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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
An emotional and heart-warming journey about learning to be brave enough to chase your dreams and being true to yourself along the way. With a charming and unforgettable cast of characters, and a plot that will make you feel all the feels, GROWN-UP POSE is a can't-miss spring read that you need on your TBR.
lighthearted
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:
Yes
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fun read! But oh do I wish it had been proofread better.
A different book than what I was expecting but I still really liked it, the ending was one I didn’t want to happen but it made sense and by the end of the book I wanted a reconciliation of Anu and Neil.
I loved this book! It was a perfect blend of romance and serious issues. I like how it was about finding yourself but also living in reality. Anusha is a great character, she is determined but at the same time has no idea what she really wants. Any and her husband Neil are trying to deal with the separation of their marriage while keeping things normal for their daughter. Now separation stories are really not my favourite but this one was different and not incredibly sad! I was rooting for Neil throughout the book! .
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I really enjoyed the flashbacks to their teenage years and first years of marriage. I liked that Anusha looked at why she was unhappy and came to terms with the issues she had caused herself.
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I really enjoyed the flashbacks to their teenage years and first years of marriage. I liked that Anusha looked at why she was unhappy and came to terms with the issues she had caused herself.
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Grown Up Pose is a romance book beginning with separation. Told interspersed with memories of the past, it's a story about both figuring out what went wrong in our relationship, and how we can fix it. Grown Up Pose focuses on Anu's journey of self re-discovery. At the same time, it's focused on her Indian family (and family in law) who constantly challenge her ideas of tradition versus modernity. What does it mean for women now as opposed to before? Anu struggles with their expectations of her as well as the ways their beliefs have filtered into her own mind.
There is fabulous diversity as Anu talks both about beliefs her mother has, that differ with her own, as well as looking at these various images of women - herself, her mother, and her friends. I loved how seamlessly her culture is interwoven whether it be those memories of food, the relationships and superstitions we have, or even just the way we celebrate. But Grown Up Pose is about more than balancing modernity and tradition. It's about Anu's journey to find herself.
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/blog-tour-review-grown-up-pose-by-sonya-lalli/
Grown Up Pose is a romance book beginning with separation. Told interspersed with memories of the past, it's a story about both figuring out what went wrong in our relationship, and how we can fix it. Grown Up Pose focuses on Anu's journey of self re-discovery. At the same time, it's focused on her Indian family (and family in law) who constantly challenge her ideas of tradition versus modernity. What does it mean for women now as opposed to before? Anu struggles with their expectations of her as well as the ways their beliefs have filtered into her own mind.
There is fabulous diversity as Anu talks both about beliefs her mother has, that differ with her own, as well as looking at these various images of women - herself, her mother, and her friends. I loved how seamlessly her culture is interwoven whether it be those memories of food, the relationships and superstitions we have, or even just the way we celebrate. But Grown Up Pose is about more than balancing modernity and tradition. It's about Anu's journey to find herself.
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/blog-tour-review-grown-up-pose-by-sonya-lalli/
Since I loved Sonya Lally's first book The Matchmaker's List, I was looking forward to reading her next Grown-up Pose. Thank you Berkley Pub and Netgalley for providing me with the copy of Grown-up Pose in exchange for an honest review.
Anu, in her thirties, is trying to start over. She is separated from her husband. The marriage which was pressurized by her tight-knit family to her then serious boyfriend, Neil, falls apart after she feels that she has no time for herself. She has a daughter with Neil and after separation, Anu wants to do everything that she couldn't do before her marriage to Neil like opening a yoga studio. Is it that easy for a woman to redefine herself who is also a mother?
Being an Indian woman, I can completely relate to Anu's character as a wife and a daughter-in-law. Self-care is always talked about when you're taking care of others and it is not selfish at all. Anu's constant struggle to find a balance between her family life and other life choices is relatable. It has been a while since I read a book on the Indian diaspora and it feels great to read the vocabulary from my first language.
Lally did a great job in highlighting other issues of drug abuse, finance, separation, divorce, child custody, one-night stands, break-ups, parental, controlling and judgmental. Lally introduced all those issues in her plot without overwhelming the story and losing the focus. The book is less than 300 pages long and the writing is not complex at all. I loved reading about yoga and different asanas I've grown up doing since my childhood.
If you are looking for a quick women's fiction to read which is diverse, thought-provoking and demonstrates the constant struggle of a woman to be herself while being nagged by family responsibilities, grab this one!
Anu, in her thirties, is trying to start over. She is separated from her husband. The marriage which was pressurized by her tight-knit family to her then serious boyfriend, Neil, falls apart after she feels that she has no time for herself. She has a daughter with Neil and after separation, Anu wants to do everything that she couldn't do before her marriage to Neil like opening a yoga studio. Is it that easy for a woman to redefine herself who is also a mother?
Being an Indian woman, I can completely relate to Anu's character as a wife and a daughter-in-law. Self-care is always talked about when you're taking care of others and it is not selfish at all. Anu's constant struggle to find a balance between her family life and other life choices is relatable. It has been a while since I read a book on the Indian diaspora and it feels great to read the vocabulary from my first language.
Lally did a great job in highlighting other issues of drug abuse, finance, separation, divorce, child custody, one-night stands, break-ups, parental, controlling and judgmental. Lally introduced all those issues in her plot without overwhelming the story and losing the focus. The book is less than 300 pages long and the writing is not complex at all. I loved reading about yoga and different asanas I've grown up doing since my childhood.
If you are looking for a quick women's fiction to read which is diverse, thought-provoking and demonstrates the constant struggle of a woman to be herself while being nagged by family responsibilities, grab this one!
IQ "You know that grown-ups don't appear out of thin air, right? You have to actually grow. That means making mistakes, Anu." (Jenny, 216)
I vastly preferred this one to the author's previous book although the romance here is still not fully fleshed out in a satisfying way. Her friendships were also somewhat lacking. There seemed to be lots of unspoken tension between Anu, Jenny and Monica, particularly Monica and Anu but it's never discussed or addressed. I also didn't understand why the author chose to give Anu two careers but spent very little time focused on either, Anu is a part time nurse but we never see her do anything at work. I also thought there would be more of a focus on yoga and why Anu loves it so much but that's glossed over. Although there is a great moment where she calls out the appropriation of yoga by skinny white women. Anu impulsively buying a yoga studio which is a somewhat understandable fictional exercise but then handled so poorly by her, and by extension the author, that I got frustrated at her immaturity. I appreciated that Anu was a complicated woman struggling with not letting herself be defined solely by motherhood but I did want her to be more considerate of her daughter's feelings. Or at the very least more financially responsible.
I loved the way Lalli portrayed Anu's relationship with her parents in all its ups and downs. They were also characters in their own right and completely adorable which made me eager for them to talk and make up. Lalli convincingly writes of the difficulties growing up as the child of immigrants with a foot in both worlds and how that doesn't ever go away even when you no longer live with your parents and have children of your own. It's a very understandable struggle but it still doesn't completely explain why she ends her marriage even though the overbearing nature of Indian parents is one of the primary reasons she gives for the separation. I understood why she was fed up with Neil but I didn't understand the ending because there's not much growth aside from a few one night stands and first date attempts. There is a lot of interesting thoughts here about the dangers of marrying so young and how that can often impact the children of immigrants differently than others although some struggles are of course universal (such as reaching additional milestones too young). Aside from that I loved the bits of Indian and South Asian culture sprinkled into the book, it's not spoon fed to the reader.
GROWN-UP POSE is a pleasing somewhat unpredictable story of a first generation woman who never really had a chance to experience life on her own terms deciding to finally put herself first. Anu wants to be more than a "good Indian woman" and that is something I think many of us first generation kids can understand and similarly struggle with living far from our parents home country. There are some annoying inconsistencies in the plot and better characterization needed but overall it was a pleasant enough way to spend the weekend. I also love that these books are set in Canada but so easy to find here (in the U.S.), it feels like a rare glimpse into Canadian culture. But ultimately pleasant isn't enough to make me want to revisit a book and I wish this had been a little more exciting with stronger characters.
I vastly preferred this one to the author's previous book although the romance here is still not fully fleshed out in a satisfying way. Her friendships were also somewhat lacking. There seemed to be lots of unspoken tension between Anu, Jenny and Monica, particularly Monica and Anu but it's never discussed or addressed. I also didn't understand why the author chose to give Anu two careers but spent very little time focused on either, Anu is a part time nurse but we never see her do anything at work. I also thought there would be more of a focus on yoga and why Anu loves it so much but that's glossed over. Although there is a great moment where she calls out the appropriation of yoga by skinny white women. Anu impulsively buying a yoga studio which is a somewhat understandable fictional exercise but then handled so poorly by her, and by extension the author, that I got frustrated at her immaturity. I appreciated that Anu was a complicated woman struggling with not letting herself be defined solely by motherhood but I did want her to be more considerate of her daughter's feelings. Or at the very least more financially responsible.
I loved the way Lalli portrayed Anu's relationship with her parents in all its ups and downs. They were also characters in their own right and completely adorable which made me eager for them to talk and make up. Lalli convincingly writes of the difficulties growing up as the child of immigrants with a foot in both worlds and how that doesn't ever go away even when you no longer live with your parents and have children of your own. It's a very understandable struggle but it still doesn't completely explain why she ends her marriage even though the overbearing nature of Indian parents is one of the primary reasons she gives for the separation. I understood why she was fed up with Neil but I didn't understand the ending because there's not much growth aside from a few one night stands and first date attempts. There is a lot of interesting thoughts here about the dangers of marrying so young and how that can often impact the children of immigrants differently than others although some struggles are of course universal (such as reaching additional milestones too young). Aside from that I loved the bits of Indian and South Asian culture sprinkled into the book, it's not spoon fed to the reader.
GROWN-UP POSE is a pleasing somewhat unpredictable story of a first generation woman who never really had a chance to experience life on her own terms deciding to finally put herself first. Anu wants to be more than a "good Indian woman" and that is something I think many of us first generation kids can understand and similarly struggle with living far from our parents home country. There are some annoying inconsistencies in the plot and better characterization needed but overall it was a pleasant enough way to spend the weekend. I also love that these books are set in Canada but so easy to find here (in the U.S.), it feels like a rare glimpse into Canadian culture. But ultimately pleasant isn't enough to make me want to revisit a book and I wish this had been a little more exciting with stronger characters.
good writing and editing. Weirdly frustrating plot that took a swerve and then a 180 like the swerve never happened. Excruciating details in some scenes and then jumps in time in others that felt a little like whiplash.
A little like this story couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a romance or about grown-up women friendship or navigating life- kind of like the character herself I guess lol
A little like this story couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a romance or about grown-up women friendship or navigating life- kind of like the character herself I guess lol