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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I'm afraid my rating may not be a reflection of the book rather than my failure to fully engage with it - as can be evidenced from the time spent reading it: a mere 8 months(!)
It's beautifully written in a series of vignettes, and explores themes of belonging, identity, and the repetition of history. This latter strand is partly where my failure lay: whether it was the intention of the Desai, or not, two threads of the story set a generation apart got confused in my mind such that it took me some time to establish what was going on.
Towards the end, when I was disciplining myself to get through the last third, I did find the book more engaging: perhaps I will revisit it in later years and give it the attention it deserves.
It's beautifully written in a series of vignettes, and explores themes of belonging, identity, and the repetition of history. This latter strand is partly where my failure lay: whether it was the intention of the Desai, or not, two threads of the story set a generation apart got confused in my mind such that it took me some time to establish what was going on.
Towards the end, when I was disciplining myself to get through the last third, I did find the book more engaging: perhaps I will revisit it in later years and give it the attention it deserves.
Not for me. The characters are terrible vehicles for the slow and miserable story, and I struggled to see the point of why I was reading this and wanted to put it down about a quarter of the way through. I'm okay with cynicism, but the entire book felt totally devoid of love and hope and the human relationships were shallow. I didn't know who or what to root for. The dialogue was often very pretentious. I liked Desai's writing style sometimes but it often felt overworked. She makes great points about the Indian immigrant and colonialist and post-colonialist experiences, but some of her negative cultural commentaries got repetitive and annoying. I also enjoyed familiar references to National Geographic inflatable globes and M&S underwear (some things haven't changed since the book was written). Overall, this book was dull and exhausting and I wouldn't recommend it.
Desai manages to perfectly captures the gentle, disconnected life of the inhabitants of colonial era cottages in Kalimpong. Whether it is the old judge stuck in a no man's land between cultures, Lola and Noni living out a life from another era or the priest with his improvement projects. Kalimpong itself, with its rains, Kanchenjunga and the green hills shines through. But the further she gets away from this world, the less sure is her hold. Biju and his New York life feels the least heartfelt. The story itself was maybe too ambitious, and in the end it simply sputters to a stop.
The writing is frequently beautiful, but it is as if she tries too hard and ends up using her devices a little too often..
The writing is frequently beautiful, but it is as if she tries too hard and ends up using her devices a little too often..
Readers of Jhumpa Lahiri and Arundhati Roy will find this book very familiar. The immigration experience: how to assimilate into a different culture, what to do about one’s own culture and identity. The novel chronicles the tale of different characters going through this experience, and how they react and how they change. One of the earlier reviews uses the phrase ‘on the edge of tragic’ for this novel, which I think perfectly captures its essence. The novel contains many disturbing and harrowing incidents, but it always manages to avoid a headlong jump into despair, through its humour, the coziness of its setting, the warmth of various relationships among the characters, and by maintaining a distance between the reader and the characters. Through its course, the novel raises several sharp questions related to colonialism. Should a child be held accountable for the sins of the parents? Perhaps more pertinently, should a child be allowed to enjoy the privileges obtained through immoral actions of the parents?
Just couldn't get into this book. I loved the culture clash / new vs. old / nationalism vs. colonialism themes, but the "fractured" style made it less than engrossing for me.
What I Like: the lush writing (her sense of setting and description makes me want to book a flight to Sikkim pronto), an impressive array of characters which at some point feels Dickensian (a common motif is how alienated and dejected the characters are, especially the Judge who had to repress everything and feels love only to his dog), commentaries on tribal and nationalistic conflicts as indigenous people fight for their right to a homeland, commentary on the loss of identity as one character goes to the US
What I Don't Like: works best as a collection of random stories of characters than as a full novel, the sum of the parts are better than the whole
What I Don't Like: works best as a collection of random stories of characters than as a full novel, the sum of the parts are better than the whole
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Rape, Police brutality