Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Laughter by Sonora Jha

8 reviews

kvokolek's review against another edition

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dark tense

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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dasfaultier's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Starts off at a slow pace, but will eventually pull you in its grip and won't let you go. I couldn't put it down. It's one of those books I will be thinking about for a long time to come. Don't miss it.

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Laughter was the first book I picked up solely because of its inclusion on the Aspen Words Literary Prize longlist. And what a great pick it was. It’s a campus novel set on at a Seattle college in the lead up to the 2016 elections. It’s a time of unrest as students protest, demanding changes to the curriculum and staff to better reflect the diverse world around them. The book is narrated by Dr Oliver Harding,an English professor, who as well as dealing with the social and political unrest seems to becoming obsessed with a Pakistani- American colleague.

So many things stood out. Firstly was the narrator. Harding is the most despicable character I’ve read about in a long time and spending nearly 300 pages in his head was - deliberately - a deeply uncomfortable experience. He was racist, Islamophobic, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic and so much more, lacked any sort of self-awareness and would never have recognised these labels as applying to him. He was a prime example of a person who looks respectable actually being incredibly dangerous and being able to use their privilege to hide the fact. The pacing was brilliant. The book was incredibly propulsive. Part of that may have been the desire to get out of Harding’s head as quickly as possible. More seriously the novel is structured in such a way that you know early on that some significant event has happened, with the lead up it being interspersed with scenes from after. There’s also the arrival of Khan’s teenage nephew, sent to spend time with her after coming to the attention of the French police for being on the fringes of radicalised Islamist group. The desire to find out exactly what happened had me quickly turning the pages. I also admire the way Jha avoided the easy stereotypes. Harding may personify the worst stereotype of a white male but Ruhaba Khan turns out not to be a blameless, innocent brown Muslim woman. I love that Jha was willing to wade into grey waters and to push back against the model minority myth. This may have been a propulsive read and it would be easy to write Harding off as an exaggerated stereotype. Yet Jha’s writing forces the reader to pause, to examine their own conscience and face up to any prejudices, however hidden, however unwanted, held by them or those they know, and to consider the harm they might be capable of causing others. This is a book that I continue to think about long after I closed the cover for the final time. Loved it.

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divyagoel's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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davidamarion's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Dr Oliver Harding, a self-absorbed white, creep of a professor, considers himself an open-minded man, a center-leaning liberal. Jha's narrative has him juxtaposing his internalized sexism and racism (which centers around his fixation on his colleague Dr Ruhaba Khan, a Pakistani woman who wears a hijab) with this self-perception. The novel is funny and dark -- Harding wears his self-perception as armor even as he reveals the vilest bitterness and excuses for his own behavior.

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justlevy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC

Frankly, this book exceeds my expectations. The Laughter is a sharp, biting, irreverent take on America's cultural firestorm and Islamophobia through a tense and compelling academia lens.

Aside from the story and characters themselves, the novel's structure and ending also especially lay bare the reader's own biases and subverts expectations. The hints throughout the book fool you into thinking where it's all heading, only for Jha to pull the rug under your feet in a simple yet so effective a manner.

I also really like how all the characters are imbued with complexity even though it would have been so easy to paint one side completely one-dimensional in service of the other. The book being from the POV of white man in a position of power reveals how messed up the old guard's logic and thought processes can be as well. I lost count of how many times I gasped or thought, "You did not just say that" while reading the book.

Above all, however, this book illustrates for me, for the first time, how intensely claustrophobic and repressive Islamophobia is through Adil and Ruhaba alike. What the former endures, especially, is downright enraging and I admire how Jha is able to make me feel so deeply from her story. I hope this book garners the wide readership it so deserves.

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thecriticalreader's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Review:

The Laughter by Sonora Jha takes place from the perspective of someone who embodies all of the worst qualities a human being can have, and almost all of the privileges society can afford. Jha deftly uses this perspective to create a fascinating, tense story that searingly critiques American society and also keeps the reader invested. I found it to be a quick read, easily digestible in terms of prose but not always in content matter.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like The Laughter . . .

· If you like detestable main characters or stories from the perspectives of the villain

· You want to engage with social critique/commentary wrapped in an original package

You might not like The Laughter . . .

· If you don’t want to read a book from a perspective of someone with vile racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. thoughts

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