Reviews

Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree

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nainatai's review against another edition

2.0

I fail to understand how the translation even got published, let alone win an award. The story only appears in glimpses throughout the book. The book could have been one third the size it currently is if it had been edited tighter. The absence of punctuation and usage of multiple so many antonyms synonym opposite same same words in one big big sentence was oh so annoying! Pure indulgence on the writer's part. Every scene went on forever. You could skip pages and pages and maji would still not have moved from her bed her prison her balcony her Rosie. Nope, not a happy reader.

katy_bee's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I'm still getting my head around this one. It's very dense and the stream of consciousness style of writing means and obscures the meaning. It's one you have to concentrate for.
It also takes a while to get going and I find myself wishing it had got further along sooner.
However, I got into the style and flow of writing in time and it was interesting to read about the lives, relationships and histories of the characters

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karinlib's review against another edition

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3.0

I gave this three stars because I really enjoyed the writing, the word play, and the use of language. Although, I am not a fan of Stream of Consciousness most of the time. I have run across some authors that do it really well for me: Ali Smith, and Lucy Ellmann. There were times that Shree's writing really was wonderful, at a sentence by sentence level. The problem for me was that a lot of the book I did not fully "get", and that's ok.

For me, the best part of the book was the last part, the main characters' time in Pakistan.

pinkiebear's review against another edition

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3.0

meandering, compulsive, overwrought and playful are all words that are applicable to tomb of sand. at times I was completely absorbed and yet as the story went on I found the book tiresome.
tomb of sand is highly refriental to indian culture, history and literature, specifically relating to india-pakistan relations, and I admittedly lack understanding of the cultural context of the novel and likely only had a superficial reading experience, a fact that became very apparent to me whilst reading part three.
but still this book is filled with wonderful magical realism, a cane which butterflies flow out of and an assembly of crows admiring saris appearing in a tree, which I adored. and of course I loved the exploration of mother-daughter relationships through Beti and Ma, and watching their fraught relationship develop through the subversion of traditional roles.
so overall, a very mixed reading experience but one that will definitely stick with me

apriltrepagnier's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Lyrically masterful, I cannot say enough wonderful things about the language in this book. I wish I could read it in the original Hindi. It is my understanding that the author and the translator are lovers of sound and worked hard to ensure that this was not only a great story but a beautiful read. This book is the subject of my upcoming paper, so I am sure I will have much more to say about it then.