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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
This book is good, but...I wanted a little more happy payoff, at some point. Every book needs a little joy, right?
I really liked this book. The eclectic characters, the flow and rhythm of the writing. I listened to the audiobook which made for a better experience especially because of Desai's style of writing.
Finally I'm done with this book. The inconsistency in style is jarring. At some points the prose is lush and descriptive, at certain places it becomes a listicle, at some other places it becomes a one-line-one-paragraph form a la a badly written Medium article. Then there's the stilted dialogue. If you have to rely on ALL CAPS and multiple exclamation/question marks (????!!!!) to convey the characters' emotions, your prose is not doing job - better FIRE IT!!!!!! This book would have also benefitted from being a longer work, because many important themes are crammed into this book and treated superficially.
Devastating. Beautifully written, almost painfully vivid at times. The characters will make you think about the developed world's role in creating the state of affairs in the developing world. But it will also make you think about the possibilities of education, the sometimes tragic circumstances of first love, and the nature of prejudice (even within your own country, against your "own people").
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
the story is good; the moral themes compelling. I loved the minor characters but couldn't get close to the main characters, which is why I give this 3 stars. We're not given enough opportunities for two of the "main" characters, Sai and Biju, to talk, so they remain flat and mostly express existential teenage or new immigrant angst, never becoming real people. Uncle Potty and Father Booty are far more complex and get more chances to speak but have rather minor story lines. I loved the characters Biju meets in America, who talk constantly. But Biju never really responds. He feels as nameless and identity-less as the millions of real people just like him that he represents. I don't know if this is purposeful or not, but I regretted that I couldn't develop much feeling for him.
I loved the children in Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, also by Desai, but remember having similar feelings for the oldest daughter, who like Sai, is quiet and seems to just obey those around her, displaying no real spark of life or individuality to make the reader care much about her. I want to like her, but ultimately, by the end, I don't know her.
I want more from this author who seems capable of accurately and compassionately depicting complex relationships and people's ties to class and state conflict. But I'm always more interested in characters than plot.
I loved the children in Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, also by Desai, but remember having similar feelings for the oldest daughter, who like Sai, is quiet and seems to just obey those around her, displaying no real spark of life or individuality to make the reader care much about her. I want to like her, but ultimately, by the end, I don't know her.
I want more from this author who seems capable of accurately and compassionately depicting complex relationships and people's ties to class and state conflict. But I'm always more interested in characters than plot.
I thought this book was solidly ok. It started out totally fascinating, but then kind of dropped off. The parts in New York were the best, but sadly not as frequent as the other story line.
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
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:
No
It was OK. I didn't connect with the book. The book couldn't hold my interest. Again, I had to make myself finish it. I even tried the audio to finish it faster. That just made things worse. Audio was worse than the book. I heard such good things about this book, but I didn't see it (or read it). Maybe I wasn't in the right state of mind for it.
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
I actually never made it all the way through this novel. The writing was beautiful but the story was so slow and I never got interested in the characters. I tried finishing but kept picking up other books instead so I finally retired the book to my shelf. Maybe in a few months I'll pick it up and try again.