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bookswithsoumi's review
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Do you like messy family dynamics and drama? Ever think that the deceased would care to know what is said about them after they die? Dava Shastri’s Last Day is for you!
Dava is the matriarch of her family as well as CEO of her multiple philanthropic organizations. As one of the most famous people on the planet, she is too curious to read about her own obituary before she dies from terminal brain cancer. Dava is so obsessed with her legacy after she passes that she has her death announced to the media a few days before her actual death from physician-assisted suicide (which is legal in this reality). She then spends the next few days trying to bond with her children and grandchildren in her secluded winter lodge, but what she really does is assign them unwanted projects for them to continue her philanthropist legacy after she dies.
We get to explore Dava and her children’s backstories through a series of flashbacks during Dava’s final days on Earth. Since the media is more interested in Dava’s relationship scandals and possible secret love-child over her philanthropic legacy, her family naturally wants answers, much to Dava’s chagrin. She laments that “no matter what a woman achieves, she is always reduced to her sex life,” (my favorite line from the book!).
The book takes place over the course of a few days, starting from when the family arrives at their vacation home to Dava’s death. Every member of the Shastri-Persson family is incredibly flawed. I would never choose to be friends with any of them, but that’s what makes the book so interesting to read. If you are looking for a book with non-linear character development, Dava could be for you!
Dava’s four children are surprisingly resentful of their mother, but we come to understand their perspectives as well. My favorite character was Dava, because even though she has selfish and obsessive tendencies, starting with her preoccupation regarding her legacy, she definitely cares about empowering women and raising a happy family. Dava’s children on the other hand, who are half-Indian and half-Swedish, are woefully unaware of their privilege
One of the reasons I couldn’t give this book a higher rating was all the 70s and 80s pop song references throughout the book. I guess I am out of the loop on the popularity and importance of some of these songs. I also got a little bored without a change in scenery. Dava and her kids have many flashbacks as they reflect on Dava’s life, but the entirety of the story takes place over a week at the house. Despite all the scene changes, the book still has a slow pace.
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and Kirthana Ramisetti for a gifted ARC and eARC in exchange for an honest review. As an Indian-American, I really enjoyed reading my first piece of “literary” fiction by a South Asian woman!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Pregnancy
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