book.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
There's a little bit of book amidst all the TWs!!
Jokes apart, this is such an amazing book - beautiful, silky, flowery prose, prose that would make my Creative Writing teacher beam with joy, but all of it describing traumatic event, upon traumatic event upon traumatic event..
I'd say this book is more character development than plot, the blurb doesn't even begin to hint at the terrible journey our two protagonists go through..
I loved all the characters, good or bad, the author has done a splendid job fleshing them out, through actions alone - more say than tell - another element my CW teach swears by
The book is a literary masterpiece IMO, and a not a slow read if you're locked in, but I had to turn on some hopeful background music by the middle of the second arc, to temper the sadness a little..
The last two arcs - set in the US - make the book more than work it - the sky is blue, the lights are glowing - and the book starts to shine a little bit with some hopeful humour; but that last line nearly broke me, and had me ugly crying at my library... (what a great book to start off 2025!)
The most unsettling part is the bland, tiresome reality of it all - how it could all easily happen to anyone, wherever they are - and with worse outcomes..
Jokes apart, this is such an amazing book - beautiful, silky, flowery prose, prose that would make my Creative Writing teacher beam with joy, but all of it describing traumatic event, upon traumatic event upon traumatic event..
I'd say this book is more character development than plot, the blurb doesn't even begin to hint at the terrible journey our two protagonists go through..
I loved all the characters, good or bad, the author has done a splendid job fleshing them out, through actions alone - more say than tell - another element my CW teach swears by
The book is a literary masterpiece IMO, and a not a slow read if you're locked in, but I had to turn on some hopeful background music by the middle of the second arc, to temper the sadness a little..
The last two arcs - set in the US - make the book more than work it - the sky is blue, the lights are glowing - and the book starts to shine a little bit with some hopeful humour; but that last line nearly broke me, and had me ugly crying at my library... (what a great book to start off 2025!)
The most unsettling part is the bland, tiresome reality of it all - how it could all easily happen to anyone, wherever they are - and with worse outcomes..
It's weird to say I really liked this book because I felt very sad most of the read. My heart broke over and over again as the girls situations got progressively worse. The tragedy almost felt too real to me; like I wanted something good to happen to make me more comfortable. But things happened just as they would in the real world - which made it all the more depressing.
All that being said, despite every horrible thing each woman Burned Bright. I loved how strong and resourceful each women was. Girls rule!
All that being said, despite every horrible thing each woman Burned Bright. I loved how strong and resourceful each women was. Girls rule!
Great story about females living VERY different struggles than me WHILE STILL having some of the same core struggles as me at the same time...The ending of the book really redeemed the whole book for me. No spoilers but I felt like the book was maybe too hyped for me and it didn’t fully live up? But I did love the characters and was certainly invested but there was just something missing for me that I can’t exactly put my finger on. I loved it in the end but it wasn’t what I expected!
A decent read, I didn't love it as much as I thought it would. It felt like I had read/seen this story before.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I wasn't ready for everything this book threw at me. I still need to separate my views on the book itself, the story, the great prose, the nearly four dimensional characters from what felt like utterly gratuitous sexual violence. I have been trying to avoid media in which a woman is defined by rape, and yet a rape is what sets this story down its narrative path. Things only get worse, from a sexual violence perspective, and so the story is punctuated by passages that rip me out of the plot and into a consideration of whether this is media I should be consuming, or avoiding.