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thebookgarden's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book had a great probability of being a 5 star read, and it honestly started as one. The author has such a beautiful way with words and in a way that was what was wrong with the book. The story looses it's fight with poetry at places and Kandasamy gives in to her nature of being a poet, loosing the thread of the storyline. It's not poetry or prose or verse or even a story. It's a curious amalgamation of all and depending upon how you tilt your head and squint your eyes it becomes a different monster each time.
Maya and Karim are two beautiful characters, and you'd like to know them, just a little more than what the author provides. Maya loves Karim, it's not a perfect storybook romance but she loves him and it's visible in the way that she shields him from the world and their casual day-to-day Islamophobia. The author's process goes from being about the book to bring about activism and the atrocities against many marginal communities and it's a revelation to read.
The inner jacket synopsis is misleading, maybe because all the story is right there, and there's nothing more to it than that. It's a process, reading this book, one that you come upon by trial and error. The page is unceremoniously split with the centerstage being where the story is happening and the margins where the story is being written. Which do you read first? It's a fun exploration of rhythm and pace. Stopping between chapters to go back and read the author's margin musings is reminiscent of waiting a whole day for the new episode of your current show in the bygone era of cable television.
It's a one day read and you have nothing to loose from reading it, and a lot to gain.
Maya and Karim are two beautiful characters, and you'd like to know them, just a little more than what the author provides. Maya loves Karim, it's not a perfect storybook romance but she loves him and it's visible in the way that she shields him from the world and their casual day-to-day Islamophobia. The author's process goes from being about the book to bring about activism and the atrocities against many marginal communities and it's a revelation to read.
It's a one day read and you have nothing to loose from reading it, and a lot to gain.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, and Torture
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