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jayceecee0716's review against another edition
5.0
Simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting.
The horror and desperation of the most impoverished neighborhoods from the prospective of 9 year old child; who is filled with hope and wonder.
I didn't expect the twist in this book and it left me reeling and deeply saddened. You will be filled with feelings, but the story flows beautifully and through the pain, there is hope.
The horror and desperation of the most impoverished neighborhoods from the prospective of 9 year old child; who is filled with hope and wonder.
I didn't expect the twist in this book and it left me reeling and deeply saddened. You will be filled with feelings, but the story flows beautifully and through the pain, there is hope.
squidjum's review against another edition
3.0
That was not the ending I wanted :(
Apart from that, I thought the writer did a great job of capturing a child's perspective of increasingly terrible happenings in the basti.
Apart from that, I thought the writer did a great job of capturing a child's perspective of increasingly terrible happenings in the basti.
lokroma's review against another edition
3.0
After a promising start, with charming, well drawn, and engaging schoolchildren as protagonists, this debut novel is ultimately disappointing. The author's background as a journalist is obvious, and the book often reads like a true crime story, but with poignancy. The central portion of the book, which focuses on the search for the missing children, is drawn out and, despite good writing, becomes boring. Although the details of Indian slum life are exquisitely well written and show Anappara's acquaintance with her subject, the plot is weak and lacks resolution.
kaboomcju's review against another edition
2.0
Let me say this: Anappara creates some great characters in this book. Unfortunately, none of them is the protagonist. Forget the fact that Jai is a 9-year old boy. He's just uninteresting, and I found myself actually not liking him as I continued reading. His best friends Faiz and Pari are FAR more interesting. Even his older sister is a character I would like to know more about. I was supposed to feel sorry (I guess) for Jai by the end of the book. Instead, I just kept wondering why he suddenly felt alone (selfish really when you consider what was going on in the story!).
The author was obviously giving a social commentary on the struggles of the poor in India. This would have worked better told from the point of view of a 9-year old GIRL (considering some of the side stories Anappara tells about the female characters), or if the book were just non-fiction. The main character was annoying, and all the other characters were just way more interesting.
The author was obviously giving a social commentary on the struggles of the poor in India. This would have worked better told from the point of view of a 9-year old GIRL (considering some of the side stories Anappara tells about the female characters), or if the book were just non-fiction. The main character was annoying, and all the other characters were just way more interesting.
dude_watchin_with_the_brontes's review against another edition
4.0
Told from the point of view of a nine-year-old, as he and his two best friends try to solve the mystery of a missing child that the police can't be bothered to search for. There are funny moments, but it's overall pretty somber, as you might guess by the subject matter. A humanizing face to a story that often is reduced to statistics, and to things that only happen "somewhere else, to someone else".
nevclue's review against another edition
3.0
I put this down about five times before I finished it. Too much child murder for me, even though it's not quite as grim as it could be since it's told through the eyes of a child.
julesanne's review against another edition
4.0
Sad, tragic, disturbing, tender, beautifully written. Emotionally difficult to read, since the novel deals with missing children.
amberhayward's review against another edition
4.0
Very good! Very sad! Made me google a lot of Indian food!
I’m disappointed when books wrap up too neatly but also when they don’t. There no pleasing me. Four stars!
I’m disappointed when books wrap up too neatly but also when they don’t. There no pleasing me. Four stars!
nina_reads_books's review against another edition
4.0
This is the author’s debut novel which she wrote after being a journalist in India reporting on child poverty. The sheer number of children that disappear in India every day is shocking and the author’s note at the end describes how this book came about.
The story is about nine year Jai and his friends Pari and Faiz who live in a slum in India. After some children go missing and the police are indifferent and don’t investigate, Jai and his friends decide to start looking for the children themselves. Jai is obsessed with the show Police Patrol so he uses the crime solving skills he has picked up to help them find answers.
The story is told from Jai’s perspective in his voice. Having a child narrator can be a tricky technique but in this case it works. It was important to see the world through Jai’s eyes, his naivety and hope alongside his fears carries the story along. This gave the story a sense of whimsy, like it was a bit of fun and the situation wasn’t very serious until the final chapters where it suddenly becomes very dark and quite shocking in a way I was not expecting.
The author portrayed the overwhelming poverty amongst the densely populated slum vividly – the noise, the colours, the smells were brought to life brilliantly. Over the course of the book the injustices and hardship faced by poor families was highlighted as was police corruption and religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims.
I loved how the writing was a mixture of English and Indian phrases. It was easy to pick up what the words meant through the sentence structure but still I googled many phrases including “djinn”. I loved this spiritual element – the children’s belief in djinn’s or spirits that can be helpful (or not) was a lovely accompaniment to the main plot.
I really enjoyed this book although there was a little bit of repetitiveness throughout the middle which slowed down the flow. In my opinion it was one of the more unique and interesting books on the #womensprizelonglist20.
The story is about nine year Jai and his friends Pari and Faiz who live in a slum in India. After some children go missing and the police are indifferent and don’t investigate, Jai and his friends decide to start looking for the children themselves. Jai is obsessed with the show Police Patrol so he uses the crime solving skills he has picked up to help them find answers.
The story is told from Jai’s perspective in his voice. Having a child narrator can be a tricky technique but in this case it works. It was important to see the world through Jai’s eyes, his naivety and hope alongside his fears carries the story along. This gave the story a sense of whimsy, like it was a bit of fun and the situation wasn’t very serious until the final chapters where it suddenly becomes very dark and quite shocking in a way I was not expecting.
The author portrayed the overwhelming poverty amongst the densely populated slum vividly – the noise, the colours, the smells were brought to life brilliantly. Over the course of the book the injustices and hardship faced by poor families was highlighted as was police corruption and religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims.
I loved how the writing was a mixture of English and Indian phrases. It was easy to pick up what the words meant through the sentence structure but still I googled many phrases including “djinn”. I loved this spiritual element – the children’s belief in djinn’s or spirits that can be helpful (or not) was a lovely accompaniment to the main plot.
I really enjoyed this book although there was a little bit of repetitiveness throughout the middle which slowed down the flow. In my opinion it was one of the more unique and interesting books on the #womensprizelonglist20.
lavoiture's review against another edition
4.0
4.5
Starts off as lighthearted caper, ends up...not.
What I loved was the fully-rounded characters. Though this was set in an Indian slum, it was about more than the slum. Fiction gives us insights and empathy into worlds we wouldn't see otherwise, and allows us to live their lives. Yes, I felt sad about the poverty; yes, I felt anger at the police's incompetence, etc, but this story was more than that.
Starts off as lighthearted caper, ends up...not.
What I loved was the fully-rounded characters. Though this was set in an Indian slum, it was about more than the slum. Fiction gives us insights and empathy into worlds we wouldn't see otherwise, and allows us to live their lives. Yes, I felt sad about the poverty; yes, I felt anger at the police's incompetence, etc, but this story was more than that.