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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
The overall plot of the book is good but there is so much more I wish the author expanded on. I wanted to hear more from Chaitanya, and focus on Dava’s life growing up,
This will sound weird — but I’m tempted to not read any further books for the few days remaining in 2021. Why? So I can end on a high note! I can’t tell you how much I loved Dava Shastri’s Last Day. It feels good to think about ending my reading year with such a terrific 5-star read!
In this sensitive, compelling book, we meet the awesome Dava Shastri at age 70. She’s a world-famous philanthropist, having devoted her adult life to using her billions to support worthwhile causes around the world. She’s also a mother, a grandmother, and a widow, and as the book opens, Dava has called her family to their private island for reasons not yet disclosed.
As the family gathers, she shares her big secret: Dava has terminal cancer, and faced with months of painful treatments that may prolong her life but not sustain it in any sort of quality, she decides to leave on her own terms. A doctor is on stand-by, already on the island. After a final day with her family, Dava will be ending her life via assisted suicide.
The family, naturally, is shocked. They’re even more shocked to learn that Dava’s attorney has already announced her death to the world. Faced with the end, Dava has decided to indulge her curiosity and see how she’s remembered — because hasn’t everyone always wondered about attending their own funeral?
The news, while full of praise for Dava’s generosity, soon turns to gossip and scandal, as a decades-old rumor of an extramarital affair with a rock singer resurfaces in the wake of the death announcements. Dava is dismayed that these old stories have taken over the headlines, so instead of the tributes she expected, she’s faced once again with the rumors she could never quite shake.
As the book progresses, each of Dava’s four adult children tries to come to terms with Dava’s legacy and their own relationships to their powerful, hard-working, often absent mother. In devoting her life to serving others, Dava’s homelife by necessity came second. And while she raised her children to follow in her footsteps and devote themselves to the family foundations and charitable causes, each has to face their own soul-searching to find their purpose in life — and to figure out whether Dava is someone they want to emulate or rebel against.
There are so many lovely moments, as the siblings explore their connections, their own marriages and relationships, and their place in the world. Even the grandchildren have important roles to play, as they get a final chance to learn the truth about their grandmother — who she is, what her life has meant, and what paths she’s blazed for them.
Dava herself is a fascinating character, a self-made woman whose life contains heartbreak and challenge and ultimate success. She often enigmatic, and at first seems to be a woman who places too much emphasis on physical comfort and luxuries, but we soon learn that there’s so much more to this powerful, determined woman.
The one element that rang a little oddly for me is the setting — the main events surround Dava’s last day take place in 2044. I suppose this is so that the author could root some of Dava and her children’s earlier years in our own contemporary times. The fact that it’s 2044 in this book isn’t particularly explored, beyond a couple of references to climate and the ease of accessing Dava’s chosen end-of-life medical treatment.
Other than that, there’s really not a false note in this beautiful book. I loved the characters, the relationships, the secrets that emerge, and the lovely way the stories all tie together by the end.
This would be a fabulous book group selection — there’s so much to think about and discuss!
Dava Shastri’s Last Day seems to have been an under-the-radar release for the end of 2021. Fortunately, I stumbled across a mention of the book in a year-end list, and the beautiful cover caught my eye. I’m so happy to have read this book, and will be sharing it with lots of friends and family.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. Full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
In this sensitive, compelling book, we meet the awesome Dava Shastri at age 70. She’s a world-famous philanthropist, having devoted her adult life to using her billions to support worthwhile causes around the world. She’s also a mother, a grandmother, and a widow, and as the book opens, Dava has called her family to their private island for reasons not yet disclosed.
As the family gathers, she shares her big secret: Dava has terminal cancer, and faced with months of painful treatments that may prolong her life but not sustain it in any sort of quality, she decides to leave on her own terms. A doctor is on stand-by, already on the island. After a final day with her family, Dava will be ending her life via assisted suicide.
The family, naturally, is shocked. They’re even more shocked to learn that Dava’s attorney has already announced her death to the world. Faced with the end, Dava has decided to indulge her curiosity and see how she’s remembered — because hasn’t everyone always wondered about attending their own funeral?
The news, while full of praise for Dava’s generosity, soon turns to gossip and scandal, as a decades-old rumor of an extramarital affair with a rock singer resurfaces in the wake of the death announcements. Dava is dismayed that these old stories have taken over the headlines, so instead of the tributes she expected, she’s faced once again with the rumors she could never quite shake.
As the book progresses, each of Dava’s four adult children tries to come to terms with Dava’s legacy and their own relationships to their powerful, hard-working, often absent mother. In devoting her life to serving others, Dava’s homelife by necessity came second. And while she raised her children to follow in her footsteps and devote themselves to the family foundations and charitable causes, each has to face their own soul-searching to find their purpose in life — and to figure out whether Dava is someone they want to emulate or rebel against.
There are so many lovely moments, as the siblings explore their connections, their own marriages and relationships, and their place in the world. Even the grandchildren have important roles to play, as they get a final chance to learn the truth about their grandmother — who she is, what her life has meant, and what paths she’s blazed for them.
Dava herself is a fascinating character, a self-made woman whose life contains heartbreak and challenge and ultimate success. She often enigmatic, and at first seems to be a woman who places too much emphasis on physical comfort and luxuries, but we soon learn that there’s so much more to this powerful, determined woman.
The one element that rang a little oddly for me is the setting — the main events surround Dava’s last day take place in 2044. I suppose this is so that the author could root some of Dava and her children’s earlier years in our own contemporary times. The fact that it’s 2044 in this book isn’t particularly explored, beyond a couple of references to climate and the ease of accessing Dava’s chosen end-of-life medical treatment.
Other than that, there’s really not a false note in this beautiful book. I loved the characters, the relationships, the secrets that emerge, and the lovely way the stories all tie together by the end.
This would be a fabulous book group selection — there’s so much to think about and discuss!
Dava Shastri’s Last Day seems to have been an under-the-radar release for the end of 2021. Fortunately, I stumbled across a mention of the book in a year-end list, and the beautiful cover caught my eye. I’m so happy to have read this book, and will be sharing it with lots of friends and family.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. Full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.
Loved this!! Not life changing but i loved the story and characters. Complex family dynamics are just sooo engaging
i like an older accomplished woman sharing her secret life before she dies but dava is no evelyn hugo
This was a slow burn. It was quite thought provoking and I liked the flash backs that gave Dava and her families life more context and layers. So I think I'd give it 3.5.
The audio was fine but the sound was really tinny which was very distracting.
The audio was fine but the sound was really tinny which was very distracting.
5: Dava Shastri's Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti.
The premise was quite interesting: a woman shares her own death ahead of time so that she can see what people say about her when they think she's gone, but she really isn't...not quite yet.
But there is just waaaaaaaaaaaay too much money and privilege for a realistic--for this reader, anyway--portrayal of this woman and her family and their concerns. I just could not get my head around it or how they all functioned with these kinds of lives. And that prevented me from "getting" some of its point, quite possibly. I was simply stunned by the dollar amounts super, duper far beyond my comprehension. Yet I did appreciate how much it mattered to Shastri, the main character, how she spent that money and how it would be used to benefit others.
And not intending to dismiss its value overall for that assessment, the book does ponder realistic ideas that would be of concern for all--ideas of marriage and parenting, siblings and adoption. There is good stuff here.
There is also a lot of dwelling on some particular musical artists and their work, and in the situations where that is not music the reader also "loves," it seems repetitive and excessive, the number of references made to it.
There were a few things I liked about the book--some of its themes and characters (did definitely love one of them being Swedish and two of them living in Stockholm) and a few more that I did not; at times it just seemed to try to take on just way too much--homosexuality, cross-country and cross-cultural marriage, gender stereotypes, and even a "throuple," potentially--too easily and too conveniently to handle any of it realistically or valuably for someone looking in from the outside. I simply didn't gain a better understanding of much or find myself very empathetic to the characters' concerns for how much the book attempted to include, glossing over a mile of stuff rather than addressing fewer ideas more valuably or complexly, realistically.
It was not a difficult read but just not quite as thoughtful as I had hoped either.
The premise was quite interesting: a woman shares her own death ahead of time so that she can see what people say about her when they think she's gone, but she really isn't...not quite yet.
But there is just waaaaaaaaaaaay too much money and privilege for a realistic--for this reader, anyway--portrayal of this woman and her family and their concerns. I just could not get my head around it or how they all functioned with these kinds of lives. And that prevented me from "getting" some of its point, quite possibly. I was simply stunned by the dollar amounts super, duper far beyond my comprehension. Yet I did appreciate how much it mattered to Shastri, the main character, how she spent that money and how it would be used to benefit others.
And not intending to dismiss its value overall for that assessment, the book does ponder realistic ideas that would be of concern for all--ideas of marriage and parenting, siblings and adoption. There is good stuff here.
There is also a lot of dwelling on some particular musical artists and their work, and in the situations where that is not music the reader also "loves," it seems repetitive and excessive, the number of references made to it.
There were a few things I liked about the book--some of its themes and characters (did definitely love one of them being Swedish and two of them living in Stockholm) and a few more that I did not; at times it just seemed to try to take on just way too much--homosexuality, cross-country and cross-cultural marriage, gender stereotypes, and even a "throuple," potentially--too easily and too conveniently to handle any of it realistically or valuably for someone looking in from the outside. I simply didn't gain a better understanding of much or find myself very empathetic to the characters' concerns for how much the book attempted to include, glossing over a mile of stuff rather than addressing fewer ideas more valuably or complexly, realistically.
It was not a difficult read but just not quite as thoughtful as I had hoped either.