Reviews

I have to admit that I wasn't sure about this when I started it, and if it weren't a book club book I'm not sure how much I would have stuck with it - however, I'm pleased that I did! Thanks to my disorganised approach to life, I gave myself 24 hours to read this, and so switched between the paperback and audio versions.
It's a heartbreaking read about families living in the barracks in Trinidad in the 1940s. It's often a tough read, racism, classism, violence and trauma are prominent throughout. But it's eye opening and a story that did get beneath my skin, although it is definitely not an easy read in any sense of the word.
Events begin with the disappearance of Mr Changoor, a local, wealthy man. His wife, Marlee makes an unrefusable offer to Hans to act as a watchman to protect her in his absence. Set on using the money to create a better life for his wife, Shweta and son Krishna, he accepts. Surrounding the present day is the crushing trauma of the past from all involved which colours events as they unroll.
Excellent literary historical fiction.

abbyklett's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

arilynn's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

alexishelley's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

livlepore's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

nokvi's review

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dark emotional 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

3.75

What a book, what a piece of work, Jared is truly a master with his pen. I'm not going to lie when I started this book it took me some time to get into it. I don't know if this is due to the book itself or the fact that I heading into a reading slump when I started, either way I had to put it down for some time. IN retrospect however, I firmly believe it's a mix of the two. The pacing can be quite off and to be honest sometimes it just jumped to places. ANd it's this that lead to a lower rating

but when I came back.... WHEN I CAME BACK, the last 50% of this book is phenomenal, the consequences of actions, the fragility of the human experience. Hosein masterfully covers, coming of age, pverty, racism, classism all within the context of the Indo-Trinidadian experience. The high that I felt as I finished this book is wow, it's a sad depressing ending with a consequence that could have completely been avoided but isn't that life? Isn't hindsight 20/20. This book was an experience and I would have it no other way

Content Warnings

courtsd's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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