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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
This book left me a bit conflicted, which I think shows how it was well written as character studies like this are often not cut and dried.
Dava Shasti is a legend, a woman with incredible ambition - and the ego to go with it - who has dedicated her life to creating a legacy of helping others in the world. She is also a mother, who's children have each been formed by that ambition to varying degrees. We learned more about her children and grandchildren alongside snippets of Dava's history as they all process her coming death.
The majority of this book felt almost like a thriller/soap opera with each chapter leading up to a sense of "what secrets will we learn next?!".
It could have been a bit shorter, and some sections were quite sensationalized, but overall, the book took us on a journey of discovery and healing as can be expected in the circumstances. This is worth a read, especially for people with complicated family relationships.
It was good....it was really really good!!I don't want to jinx it but the past few books i read was amazing and THIS!! was no exception.This book is an exclamation point.
Let's talk about the plot: Dava Shastri fakes..no she just lies about when she died...or is going to die of brain cancer.Instead of sccumbing to the disease she takes matters into her own hands.Dying gets her curious on what people will have to say about the life lived,faking her death gives her the opportunity to-well find out.Her job and her career have always been very successful and her everything.So she is given quite the suprise when old skeletons are dug up and her life reduced to gossip.Thinking that her life and work would be applauded with the shastri name being synonymous with generosity and giving-she is given quite the shock.She didn't expect to be reduced to her past life choices. Things she'd rather not discuss with the world were well being discussed and she can't exactly give a public statement or tell them they've all got it wrong-she's dead.Bringing her children to her private island to spend time with them and read her obituaries was all that she wanted to do in her last days instead she has to explain herself to her children and make tough decisions going forward.
We start with sandi-Shastri's youngest sons fiancee and go forward with different characters POV.The characters were very realistic and shastri gave a lot of great advice on many things.Death is not easy to those around and harder going forward,The emotions were raw and real-i'm not a crier but this book did squeeze a few tears out;(
So many people found it hard to follow the characters,i did at first find it hard but then it was on a roll-i mean i did take 4 days to finish the book and had plenty of time to think about the book and properly follow the characters rather than just speeding through.
I read about how Kirthana Ramisetti got the idea of the book through a questian and that was soo cool.She is a real good author and i look forward to reading more of her books.
This was an amazing read that easily bags 5 stars from me.
I wish that Kirthana would have made the dirt on the character a little more scandalous. At times it felt dry. I also struggled with Dava and her need to be liked but also want to be better than everyone.
I'm also not sure why Ramisetti opted to set the book in 2044? I think more will change in the next 20 years that Ramisetti reflected since she writes 2044 as if it's 2022. Other than having the book not take place in the pandemic, I'm not sure what this achieved (and simply pushing the date back so that the book takes place pre-covid would not have changed anything about the story). If you're writing a book that takes place 20 years from now you need to be prepared to write as though it's the future and not the exact same as now...
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent