Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
This book is very smart. I liked how Vara wove together history, commentary on our culture and world order. It tried to accomplish a lot. One of my criticisms is that Athena never really uses her “powers” of memory & brain connected directly to the internet, because most of her story takes place in places without WiFi. I listened to this on audiobook, and I wonder if I would have liked it better had I just read it in my own voice.
3.5 rounded down. Started off with a lot of promise and there were a lot of things that I really liked about it, but one storyline started to unravel as it wrapped up, making less and less sense as we went on.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-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
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Man, this was a slog that I didn't really enjoy but it was so interesting I couldn't stop reading it. Do I give it four stars because it was well put together and interesting? Or three because I didn't really love it? I'll go with four, I guess, even though I am glad I *finally* finished it. The novel focuses on Athena Rao and her father, King Rao. You get Athena's story in first person, and King's story in third person limited. King Rao grew up as a Dalit on a coconut farm on a river delta in India. He was the favored eldest son of an eldest son, so the family invested heavily in his education and his future. He ends up leaving India to study computer science in the U.S. in the 1970s, when the microcomputer is really taking off. He ends up being this computing genius and revolutionizes his field. This part reads like historical fiction. Athena's part takes place in the near future, in an era called Hothouse Earth, when society has completely changed, mainly due to her father's technological innovations. There were some plot threads that seemed to get lost (whatever happened to Minnu? Did I miss something?). This part is the speculative fiction. This is innovative and interesting, and I should know more about India and Indian immigrants to the U.S. I will probably read another by this author.
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes