Reviews

The Book of Everlasting Things by Aanchal Malhotra

jacket_sg's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

5.0

nikkiacat's review

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dark emotional informative sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Ugh. I enjoyed the beginning of this book, but after
the fire and Samir leaving Lahore
things went downhill quick. Don't get me wrong, it was very well written, and I did enjoy the information about Partition. I'm very into historical fiction set in Asia and recently India in particular, so I really wanted to like this. But God, I just couldn't. I was so sick of Samir by the last 50 pages, I finally gave up and skimmed them and it just made me angrier. 

Samir just came off as a self centered asshole. He was such a dick to poor Lea, neglecting her and his daughter and giving more attention and kindness to a dead woman he never met (Ambrette) than his own wife he chose to marry and his daughter he chose to have. And every time after Lea got sick of him and divorced him when he said "we didn't love each other, I don't know what it was but it wasn't love." Which is such a punch in the face because Lea clearly loved him. I struggled to get past how selfish and awful Samir was. And I hated Firdaus being almost dropped from the story entirely, it was pretty much like, no freedom for you, you're not allowed to work or be educated, no more helping your father with calligraphy, all your talent and intelligence will be wasted locked inside. I quite liked her relationship with her cousin husband, I wish we'd seen more of that, but no. It was all about the pity party Samir sad train. And I hated how they had kids as nothing but a way to lead to their grandkids acting as expys for their great unfinished love. Like both of their daughters were totally fine almost abandoning their children to live with their grandparents? Literally Firdaus' daughter was like "Okay I'm moving cities bye!" 


I feel cheated and robbed, genuinely. Such a promising start turned out to be a total waste of my time.

pazley's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

suchita's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

disha_mt's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
The pain and pleasure of memories is what drives the stories in this novel. It is touching and in so many words, urges readers to really understand the depth and unwavering nature of mohabbat. Please do read. It is thoroughly researched to avoid historical inaccuracies.

hemisha's review

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emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

rachele's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes

3.5

siddaqkler's review

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3.0

all i wanted was a tragic love story. all i got was a 400-page thesis on how to make perfumes. i understand that a lot of research went into this book and i respect the author's hard work, but this nook was 90% data and 10% story (but the 10% story is what saved it from a DNF).

swaksha_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

amandamillwood's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad 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

5.0