Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup

9 reviews

sendlasagna's review against another edition

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adventurous informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

CW for book, not the review: Mention of child sexual assault, mentions of domestic abuse and brief romanticisation of that abuse, description of prison torture, description of girls forced into prostitution through poverty, I'm fairly certain I've missed mentioning noticing mentions of war-national violence-Islamophobia-cultural genocide etc cause I'm too used to this when it's based in the Indian subcontinent. 

The cishet world system almost made me want to quit but the very good ecological descriptions and eco-social ideas kept me going. For instance, the scene page 76 creates between white butterflies, a diabolical current and a fisherman I imagined to be old, rowed out at sea at what I imagined was night-- maddening that it just casually exists in a book and then is smoothly woven in to plot _after_ its thrilling entry with no preamble. 

Page 119: “With no one else to call his own, he entered a monastery. He shaved his hair off and tried to meditate. Within a week, he ran away from the place. He enrolled himself in Rangoon University. Orphans, he realized, needed human bonds, ordinary distractions, and excuses to hang on to. Not the metaphysical emptiness propounded by a prince who had everything— kingdom, palace, parents, wife, children— only to give it all up.” 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

I like how the trope of the unnamed wife is reversed for Rose Mary’s story. I also like the subtle wit with which post-Independence Indian poverty is described. 

I’m reading this while I’m also thinking of planetary time and Anna Tsing and this is certainly one way to write that. 

When you don’t braid your prose evenly across action, description, dialogue and interiority, it starts to become difficult to focus, because the reading rhythm is strained. About 3/5th into the book, there is too much interiority and description (for the planet as a character and metaphor) and I had to start skipping sections. 

Called my grandma to hear about the hills. She instantly launched into praise for and connections with the right-wing. Called another grandma for stories of the Gangetic plains. She didn’t finish a single sentence but  grandfather butted into the call, eager to tell the stories properly, and between them, they brought alive a kilometre square of old Delhi. The poetics of the moment aren’t lost on me— I was pacing in a room in Singapore, tracing everything they said on Google Maps, while my cousin and her baby son finished dinner, listening to a bed time story composed of history of every scale. 

Pages 285-288 are a goddamn delight. Swarup can definitely write longly drawn and satisfying, closed circles.  



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loosea23's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75


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herewegoagain's review against another edition

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

3.75


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cthornhill's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Truly an absolutely stunning piece of writing. World expanding, mind bending, breathtaking. 

I would say. Try and read each section in one go. It takes a little bit of time to get your mind into the way she writes. Once you’re there though, what a gift! 

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bexi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

Well.. I'm not entirely sure what I just read, but my goodness if that wasn't some of the most unique, breathtaking writing I've ever had the pleasure and challenge of reading. I hope the author writes more books in the future.

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afion's review against another edition

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4.25


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garynoplastie's review

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adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.75


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katieg's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book went down smooth, it's writing was beautiful and nuanced, and I definitely appreciated what it was exploring in terms of human relationships with the environment and the processes of geology and change. On the other hand, I found the pacing a bit mismatched, the book is divided into four parts, and the first of those, also the longest, felt like a complete drag. It lacked tension and action and I didn't find the characters (or their relationship) compelling enough to carry the story. Luckily, there was more tension developed in the subsequent part and by that point the thematic content had grown enough to keep me reading. I appreciated the ways in which the characters were intertwined, but I didn't really get a feel or connect with any of them. I'm mostly ok with this since the book was really more a story of the Earth, but I could see it being a detriment for others. I also found the thematic content relating to storytelling to be a bit lacking and shoehorned in. Overall this was an enjoyable, contemplative read, but it didn't hit every note for me. 

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claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

I started this book months ago after buying it from the rather meager selection of English books in my little Spanish town. The first few chapters didn't hook me, so I set it aside for weeks, but when I finally picked it up again I found I really enjoyed the book. Swarup has a really beautiful way of describing nature and weaving the stories of animals, plants, rivers, and mountains through the stories of human lives. I liked how each section was connected to the others, and how it came full circle in the end.

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