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eclyan's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
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? It's complicated
3.5
J'ai mis pas mal de temps a terminer ce roman, et j'ai du globalement m'y prendre a deux fois : j'ai d'abord lu environ le tiers, fait une pause de deux mois et repris. C'est un roman vraiment fluide a lire mais les thèmes abordés sont difficiles et il faut s'y pencher quand l'on se sent prêt ; lire la souffrance de ces femmes indiennes n'est pas évident mais riche en enseignements. Je regrette simplement le fait que l'histoire qui sert de fil rouge au récit - celle d'Akka- ne soit pas plus développée : elle connait bien une fin mais je trouve cette histoire creuse comparée à celle des autres, là où cela aurait dû presque être le contraire.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Rape, Abandonment, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Child abuse, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Homophobia
smorettins_books's review against another edition
4.0
Molto belle le storie intrecciate delle diverse donne che si trovano a condividere un viaggio in treno. Background diversi, vite vissute diverse, ma ognuna ha il suo modo di essere donna.
lizzina's review against another edition
2.0
I was somehow disappointed from this reading. I've heard so many times talking about this book like something different from the "usual Indian fiction" and how intense and deep was this novel, that I maybe formed it in my mind like something different. I think that the plot is good: an unmarried Indian woman, after having took care of her family after the death of her father, finds herself different from what she would have been. She is still living with her younger sister - who has her own family but seems like she can't let her elder sister go, despite her being really nasty and unbearable with her - and decides to move. I liked the idea that the book was set on a train, especially if we think it is set on an "only women coach". What happens then is that the novel is no more a novel with a tissue linking all the stories of the women Akhila meets. It looks more like a collection of stories, like the women she met just pass through the coach to narrate their lives and then depart, hardly remembered. The women really not face each others, do not discuss about what they are saying. One of the stories really fall apart from the usual Indian cliché (Prabha Devis' one, which remains my favourite), but the others look or really inconsequential, or really sad in the manner that if there's something that is should go wrong, it will. I noticed that the author is also quite "obsessed" by sex, so this is not treated like one of the subjects of the novel, but more like a straining to make the whole thing interesting, putting it unrequested also in the final part, making it like something really unreal and spoiling the whole thing.
pachypedia's review against another edition
4.0
Un libro muy interesante, repleto de historias de mujeres que intentan salir adelante lo mejor que pueden en un país que no se lo pone fácil.
audaciaray's review
3.0
I really wanted to love this book - I picked it up in Delhi at an English-language bookshop when I was there in September because it was on the store's recommended list. It's a quick, engaging read that is essentially a feminist tome disguised as chick lit. But somehow, I just felt like the characters were a bit flat. To paraprhase what another reviewer says, the basic arc for pretty much all the characters is, "first I did what was expected of me, and I was miserable - then I did what I wanted to do, and I was happier."
neethuraghavan676's review
5.0
Loved the stories of Aquila, and the other 5 ladies she met in the ladies compartment on her way from bangalore to kanyakumari.
doppy's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5