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tejaswininaik's review against another edition
4.0
Going through that phase of binge reading an author because I just can't get enough of Munaweera's prose. The theme is the very familiar immigrant experiences that you read by Chitra Banerjee or Jhumpa Lahiri added with psychological flavor of the kinds of Celeste Ng. An amazing blend of the above themes interspersed to form a beautiful concoction that you end up craving for more.
It is a story told in first person by a person who is in prison and she takes us through her journey of a girl brought up in Sri Lanka and forced to move to US under certain circumstances and how she feels an alien in US with a lot of cultural differences. Something in her childhood which has deeply affected her and how it causes a havoc in her future is the essence of the novel. Its a 4/5 from me and I already have a new favorite "immigrant American" author
It is a story told in first person by a person who is in prison and she takes us through her journey of a girl brought up in Sri Lanka and forced to move to US under certain circumstances and how she feels an alien in US with a lot of cultural differences. Something in her childhood which has deeply affected her and how it causes a havoc in her future is the essence of the novel. Its a 4/5 from me and I already have a new favorite "immigrant American" author
elkcariboubiologist's review
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
So much happens before we are born. We come into being in the middle of the narrative, midway through stories that have been unfolding long before us. We totter in on our fat infant feet and attempt to take our places on the stage, but we know only a fragment of the bewildering plotline, only a sliver of the odd characters we encounter. The big people have been practicing their lines and playing their parts for decades.
This book is going to sit with me for a long time. From the the most intense prologue I have ever read and the first chapter, you pretty much know what is going to happen, but you just don't know why. And even knowing from the first pages what is going to happen, when it comes, it is horrible and gut-wrenching. And yet I couldn't put the book down, ignoring all my other chores today just to finish it. That says something about the brilliance of this author. The book follows the unnamed (until the very end) narrator from birth through...as another review wrote: a broken child becomes a broken adults becomes a broken mother. Which is a perfect description. The writing was beautiful and the pace of the book was fitting for the story that needed to be told in my opinion. I was dropped into these lives and these places and I felt like I was there.
This is a hard one to recommend though. Because as beautiful as the writing is, the palpable pain and disastrous consequences are likely very triggering to some.
This book is going to sit with me for a long time. From the the most intense prologue I have ever read and the first chapter, you pretty much know what is going to happen, but you just don't know why. And even knowing from the first pages what is going to happen, when it comes, it is horrible and gut-wrenching. And yet I couldn't put the book down, ignoring all my other chores today just to finish it. That says something about the brilliance of this author. The book follows the unnamed (until the very end) narrator from birth through...as another review wrote: a broken child becomes a broken adults becomes a broken mother. Which is a perfect description. The writing was beautiful and the pace of the book was fitting for the story that needed to be told in my opinion. I was dropped into these lives and these places and I felt like I was there.
This is a hard one to recommend though. Because as beautiful as the writing is, the palpable pain and disastrous consequences are likely very triggering to some.
bpdcat's review against another edition
4.0
The novel What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera follows the life of a character named Ganga from her childhood in Sri Lanka to her adulthood in Northern California. The story consists of many traumatic events that the character goes through, and the main theme of the book is the character repressing her trauma until she reaches her breaking point and commits an unthinkable act. Ganga displays an unconscious desire to not acknowledge and process her trauma, and the way it affected her behaviors structure all of the events of the novel. It is through the lens of this trauma that all of her actions must be viewed.It is a good book, and it shines a light on mental illness and what trauma can do to a person and in how they act. However, I felt like it was trauma corn because of all these traumatic things happening to the character back to back. I will be reading this again this year several times as this book was assigned reading material. I might come back and edit my rating.
Edit: I still feel the same way about this book. Some of the trauma could have been left out in this book and it still would have the same effect and same plotline. With that being said, I have come to appreciate this book a lot more. This book gives awareness and perspective on topics that are widely not discussed in today's society. Because of this I even learned some things about my past behaviors that I had not realized until reading this novel. I feel like the novel itself is unique because its underlying theme is what unprocessed trauma can do to a person. This topic is not widely talked about today let alone the overarching theme in a novel. I appreciate that because trauma is something that most of us humans will go through at some point in our life, so more awareness and information regarding the effects of trauma and what it can do to a person if left untreated should be talked about more.
Not to mention that not only does the book talk about trauma, but it also talks about what it is like and the experience of leaving everything behind to become an immigrant in America. That in itself is traumatizing, and as someone who grew up in a predominantly white town that had no immigrants in West Virginia, it was unique to gain some insight. I would recommend this book as a reader. It is not for the faint-hearted, but neither is life. I love the topics and issues that the author included in this novel.
Edit: I still feel the same way about this book. Some of the trauma could have been left out in this book and it still would have the same effect and same plotline. With that being said, I have come to appreciate this book a lot more. This book gives awareness and perspective on topics that are widely not discussed in today's society. Because of this I even learned some things about my past behaviors that I had not realized until reading this novel. I feel like the novel itself is unique because its underlying theme is what unprocessed trauma can do to a person. This topic is not widely talked about today let alone the overarching theme in a novel. I appreciate that because trauma is something that most of us humans will go through at some point in our life, so more awareness and information regarding the effects of trauma and what it can do to a person if left untreated should be talked about more.
Not to mention that not only does the book talk about trauma, but it also talks about what it is like and the experience of leaving everything behind to become an immigrant in America. That in itself is traumatizing, and as someone who grew up in a predominantly white town that had no immigrants in West Virginia, it was unique to gain some insight. I would recommend this book as a reader. It is not for the faint-hearted, but neither is life. I love the topics and issues that the author included in this novel.
poodletoesrn's review against another edition
5.0
This book is beautifully written, the kind of book where individual sentences can be so delicious that you to read them over and over again, not just for the meaning, but because of the beauty of the words themselves. . I can't remember the last time a book left me so heartbroken.
b00kr3vi3ws's review against another edition
4.0
The book opens with a woman sitting in a prison cell and admitting to her crimes. She tells the readers that she now knows that she has committed a terrible crime, but decides to tell her story from the beginning. So, the story falls back to narrating the story of a young girl in Sri Lanka in first person narrative. In a country torn with civil war, the girl lived a somewhat comfortable life till the day a tragedy strikes. She and her mother flees to America fearing for their lives, where she must build a whole new life for herself. What comes next is a tale of growing up, adapting to cultures, love, loss and betrayal.
What Lies Between us is not an easy book to read. It has a lot of themes that are both grave and difficult. For instance, how is life for a young girl and her grieving mother in a new country where everything is so different from what they are used to. Or how the traumas faced as a child could shape up a person as they grow older; what marks do they leave?
The characters in the story is well developed, no doubt. But it is with amazing language and narrative skills, the author paints a picture so vivid that it is impossible for the reader to not live the story. To read the story is to feel the pain, the confusion and the heartbreak that is in those pages.
Prepare for an emotional journey and pick up this book.
What Lies Between us is not an easy book to read. It has a lot of themes that are both grave and difficult. For instance, how is life for a young girl and her grieving mother in a new country where everything is so different from what they are used to. Or how the traumas faced as a child could shape up a person as they grow older; what marks do they leave?
The characters in the story is well developed, no doubt. But it is with amazing language and narrative skills, the author paints a picture so vivid that it is impossible for the reader to not live the story. To read the story is to feel the pain, the confusion and the heartbreak that is in those pages.
Prepare for an emotional journey and pick up this book.
morgancoyner's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.0
kaliishacole's review against another edition
4.0
Wow! This adult fiction and diverse psychological thriller was way better than I anticipated! This book travels through our MC’s childhood into her adult years and concludes with a very surprising epilogue. I found some pieces of this book slightly peculiar and it had me really thinking. I am a young adult and have not yet experienced adulthood, nevertheless motherhood, so this novel had me question how deeply a mother’s love for her children runs. That connection through the eyes of this novel showed that it was like a telepathic bond where the mother just knows. It almost scares me in a way because it is almost as if children are pets or clay and need to be a certain shape or have to be obedient. This book has a particular innocent quality to it that makes me pity the MC even though she did some awful and atrocious things, but it was almost as if her demons took over her and she had no control.
taniabotes's review against another edition
4.0
So much happens before we are born. We come into being in the middle of the narrative, midway through stories that have been unfolding before us. We totter in on our fat infant feet and attempt to take our places on the stage, but we know only a fragment of the bewildering plotline, only a sliver of the odd characters we encounter.
4.5 stars. This is the first book I've read by Nayomi Munaweera, but it most definitely won't be my last. The story looks at so many issues, most of them harrowing, yet I could not tear myself away from it. I loved how clear and distinct the narrator's voice is, she is unapologetically intense, and makes such insightful observations about life and the way she sees things, I ended up highlighting half the book. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but some more highlights were the descriptions of relationships and of the immigration experience. I will be reading her first book, [b:Island of a Thousand Mirrors|22834083|Island of a Thousand Mirrors|Nayomi Munaweera|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|21907271] very soon. Oh the joy of discovering a new author whose work you love!
The Story: This family tragedy begins in a prison cell, where the unnamed narrator wants to explain her (also unnamed) crime by telling her life story, from birth and childhood in Sri Lanka to adolescence and young adulthood in California.
hyacinth_girl's review against another edition
4.0
This author is an immensely talented writer. The last paragraph revealed something I hadn't noticed throughout the entire book and there were a few twists that I hadn't expected. I definitely enjoyed her first book much more, but her lyrical writing style and vivid imagery made this an enjoyable read as well.
patsaintsfan's review against another edition
3.0
Wow. What a story. I definitely "enjoyed" (?) parts of this (everyone knows this story is going to end poorly, as it begins in prison), and other parts, quite honestly annoyed me. I think the writing style of the extremely short sentences started bothering me after a while. I believe that is why it took me far too long to finish this book...