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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
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:
Complicated
What a gorgeous dreamy read that takes readers through Wales, India, Pakistan and Switzerland. The Kashmir Shawl spans two timelines. One story takes place in Kashmir during World War II while the modern storyline takes place in present day in Wales and then in India.
Mair discovers a gorgeous shawl amongst her father's things after his passing and realizes it belonged to her grandmother. It's evident that the shawl is precious and very expensive. Her parents were missionaries in India during World War II, so she decides to go to India to see if she can learn more about her grandmother and her family's past. What follows is a fascinating tale of travel, adventure and the truest of friendships set amongst some of the most gorgeous landscapes in the world.
Thomas writes about each country with stunning prose and precision. I kept wondering throughout the novel how she was going to tie all the characters and stories together, but just like a fine and delicate Kashmir shawl, she weaves her stories together expertly and with great tenderness.
I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did! This book has been sitting on my shelves for years and I wish I had read it sooner.
Mair discovers a gorgeous shawl amongst her father's things after his passing and realizes it belonged to her grandmother. It's evident that the shawl is precious and very expensive. Her parents were missionaries in India during World War II, so she decides to go to India to see if she can learn more about her grandmother and her family's past. What follows is a fascinating tale of travel, adventure and the truest of friendships set amongst some of the most gorgeous landscapes in the world.
Thomas writes about each country with stunning prose and precision. I kept wondering throughout the novel how she was going to tie all the characters and stories together, but just like a fine and delicate Kashmir shawl, she weaves her stories together expertly and with great tenderness.
I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did! This book has been sitting on my shelves for years and I wish I had read it sooner.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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
The Kashmir Shawl was an easy and rewarding read. Rosie Thomas recreates the world of 1940's Srinagar, the vale of Kashmir and the world the the British Army in India, and her evocative descriptions transport the reader to this world. Thomas has woven together a tale with many threads, colours and textures and we journey with Mair into Kashmir to find out why an exquisite pashmina shawl, a photograph and a lock of hair were in her grandmother's possessions.
Finished this book last night. I'd really been looking forward to reading this for my book club's read this month as its been nominated before and I've heard a lot of praise for it, plus it's rating on Goodreads is quite high. Sadly though, I think I might have missed something!
The first couple of chapters were really laborious. I wasn't connecting or engaging with any of the characters. It starts off in Wales, and intertwines with Kashmir. I lived in Wales for a few years and I'm of Kashmiri heritage. This book still failed to connect with me! So there's this girl called Mair who discovers her grandma's exquisite Shawl from Kashmir and it sets her off on a journey of discovery to uncover the story of her long deceased grandma, Nerys who'd lived in British occupied Kashmir as part of her and her husband's Missionary work. Around about chapter three or four, Nerys makes a proper entrance and she's about the only character I really felt intrigued by. What choices would she make? I was genuinely interested, but also woefully able to predict every single one. Boring! Then there was her friendship with Mrytle and the annoying/pathetic Caroline. That was kind of cute to read about. But here's the real stickler for me.....there are NO KASHMIRI main players to the story. Ok, maybe there's one, kind of, Ravi something or other, and even then he's a spoiled rich little tyrant. Almost an archetypal oriental bad guy. Opulent, rich, tall, dark, smooth, silver tongued, hunky, bad guy -think Jafar from Aladdin, but good looking. Not only that, trust me you will learn NOTHING about Kashmir and it's struggles from this book. You will just learn of the frivolous and criminally lavish lifestyles of British occupiers of Kashmir, while Kashmir itself remains a benign, if not sometimes tragic/backwards backdrops to the story. This is such a let down because I love historical fiction precisely because I've been enriched by so many previously.
The ending felt rushed and super predictable too. I just don't understand why so many people liked this book. I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads: one for Nerys (I liked the old girl) and one for the author's efforts to research the intricate Kashmir Shawl making process .
The first couple of chapters were really laborious. I wasn't connecting or engaging with any of the characters. It starts off in Wales, and intertwines with Kashmir. I lived in Wales for a few years and I'm of Kashmiri heritage. This book still failed to connect with me! So there's this girl called Mair who discovers her grandma's exquisite Shawl from Kashmir and it sets her off on a journey of discovery to uncover the story of her long deceased grandma, Nerys who'd lived in British occupied Kashmir as part of her and her husband's Missionary work. Around about chapter three or four, Nerys makes a proper entrance and she's about the only character I really felt intrigued by. What choices would she make? I was genuinely interested, but also woefully able to predict every single one. Boring! Then there was her friendship with Mrytle and the annoying/pathetic Caroline. That was kind of cute to read about. But here's the real stickler for me.....there are NO KASHMIRI main players to the story. Ok, maybe there's one, kind of, Ravi something or other, and even then he's a spoiled rich little tyrant. Almost an archetypal oriental bad guy. Opulent, rich, tall, dark, smooth, silver tongued, hunky, bad guy -think Jafar from Aladdin, but good looking. Not only that, trust me you will learn NOTHING about Kashmir and it's struggles from this book. You will just learn of the frivolous and criminally lavish lifestyles of British occupiers of Kashmir, while Kashmir itself remains a benign, if not sometimes tragic/backwards backdrops to the story. This is such a let down because I love historical fiction precisely because I've been enriched by so many previously.
The ending felt rushed and super predictable too. I just don't understand why so many people liked this book. I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads: one for Nerys (I liked the old girl) and one for the author's efforts to research the intricate Kashmir Shawl making process .
I read this book for a book club or I normally wouldn't have picked it up. The writing was wonderful and it was an interesting story. I don't really like how I came to realize that Lotus pretty much only existed to die and therefore bring Bruno and Mair together in the end, but everything else was fine. I liked how certain characters kept making appearances throughout the story and the descriptions were lovely.
I enjoy books that entertain me while teaching me something I didn't know. This book did that with its engaging plot, beautiful descriptions, strong sense of place, and satisfying ending. While cleaning and sorting though the belongings in her recently-deceased grandmother's home, the main character discovers a handmade shawl, in which is wrapped a small lock of hair. She decides to investigate the history of this shawl, tracing her grandmother's life as a missionary's wife in colonial India. If you like historical fiction, realistic love stories, and armchair travel to a foreign land, I highly recommend this book.
Loved it. Ok a bit slushy but enjoyable story set in an interesting time, with interesting characters and it told me some things I didn't know.
This book was so beautifully written that I was transported back in time, to the smells and vibrancy of war time India. Past and present were linked with ease. A great read.
Amazing novel, though very long and detailed, I was able to escape to India and be fully immersed into a beautiful world and culture that I know so little about. The stories set both in present day and in the early 1940s seem to take parallel paths at times, in the grandmothers trek, then later in her granddaughter's journey. The story is such a generational saga of these women it's hard to summarize. However, I thought the journey they took was as fascinating as the story itself. The location played a central character and was vital to the story.
I loved this novel and would recommend it, especially to those interested in India and WWII historical fiction.
I loved this novel and would recommend it, especially to those interested in India and WWII historical fiction.
I have to say, another disappointment. Overall I was very interested in the storyline and I did think that the characters were fascinating and for the most part very well developed. That said, I think my biggest frustration was how long the book was and how much detail on things not really related to the story one had to wade through in order to get back to the main characters. In fact, when I realized that almost all the loose ends had been tied up, I was shocked to find that I was only 60% through the book. Therefore, in my opinion, 30-40% of the book could easily have been edited out with no real detraction to what the author was trying to do. I also was quite disappointed in the ending...again, all the stories I read do not have to be happily ever after books, but for this one, I felt let down in a big way.