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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
challenging
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Poorly written and disappointing. Plus, the narrator is just awful.
I really wanted to like this book. I would say it left me super disappointed. The characters were all not very easy to like. At the same time, I didn’t find them interesting enough to care what happened to them. I love the concept of finding out what people would say about you when you’re dead. Having news of your death leak before you’re dead so you can read all about it is fascinating. I don’t think the story flowed well. When I got about 60% I wanted to stop, but I pushed through. Looking back I probably should have stopped.
Overall I wouldn’t recommend this book. It wasn’t terrible, but also wasn’t good.
Overall I wouldn’t recommend this book. It wasn’t terrible, but also wasn’t good.
What a waste of my time! The premise started off as being very interesting, only to be filled with narcissistic, one-dimensional characters who are all so very self-involved and vapid. The author set this book in the year 2044, which added zero value to the plot; I guess it was an easy way out for them to having to actually research music from other past generations when looking back on yesteryears for the characters. Honestly, the book really read as though the author seemed to have gone to the Mindy Kaling school of writing, having the plot overwhelmingly filled with all(or mostly) Caucasian characters with only Dava as the central POC person, with her heritage peppered through just enough to satisfy some reader who would perhaps lap this up. Do yourself a favour and DO NOT BUY!
This has an interesting premise: a woman tells the world she’s dead but lives a few days past that date. The book starts out with her announcement to her family (and then news breaking to the world outside of their carefully closed-off holiday haven). Then it goes back and forth between the present (well, technically, the future as it is for us because this is set about 20 years from now) and the past. As information is shared in news articles and Dava and her family read about it, the story flashes back to what happened.
The novel is a profile of a very strong-willed, determined personality and the effects she had on her family and others in her orbit. Dava is sometimes not very likeable; her toughness and zeal for her work made her often distant to her children. But the point is made that these qualities would be forgiven, indeed, praised, if she had been a man. Several interesting things to think about.
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/dava-shastris-last-day-fiction-book/
The novel is a profile of a very strong-willed, determined personality and the effects she had on her family and others in her orbit. Dava is sometimes not very likeable; her toughness and zeal for her work made her often distant to her children. But the point is made that these qualities would be forgiven, indeed, praised, if she had been a man. Several interesting things to think about.
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/dava-shastris-last-day-fiction-book/
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I enjoyed the story. Well written. Great characters. A few unexpected twists. 4 stars because it was too long and a bit repetitive. Looking forward to Ms Ramisetti's next novel.
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 rounded up for this big-hearted multi-generational South Asian family story about their complicated relationships and the secrets that come to light one weekend when the matriarch of the family, Dava, calls everyone home to say goodbye. Excellently narrated by one of my favs, Soneela Nankani and highly recommended for fans of Saumya Dave. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC!
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Dava Shastri's Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti is about an Indian-American billionaire matriarch on the cusp of death. She invites her adult children and their families for a gathering on her own remote private island. News of her death reaches the media right before she plans to end her life due to a terminal diagnosis. Unbeknownst to her family, they are gathering for her final days. Dava made her money by selling a music platform and has devoted her life to her foundation. She was married to a Swedish man who died two decades prior and had four children with.
We meet each of the Shastri-Persson siblings in a different phase of their life, struggling with their own relationships and now the looming end of their mother's life. Family secrets are revealed and we learn more about Dava and the sometimes complicated way she lives her life. She can be controlling and narcissistic, but she was also fascinating and inspiring in her ambition. We learn about her life, while she ponders her past, marriage, children, death, and her larger influence. It's curious to see how her privileged adult children are seemingly immune to the hazards of a precarious outside world in 2045 when the story is set. I loved seeing how family relationships developed in the short amount of time spent on the island. Music provides a textured backdrop to the events of Dava's lives and a playlist would be a perfect accompaniment to this book. This was my favorite part of the book. I listened to the audiobook which is wonderfully narrated by Soneela Nankani. Overall, a very readable and interesting multi-layered family story.
Thank you Hachette Audio and NetGalley for providing this ARC.
We meet each of the Shastri-Persson siblings in a different phase of their life, struggling with their own relationships and now the looming end of their mother's life. Family secrets are revealed and we learn more about Dava and the sometimes complicated way she lives her life. She can be controlling and narcissistic, but she was also fascinating and inspiring in her ambition. We learn about her life, while she ponders her past, marriage, children, death, and her larger influence. It's curious to see how her privileged adult children are seemingly immune to the hazards of a precarious outside world in 2045 when the story is set. I loved seeing how family relationships developed in the short amount of time spent on the island. Music provides a textured backdrop to the events of Dava's lives and a playlist would be a perfect accompaniment to this book. This was my favorite part of the book. I listened to the audiobook which is wonderfully narrated by Soneela Nankani. Overall, a very readable and interesting multi-layered family story.
Thank you Hachette Audio and NetGalley for providing this ARC.