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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
A foot in two countries
A young man grows up in India and becomes a doctor in the US. The strengths and the darkness in each land are explored in a compassionate tale that is compelling and rich in detail. This is a fabulous story for a dark time in the history of race relations in the US and a good reminder for all of us that people are, after all, people, no matter where they are.
A young man grows up in India and becomes a doctor in the US. The strengths and the darkness in each land are explored in a compassionate tale that is compelling and rich in detail. This is a fabulous story for a dark time in the history of race relations in the US and a good reminder for all of us that people are, after all, people, no matter where they are.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The characters and story seemed so real! I can't believe it's fiction. There's a lot of detail and it's a really interesting story.
I had really high hopes for The Golden Son. The preview I read was interesting, and I finished the book fairly quickly after it arrived in the mail. At the end of the day, it’s not a bad book; I just didn’t love it.
The core characters, Anil and Leena, are childhood friends who grow apart around puberty. They conveniently are reacquainted right before Anil goes to the US for his medical residency, and Leena gets married into a too-good-to-be-true family. Slight spoiler: things go very wrong for Leena and Anil VERY fast.
The story itself was compelling, and the characters were generally interesting and well rounded. There were a few quirks that drove me crazy- an Australian character who sprinkled “mate” into every other sentence, Anil’s roommates who never stopped calling each other “Bhai”. Time was also a lil bit wonky, leaving some relationships a little less believable, and the extremely happy ending a bit rushed (seriously, in about 2-3 chapters, Anil finds a perfect happily ever after in a vague character who ends up being perfect).
But, all critiques aside, I enjoyed reading The Golden Son. It gave me similar vibes as “The Color of our Skies” or “A House Without Windows” mixed with Grey’s Anatomy.
The core characters, Anil and Leena, are childhood friends who grow apart around puberty. They conveniently are reacquainted right before Anil goes to the US for his medical residency, and Leena gets married into a too-good-to-be-true family. Slight spoiler: things go very wrong for Leena and Anil VERY fast.
The story itself was compelling, and the characters were generally interesting and well rounded. There were a few quirks that drove me crazy- an Australian character who sprinkled “mate” into every other sentence, Anil’s roommates who never stopped calling each other “Bhai”. Time was also a lil bit wonky, leaving some relationships a little less believable, and the extremely happy ending a bit rushed (seriously, in about 2-3 chapters, Anil finds a perfect happily ever after in a vague character who ends up being perfect).
But, all critiques aside, I enjoyed reading The Golden Son. It gave me similar vibes as “The Color of our Skies” or “A House Without Windows” mixed with Grey’s Anatomy.
Could not get into the book at all. Thought it was slow. The character development I did not enjoy. Also, at that time in my life I was dealing with family trauma around being the responsible one and duty and I just didn’t want to trauma bond with the main character. I immediately returned it to the library.
Beautiful story. Main character moves to Dallas from India for a medical residency. The other central character is his friend in India who unfortunately is married to a bad family. Predictably, her husband tries to burn her to death but she escapes. The escape is a surprise as it is incredible that he sets her on fire and then walks away. I suppose this is the deepest part, in the sense that this is how little these type of men think women in this culture. Fortunately, there are other examples of good and decent man and in this regard they are the outliers. It is very easy to get into the story and experience it from the character's viewpoint. This is the second book of hers that I read and I enjoyed both very much.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
I really enjoyed this book; I thought this book was going to be more like the Kite Runner and while it did have several depressing moments, I found this book more hopeful about humanity in spite of the injustices of the world like classism and racism. I was shocked to find out the author had no experience in science or medicine, Anil's life in the hospital felt so real and depressing. I liked that he wasn't the best or aspired to be the best, his goals and struggles felt real. Leena was my favorite character, I wish she was in the book more but I understood why she wasn't after I read that the author never intended for her to be a main character. Leena stole the show, Anil annoyed me at many different points, again his flaws grounded the book.