Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
reflective
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:
Complicated
I found this novel particularly touching because the intercultural themes explored in it are easy for me to relate to.
This novel explores immigration, racism, love, war and, most importantly, survival.
Shamsie is a skilled author, weaving together a saga which spans half a centuryand half the globe. A novel to please those who like well put-together stories with a political message.
This novel explores immigration, racism, love, war and, most importantly, survival.
Shamsie is a skilled author, weaving together a saga which spans half a centuryand half the globe. A novel to please those who like well put-together stories with a political message.
sad
medium-paced
Truly stunning. I just don't have more words than that right now.
dark
emotional
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
This was the best book I have read so far this year. It is very thought provoking and would make a great book club read, there is so much to discuss. Its scope is huge, covering the period from the destruction of Nagasaki in 1945 to the years immediately after 9/11. It traverses continents and intersects cultures through a focus on the stories of two family groups, the Tanaka-Ashrafs and the Weiss-Burtons, and the relationships between them through the generations. We see the intricacies of their lives through some of the most sweeping moments in the 20th century: Japan at the end of WWII, India at the time of Partition, Afganistan and the lead up to 9/11, New York.
The prologue introduces us to an unnamed, newly arrived detainee at Guantanamo Bay. The reader is then swiftly transported back to Nagasaki on that fateful day, where we are introduced to a young Hiroko Tanaka and her German soon-to-be husband Konrad Weiss. She survives, he does not. Most compelling for me was the notion that, although as individuals we try to make 'good' decisions, some events are just too big for us to have any control over.
Discovering the intention behind the title 'Burnt Shadows' is, I think, one of the most poignant things I have read in recent years. Just read it!
The prologue introduces us to an unnamed, newly arrived detainee at Guantanamo Bay. The reader is then swiftly transported back to Nagasaki on that fateful day, where we are introduced to a young Hiroko Tanaka and her German soon-to-be husband Konrad Weiss. She survives, he does not. Most compelling for me was the notion that, although as individuals we try to make 'good' decisions, some events are just too big for us to have any control over.
Discovering the intention behind the title 'Burnt Shadows' is, I think, one of the most poignant things I have read in recent years. Just read it!
Oh my heavens what a book. I read Home Fire earlier in the year but didn't think anything could rival it. This did it. We follow Hiroko from Nagasaki to Delhi then to Pakistan and New York. Her life intertwines with various members of two families who all become caught up in Partition, the Cold War, the fight of the Afghans against the Soviets, 9/11 and all those aftermath. This book is full of love and loss, friendship and fear. Its amazing. The writing is superb. I will, however, need some time before I read another Kamila Shamsie. They take a lot out of you but so worth the pain for the pleasure.
read for uni, i have no words, feel like my heart has been ripped out and stamped on repeatedly
Devastating is the only word I can think of to describe this. I've thought about Home Fire a lot since I read it (particularly since Shamima Begum has been in the news) - it's a brilliant book which resonates with the current toxic climate so much, but I think this might be Kamila Shamsie's true masterpiece. From the opening in Guantanamo you know it can't possibly end well but there's so much hope in the story you get swept up with it and hope against hope that what you think will happen somehow won't. Brilliant and brutal and heartbreaking.
"...countries like yours [America] they always fight wars, but always somewhere else. The disease always happens somewhere else. It’s why you fight more wars than anyone else; because you understand war least of all. You need to understand it better."
"...countries like yours [America] they always fight wars, but always somewhere else. The disease always happens somewhere else. It’s why you fight more wars than anyone else; because you understand war least of all. You need to understand it better."