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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
It sort of fizzled out for me during the last section but it was a cool book.
Where do I even begin? This is one epic tale. The world-building is spectacular. The plot is engrossing. The characters are beyond flawed and realistically-written. It's also 548 pages without even a semblance of an ending. I'd be completely flummoxed if I didn't know Deepti Kapoor was planning to turn this into a trilogy. It's one of those things I wish I had known before buying the book because it would take a lot to convince me to start a book this gigantic that's only the beginning of a story... especially when the subject matter is this grim.
I'm not going to give a summary here because that would take up SO much space, but the book basically revolves around 3 characters - Sunny, the extremely wealthy son of a corrupt business owner, Neda, a young journalist who finds herself whisked into his world, and Ajay, Sunny's servant. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that all 3 of their lives unravel as the book goes on (I'd want to be warned in advance since this isn't a light book you want to pick up after work).
The cultural and societal critiques here are great, and gritty, and make you feel complete angst and contempt for the greed, inequity, and inequality of our world (particularly the rich/poor divide in parts of India). The writing is great and the plot is intriguing enough to keep you reading. But it took me a full month to finish this... it felt like a marathon. Despite enjoying it, I really don't know if I would read the next book in the trilogy or dare to watch the version Kapoor is adapting for TV. The world is too dark for me. But if you're a fan of "The Godfather" (I wouldn't know - I've never seen those films - I know, that's crazy), this is probably for you.
I'm not going to give a summary here because that would take up SO much space, but the book basically revolves around 3 characters - Sunny, the extremely wealthy son of a corrupt business owner, Neda, a young journalist who finds herself whisked into his world, and Ajay, Sunny's servant. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that all 3 of their lives unravel as the book goes on (I'd want to be warned in advance since this isn't a light book you want to pick up after work).
The cultural and societal critiques here are great, and gritty, and make you feel complete angst and contempt for the greed, inequity, and inequality of our world (particularly the rich/poor divide in parts of India). The writing is great and the plot is intriguing enough to keep you reading. But it took me a full month to finish this... it felt like a marathon. Despite enjoying it, I really don't know if I would read the next book in the trilogy or dare to watch the version Kapoor is adapting for TV. The world is too dark for me. But if you're a fan of "The Godfather" (I wouldn't know - I've never seen those films - I know, that's crazy), this is probably for you.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wish Kapoor had gone with the redemption arc instead of total depravity but it was well written and kept me interested.
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
4 star with reservations - What a fever dream of a story. There are heartbreaking characters but by the end of the book they are all just so disappointing for various reasons. If I didn’t know this was part of a trilogy, I would be very pissed off by the ending. And yet, it was gripping. The audiobook narrator was wonderful and really kept my interest. I think I will read the second book at least.
3.5 stars
This book is long. And much of the book flies by—the characters are interesting, the plot is rich, and I was learning about India and thinking about caste and class and capitalism and colonialism and growth and poverty and crime and opportunity and so, so much. Really engrossed, already recommending the book to others—a potential 5-star read.
But then the book faltered in the last quarter, beginning with a tangent that felt like a standalone episode in a tv series, one that’s only included because the network wanted to stretch the season (like the Coach Beard episode of Ted Lasso). It interrupts the plot and destroys the pace. And when the book did get back to the main characters, I never fully reattached with the same level of engagement as before the interruption.
I see now that this book is the first in a trilogy, and that it is being developed for television. This makes sense and may help to explain some of the issues I have with the ending. I’ll probably read the others, but I’m hoping the author (or her editors) can restrain future tangents.
This book is long. And much of the book flies by—the characters are interesting, the plot is rich, and I was learning about India and thinking about caste and class and capitalism and colonialism and growth and poverty and crime and opportunity and so, so much. Really engrossed, already recommending the book to others—a potential 5-star read.
But then the book faltered in the last quarter, beginning with a tangent that felt like a standalone episode in a tv series, one that’s only included because the network wanted to stretch the season (like the Coach Beard episode of Ted Lasso). It interrupts the plot and destroys the pace. And when the book did get back to the main characters, I never fully reattached with the same level of engagement as before the interruption.
I see now that this book is the first in a trilogy, and that it is being developed for television. This makes sense and may help to explain some of the issues I have with the ending. I’ll probably read the others, but I’m hoping the author (or her editors) can restrain future tangents.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5/5 stars. Everything that usually turns me off from a book - more than 400 pages, “multi-generational saga”, multiple narrators - and I loved it.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was enthralled by the immersive, cinematic qualities of this book in the first section. I cared about Ajay. But I really dislike this present-tense style of narration that sounds like someone relaying the events of a movie to you instead of writing a novel—it also sounds to me like an author figuring out what happens in their book to characters that are already living in their heads, like a step before writing the novel itself. (This is a me thing and reasonable people can disagree.) Like many readers have said, the book really lost me in the last quarter. I like an epic, and I love a long, meaty book, but this one was way too shaggy with one POV in particular that was one too many. Reading this, I often felt it wanted to be a screenplay instead. The ending, which switches between a couple different scenes, was particularly like a movie.