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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
Dava Shastri’s Last Day is a sweeping story about a fiercely ambitious woman who wrote the narrative of her life and then lived it out–right to the very last moment.
It’s Christmas 2044 and news of Dava Shastri’s death is filling up news feeds around the world. On a remote private island, Dava Shastri herself hides under the covers, eyes glued to her tablet as the obituaries start pouring in. Downstairs, her four adult children, their spouses, and Dava’s grandchildren struggle to understand why the world thinks their matriarch is dead.
As Dava reveals her plans and breaks the news of her impending death to her family, each of them must reconcile what they thought they knew about their philanthropic mother with the stories emerging over the closely guarded newswires. Each’s has a uniquely complicated relationship with their mother and must work through myriad emotions and memories in order to support her and connect with her in her final hours.
Meanwhile, Dava herself revisits significant moments of her epic life, lived to its fullest in every way and confesses to her family about two secrets she’s kept hidden for decades.
While some other reviews I read described the characters as unlikable and unrelatable, I didn’t find this to be so. Although I couldn’t, perhaps, relate to their privileged lifestyles and specific circumstances, I think there’s something relatable about each of the characters as they grapple with their identities, which are so closely tied to that of their mother and their place within the Shastri-Persons family.
Ultimately, I found this book to be moving, encouraging, inspirational, and entertaining. It was the perfect way to cap off my 2021 reading journey–a gentle reminder of the fleetingness of life and a nudge to go out and life it to the fullest.
Rating: 5 stars (it was amazing)
It’s Christmas 2044 and news of Dava Shastri’s death is filling up news feeds around the world. On a remote private island, Dava Shastri herself hides under the covers, eyes glued to her tablet as the obituaries start pouring in. Downstairs, her four adult children, their spouses, and Dava’s grandchildren struggle to understand why the world thinks their matriarch is dead.
As Dava reveals her plans and breaks the news of her impending death to her family, each of them must reconcile what they thought they knew about their philanthropic mother with the stories emerging over the closely guarded newswires. Each’s has a uniquely complicated relationship with their mother and must work through myriad emotions and memories in order to support her and connect with her in her final hours.
Meanwhile, Dava herself revisits significant moments of her epic life, lived to its fullest in every way and confesses to her family about two secrets she’s kept hidden for decades.
While some other reviews I read described the characters as unlikable and unrelatable, I didn’t find this to be so. Although I couldn’t, perhaps, relate to their privileged lifestyles and specific circumstances, I think there’s something relatable about each of the characters as they grapple with their identities, which are so closely tied to that of their mother and their place within the Shastri-Persons family.
Ultimately, I found this book to be moving, encouraging, inspirational, and entertaining. It was the perfect way to cap off my 2021 reading journey–a gentle reminder of the fleetingness of life and a nudge to go out and life it to the fullest.
Rating: 5 stars (it was amazing)
This book was definitely more of a slow burn for me, but I enjoyed this exploration of legacy, death, celebrity, and most importantly, family. Tailor-made for book club discussions!
I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The premise alone was enough to intrigue me--a powerful matriarch from a multicultural family who isolates her relatives at her giant private island residence for the holidays and fakes her own death? Count me in!--and the execution certainly delivers. Ramisetti's writing reminds me a bit of Taylor Jenkins' (specifically, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo). She's great at establishing family drama and intrigue while ensuring that her characters are still relatable and have depth and development. While Dava isn't a likeable character (and I cringed at some of her attributes), Ramisetti establishes enough sympathy for her that I was invested in her and her family.
This is a strong debut and well worth your time, especially if you enjoyed The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
The premise alone was enough to intrigue me--a powerful matriarch from a multicultural family who isolates her relatives at her giant private island residence for the holidays and fakes her own death? Count me in!--and the execution certainly delivers. Ramisetti's writing reminds me a bit of Taylor Jenkins' (specifically, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo). She's great at establishing family drama and intrigue while ensuring that her characters are still relatable and have depth and development. While Dava isn't a likeable character (and I cringed at some of her attributes), Ramisetti establishes enough sympathy for her that I was invested in her and her family.
This is a strong debut and well worth your time, especially if you enjoyed The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
an interesting premise, but I spent the whole book waiting for Rev and Sandra to break up
It was pretty good I especially liked the end but I found myself wanting more drama
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
For the most part, this was disappointing to me. I was expecting the book to move me but overall, it was a little messy - the story was all over the place and the pacing was off. Maybe that was intentional as our lives are not linear but I thought it took away from the poignancy of what was really happening. Reading this reminded me of watching the show Succession - how I couldn't get past 3-4 episodes because the characters were unlikeable. In this case, I didn't find the characters to be redeeming (and yes, in life people are complicated, so I get it but at the end, I thought there would be enough for me to move past the flaws and appreciate the goodness of each character, including the matriarch). Instead it read off more like a resume of all the good things they've done (especially Dava) but then we were expected to forgive her and her ungrateful children for all the messy parts of her life. I grappled a lot about Dava's ambitions - It was empowering to see a woman of color take charge of her path in life, pick the untraditional route and be successful; however, there was also just something distasteful about her that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it was the Tom Buck angle? I think if I had seen closure with her husband about it, maybe her character would make more sense to me.
With that being said, there were definitely worthwhile scenes and qualities to the book. I appreciated how parents, especially the mother, shapes a child's life and essentially, their level of happiness as an adult. What we want from our children may not be what our children want (even if we think that's the right path) and to witness this happening over the course of the book felt relevant and relatable. Also, I thought the book was unique in how she identifies relationships. The types of affairs she describes in the novel are not usually presented in classic South Asian literature and I am glad SA characters are starting to forge new stories without having to fit into all the standard brown tropes and euphemisms. I also really enjoyed the adoption angle and the scene where she has that "come to" moment with her grandkids was really well done.
Overall, there were parts of the novel that exceeded my expectations, but overall, the book did not live up to it's hype in my opinion. And not sure if it's worth the time even if the last 50 pages were decent.
With that being said, there were definitely worthwhile scenes and qualities to the book. I appreciated how parents, especially the mother, shapes a child's life and essentially, their level of happiness as an adult. What we want from our children may not be what our children want (even if we think that's the right path) and to witness this happening over the course of the book felt relevant and relatable. Also, I thought the book was unique in how she identifies relationships. The types of affairs she describes in the novel are not usually presented in classic South Asian literature and I am glad SA characters are starting to forge new stories without having to fit into all the standard brown tropes and euphemisms. I also really enjoyed the adoption angle and the scene where she has that "come to" moment with her grandkids was really well done.
Overall, there were parts of the novel that exceeded my expectations, but overall, the book did not live up to it's hype in my opinion. And not sure if it's worth the time even if the last 50 pages were decent.
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:
Yes
Wow I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would (I am not usually into books about famous people or celebrities), but this book had so much power and beauty. Loved reading all of the small and beautiful details of the family dynamics that existed throughout the story. Really beautiful book about life, love, and grief, and choosing one’s own path right until the end of life.