Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
Today is the day I give up on this book. I tried again to read it after taking a break but it is time to say goodbye. I read because I enjoy books. I can't keep reading a book that is so boring, pointless, and dull. In fact, this might be the first book I have ever quit without finishing. That in itself speaks volumes.
I'm afraid to say I couldn't finish this book. I liked the beginning, the descriptions of a country and culture I had little knowledge of. I found the parts in the US particularly affecting, the experiences of this whole hidden part of society, the desperate search for a Green Card. But the romance between the girl and her tutor was far to predictable and dull. I lost interest around two thirds in and couldn't finish.
This book is about an old judge, his orphaned granddaughter, their cook and some neighbours living in an isolated little village at the foot of the Kanchenjunga mountain near Everest. It also contains the story of Biju, the cook’s son trying to make it as an illegal immigrant in the US. And then there’s a revolution, the Tibetans or Nepalese want something from India... I think... Honestly I didn’t quite follow.
I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if it had started with the last quarter and gone on from there. The last 100 pages were the only ones that interested me, in which I felt something worthwhile was going on. Everything before that felt like a long-winded introduction (and the sugary relationship between Sai and Gyan made me nauseous, which didn’t help).
Also, it seemed like the author had no plan when she was writing, putting flashbacks whenever she felt like it, going back and forth between the past and the present to the point where I wasn’t sure anymore if a chapter was happening before or after a certain event. I remember once, Sai made a reference to the robbery which had occurred the previous week, and until then I had thought the chapter was taking place a few years before said robbery...
Maybe it’s just Indian literature that’s not for me. It’s the second time recently I read a book written in and about India, and I get left with the same feeling: dry, unlikeable characters, a story touching only the surface or things, leaving me with an uncertain unsatisfied feeling.
It’s a Man Booker prize winner, and I feel those are “love ’em or hate ’em” kind of books. Unfortunately this one fell on the latter end of the spectrum for me.
I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if it had started with the last quarter and gone on from there. The last 100 pages were the only ones that interested me, in which I felt something worthwhile was going on. Everything before that felt like a long-winded introduction (and the sugary relationship between Sai and Gyan made me nauseous, which didn’t help).
Also, it seemed like the author had no plan when she was writing, putting flashbacks whenever she felt like it, going back and forth between the past and the present to the point where I wasn’t sure anymore if a chapter was happening before or after a certain event. I remember once, Sai made a reference to the robbery which had occurred the previous week, and until then I had thought the chapter was taking place a few years before said robbery...
Maybe it’s just Indian literature that’s not for me. It’s the second time recently I read a book written in and about India, and I get left with the same feeling: dry, unlikeable characters, a story touching only the surface or things, leaving me with an uncertain unsatisfied feeling.
It’s a Man Booker prize winner, and I feel those are “love ’em or hate ’em” kind of books. Unfortunately this one fell on the latter end of the spectrum for me.
Heartbreakingly depressing from the start right to the finish. A lot of politics and references to unrest and warfare that I don't know much about; but it was a little overwhelming and very difficult to understand. The writing was a little choppy... jumped around a lot. I felt like I was reading in a fog. The characters were hollow, and I didn't really care what happened to them in the end. This book was a chore to get through. I kept wishing I wasn't so darn stubborn because I really wanted to abandon it many times along the way.
That being said, now that I'm done I guess I didn't hate it. But GOD, am I glad to be finished. FINALLY.
Wouldn't recommend it.
That being said, now that I'm done I guess I didn't hate it. But GOD, am I glad to be finished. FINALLY.
Wouldn't recommend it.
My sample size of Booker Prize winners is relatively small, but this was not one of the better ones I have read. Despite an interest in post-colonial lit, Desai being a talented writer, and a good setting (Sikkim, i.e. between Bhutan and Nepal), the story just did not catch me.
just now finished. i was not prepared for its growing bleakness. i need to go lie down.
This book dragged and dragged. I was really looking forward to this book but once I was done, I felt it was a waste of my time. It was soooo slow and the plot wasn't that interesting even.
2.5-Slogged through this one. Felt like it was multiple books smashed together. Too many characters and historical context felt forced in and didnt match the flow. Some beautiful descriptive writing.
I chose this book for my December book club and am just getting started.