You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
Really good, thought-provoking book with slightly bewildering cast of characters. Would I read it again? Yes. It beat most of what I’ve been reading by a long shot. It also was very politically current. Rich and timely.
ETA here’s an interesting NYT article that refers to some of the book’s subjects: The Billionaire Yogi Behind Modi’s Rise https://nyti.ms/2NMr6rO?smid=nytcore-ios-share
ETA here’s an interesting NYT article that refers to some of the book’s subjects: The Billionaire Yogi Behind Modi’s Rise https://nyti.ms/2NMr6rO?smid=nytcore-ios-share
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Arundhati Roy has said she's a storyteller, and that she rarely edits her works. She's accurate in her self assessment--she's a wonderful storyteller, and her work is visibly unedited. There's a lot of wonderful material in here, especially the beginning sections. The problems with the book are twofold: the sections are not knitted together evenly. Her initial idea of how to divide the sections, by switching to Tilo's story once she appears with the baby, makes sense in theory but in practice, it's clunky. I enjoyed most of the politics in the novel--as much of it is cynical asides as dogmatic fury--but they overwhelm the section with Tilo and Musa. This is in part because Tilo's characterization is flawed: she's a kind of irresistible enigma whom we don't get to know very well internally. Her biography is too similar to that of Roy herself and of Rahel from The God of Small Things. The ending, also, is weak. It ties things up, but almost too neatly.
It should probably be about 3.5, for those of you who like these things quantified.
It should probably be about 3.5, for those of you who like these things quantified.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-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
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-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