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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Devastating, I wanted to sink into my bed and disappear
she has a v unique writing style which i mostly loved - she loves to invoke nature imagery while describing stuff. she does indulge in it a bit though and after a while it can be tiring and takes away the from the impact of the writing. it has this childlike wholesome warm feeling and she writes children exceptionally well. i was in love with estha and rahel and i could just read them doing random stuff for another book. i'm actually sad that they are not real because she genuinely brought them to life. i genuinely feel sad for them and i wish they were real because i want to play with them. i want to know more about them. she did such a fantastic job with these characters.
another thing that irked me a bit is that she doesn't spend enough time with our main characters. i would have just loved to stay with ammu and her children after a brief chapter on the family's past but the book spends some time establishing characters from three different generations and while i enjoyed it, it didn't really add to the impact of the story imo. but i guess she wanted to establish kerala and our history to show how patriarchy, caste, etc carry through generations within a family.
overall i really liked it and i'm looking forward to reading more from her!
it's a light 8 for me
another thing that irked me a bit is that she doesn't spend enough time with our main characters. i would have just loved to stay with ammu and her children after a brief chapter on the family's past but the book spends some time establishing characters from three different generations and while i enjoyed it, it didn't really add to the impact of the story imo. but i guess she wanted to establish kerala and our history to show how patriarchy, caste, etc carry through generations within a family.
overall i really liked it and i'm looking forward to reading more from her!
it's a light 8 for me
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book got me back into the swing of reading regularly and I've read like two books a week since. Found it in a little free library too. I tried to read The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, also by Arundhati Roy, a while back and didn't finish it, but this one was an easier read (not to say that it isn't emotionally heavy, which it very much is). The characters are vivid, and the prose is completely unique, and the complexity of the subjects are handled with grace and honesty.
It took me a while to get the hang of how to read this, but ended up love love loving the narrative structure -- how the events of a single day can all collide in such a momentous way that everything past and future revolves around that singular trauma, cannot be viewed separately but only as a precedent to or consequence of that day.
The lyrical poetic language was sometimes fun/beautiful to read and was sometimes A Bit Much, but the particular repetitiveness and oddball associations and sing-song playfulness also I think often fit well with a child's pov and attempt to make sense of the world, albeit in a heightened literary way. I liked it.
The lyrical poetic language was sometimes fun/beautiful to read and was sometimes A Bit Much, but the particular repetitiveness and oddball associations and sing-song playfulness also I think often fit well with a child's pov and attempt to make sense of the world, albeit in a heightened literary way. I liked it.
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was very well-written but I think for the narrative effect to really take place, it should be read in as short of time as possible. The imagery and language used by the author was beautiful but there were certain references that I didn't quite get because I had read it too long ago.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Sad but enhoyed
I, like, loved this. I don't know how anybody can create something like this in their entire life. It's almost unbelievable. Will probably think about this a lot in the future. Makes me more willing and excited to read more literature that isn't just part of the Euro-American Western Canon. Aesthetically the best work of fiction I've probably read. Stunning, generally.
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated