865 reviews for:

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

Shankari Chandran

4.23 AVERAGE

samjay_jay's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

emilia13's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional reflective

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

katie_the_librabrian's review against another edition

3.0

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

classiclizerature's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

A thought-provoking and memorable read covering deep topics like the trauma of the Sri Lankan civil war and what racism looks like in Australia. Beautifully written. Not formulaic at all - there were several "twists" I did not see coming. Close to a 4.75. The beginning was a bit slow but as the action picked up by the middle of the book, I found it hard to put down 

bee61684's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

kd7575's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

scotnaom's review against another edition

4.75

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kimew2023's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional informative medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

---

An excellent book with well developed characters. The past and the present are interwoven skilfully so we can see the parallels. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War

hariniiis18's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

---

i LOVED this book. it does a good job with explaining past traumas and talks about the the civil war in an open way, no cover ups just straight to the point which i liked! eventhough most of the book tackled serious topics of the war, minority struggle, feminism i appreciated the little wholesome touches - having the nursing home be so in touch with our culture and giving us little details like the menu and how the paint colours were chosen really gave a sense of warmth:)

terese_utan_h's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes