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emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one just was not for me. Really beautiful imagery at times but it took forever to get through and felt like a slog the whole time.
My favorite passage: "But she smiled, he saw, only out of politeness, and he felt a flash of jealousy as do friends when they lose another to love, especially those who have understood that friendship is enough, steadier, healthier, easier on the heart. Something that always added and never took away."
I go back and forth between 3 and 4 stars. It's well written. I can see what she's doing. I like the way she looks at immigration and people's reactions to it. However, the story didn't touch me. It didn't touch me on a level deeper than my intellect. That disappointed me.
In being the best person we can be in life an essential practice is that of ascribing every person their full humanity, but literature has a hard time doing that. Given the linear nature of narrative fiction-in novels as in film or theater-it's an either-or Sophie's choice game of sacrifice. To showcase one protagonist's drama as primary is typically to relegate others as mere entourage: ancillary, secondary, unimportant. In short, second-class citizens. Given the ambitions Anita Desai appears to have for The Inheritance of Loss this inherent tendency in the novel could be problematic, but in this multi-character, well-populated novel she does something rare and remarkable.
I am reminded of Ninio's Extinction Illusion. Think of a line of choreographed dancers. How many dancers can you follow AT THE SAME TIME? How many different characters in a novel can you be aware of simultaneously? Art sometimes allows you to see things differently, or to see things better. With the humorous verve of a sharp-sighted commentator and the breadth of understanding of a humane historian, Desai accomplishes both here I am sorry it took me this long to read this entertaining 2006 work.
I am reminded of Ninio's Extinction Illusion. Think of a line of choreographed dancers. How many dancers can you follow AT THE SAME TIME? How many different characters in a novel can you be aware of simultaneously? Art sometimes allows you to see things differently, or to see things better. With the humorous verve of a sharp-sighted commentator and the breadth of understanding of a humane historian, Desai accomplishes both here I am sorry it took me this long to read this entertaining 2006 work.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I finally finished reading this after picking it up several times but never getting past the first page. Someone else pointed out in their review that this book has no start and no end, and I have to agree.
Overall, I did really enjoy reading The Inheritance of Loss for its careful handling of generational trauma, cultural nuances and societal structures. This book shows us another side of India that's as far from the "find yourself" spiritual experience of Eat, Pray, Love as you can get.
I feel like Kiran Desai did a good job of representing the different Indian and expat experiences. From the poorest rural Indians to the rich Indians who "make it" in America or England to non-Indians living in India. And all the complexities that come with class, race and social standing. But there were just too many characters to keep track of. I honestly still have no idea who Father Booty and Uncle Potty were. And I didn't really care.
The characters I liked the most were Biju and Sai. But even then I struggled to form a real attachment because the writing style was so unbiased. You end up not liking anyone. The judge was the most complicated character and I appreciate how you never quite know whether to hate him or feel sorry for him all the way to the end.
You're also not spoon fed AT ALL. I had to stop a few times to Google something as I had no idea what was being referenced. There's also a lot of dialogue in other languages (Hindu?!) but nowhere is it translated or a glossary provided. And in some ways I totally rate this. Like why should the reader have everything handed on a platter. Having said that, this book also deals with the complicated relationship between Nepalis, Indians, Bengalis and the Gorkhaland movement which I knew next to nothing about. So navigating and trying to understand the history there while also keeping track of loads of character AND untranslated dialogue made it tricky to stay immersed in the story.
However, I love learning through novels. And this book definitely taught me a lot and sent me down research rabbit holes that I probably would never had gone down if I hadn't read it.
Will I read it again? Probably not. But I won't say no to reading more from this author.
Overall, I did really enjoy reading The Inheritance of Loss for its careful handling of generational trauma, cultural nuances and societal structures. This book shows us another side of India that's as far from the "find yourself" spiritual experience of Eat, Pray, Love as you can get.
I feel like Kiran Desai did a good job of representing the different Indian and expat experiences. From the poorest rural Indians to the rich Indians who "make it" in America or England to non-Indians living in India. And all the complexities that come with class, race and social standing. But there were just too many characters to keep track of. I honestly still have no idea who Father Booty and Uncle Potty were. And I didn't really care.
The characters I liked the most were Biju and Sai. But even then I struggled to form a real attachment because the writing style was so unbiased. You end up not liking anyone. The judge was the most complicated character and I appreciate how you never quite know whether to hate him or feel sorry for him all the way to the end.
You're also not spoon fed AT ALL. I had to stop a few times to Google something as I had no idea what was being referenced. There's also a lot of dialogue in other languages (Hindu?!) but nowhere is it translated or a glossary provided. And in some ways I totally rate this. Like why should the reader have everything handed on a platter. Having said that, this book also deals with the complicated relationship between Nepalis, Indians, Bengalis and the Gorkhaland movement which I knew next to nothing about. So navigating and trying to understand the history there while also keeping track of loads of character AND untranslated dialogue made it tricky to stay immersed in the story.
However, I love learning through novels. And this book definitely taught me a lot and sent me down research rabbit holes that I probably would never had gone down if I hadn't read it.
Will I read it again? Probably not. But I won't say no to reading more from this author.
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Xenophobia
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence
It's a mammoth of a read, but if you manage to get through its length and impossible-to-like-characters, you will learn a lot. A sweeping tale of intergenerational grief and how our identities haunt us.
very interesting depiction of people from india living in america, people from india who lived in first world countries most of their life and then came back to india, and the poor living in india. i feel more aware now of the struggles those people have to go through, not just external but internal. made you relate to the characters and the emotions they went through even while they were in a completely different situation than you. great emphasis on different types of relationships and showed both sides of relationships equally and unbiased and all characters in general equally and unbiased. had balanced focus on both telling the story and giving history about india. the end did not feel like a real ending, not enough of a conclusion for me. i didn’t feel very attached to many of the characters just because their depictions were so unbiased and impartial that you didn’t see any character as better or worse than another character. i did feel the most attached tho to Sai most likely because she is a girl my age dealing w similar issues to me, such as love and coming of age and realizing the world is bigger than just you, so i felt i could relate the most to her. but even the way she was depicted, i never felt like i could fully attach to her character also bc not enough time was spent on each character bc there were so many. gave all sides to every story.
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
I really wanted to like this book. Or enjoy it. Or read it without feeling I was forcing myself to do so. I kept reading it and hoped it would engage me more. I just finished and and while the last 100 pages got better and more interesting with the characters, it just didn't do it for me.