Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

1 review

nenya's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I borrowed this book from my english teacher when we discussed colonialism in class and she recommended it - and regarding that topic, it definitely fulfilled my expectations. Since neither I, nor my ancestors have been colonized or have migrated somewhere, I am in no position to judge the authenticity of the plot and characters but I must say, it felt very true and accurate to me. It gives excellent and thoroughly elaborated insights into different perspectives of Indian immigrants as well as their children growing up in America and their struggles with balancing the two different cultures. 
However, the story telling sometimes left me a bit bored - generally speaking it was well written but what bugged me was how when the plot got a bit mysterious and anticipation was being built up, the chapters tended to end in a small cliffhanger being followed by a time jump in the new chapter which very passively explained the past events/the outcome of the cliffhanger. This kind of took some of the suspense out of the story telling in my opinion and was a bit unsatisfying at times.
Yet, it is most definitely a good book and I would totally recommend it.

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