Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara

24 reviews

libristella's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad 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

This book is beautiful, funny, sad, and surprising. The audiobook narrators are brilliant. I loved this story: seeing the events unfold through Jay’s eyes brought such an interesting light to it all. Anappara expertly captured the spirit of the children’s innocence as well as their unique insight and way of making connections.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Classism, Child death, Kidnapping, and Trafficking

horizonous's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I loved the friendship between Jai, Pari and Faiz and was surprised that I didn't mind the narration from a child's POV at all. However, the story is slow going and at times repetitive, so there's a bit of a slog in the middle until it picks back up towards the end where everything happens all at once and ends in just a couple of chapters. But I would definitely read from Deepa Anappara again!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Islamophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Ableism, Bullying, Slavery, and Trafficking

cwgrieves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Kidnapping, Classism, Trafficking, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Child death

Moderate: Violence, Bullying, and Alcoholism

kaneebli's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Classism, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Animal death

Minor: Trafficking

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Debut novelist Deepa Anappara carefully captures the epidemic of child disappearances in Indian slums, told from the perspective of a spirited basti child.  An expert on police proceedings due to his religious observance of the TV show Police Patrol, young Jai convinces his friends to conduct the detective work necessary—due to local police incompetence—to find their missing classmates.  In the seams of their escapades are the threads of their vibrant community—the culture is palpable in every moment.  Jai tells an ultimately sorrowful story with the levity and excitement that can only come from a child; his voice is a bittersweet delight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Islamophobia, and Classism

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Slavery, Pregnancy, Trafficking, and Drug use

maxandrambo's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Kidnapping, Murder, and Trafficking

samsearle's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking, Kidnapping, Child death, and Murder

micklesreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

This is an excellent book, but it's not a book I enjoyed, if that makes sense. This is a story I'm glad I read, but I wouldn't want to read it again. I'm glad that the Anappara chose to tell this story through Jai, focusing us on the children who should be the center of this book and the real events it is based upon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Animal death, Classism, Hate crime, Grief, and Islamophobia

stanisz's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Bullying, Classism, Islamophobia, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, and Alcoholism

Minor: Trafficking and Stalking

tctimlin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative sad 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? No

4.25

Through the eyes of our young narrator, we see life in an Indian squatter slum where parents are working just to keep above water, and larger societal forces are either threatening to bulldoze their homes or ignoring their existence altogether.  When one of his classmates goes missing, Jay and his friends determine to become detectives as the police refuse to investigate.  As time goes on and Jay amasses clues that take him nowhere, more and more children disappear.  Outraged adults with no power to take on the police find their community broken apart by religion (Hindu v. Muslim) and economics.  Although the story is told through the eyes of a young boy who believes equally fervently in the powers of djinns and abilities of television detectives, this novel presents a vibrant, well-articulated view of modern India and the stark differences between the lives of the scavenger children on the trash heaps and the “hi-fi madams” in the gated penthouses.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Grief, and Abandonment