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3.31 AVERAGE
3.31 AVERAGE
emotional
sad
slow-paced
This book was difficult to get through. It was nicely written and the unrest and violence in northern India vividly portrayed, but it was sad and horrifying and slow too. Sai lives with her grandfather, a cruel and reclusive man, in a remote place where Nepali-Indian relations sour. Everyone is affected by the political issues around them, including those who don’t even live in the village, such as the judge’s cook’s son in America. The book shows the impact of Western influences on India’s identity and the effect of the struggle for a new identity in a heartbreaking but hopeful way.
I know a lot of people have liked this book but I couldn't get into it.
In this book, love is fluid and loss is everywhere.
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“Your father came to my country and took my bread, and now I have come to your country to take my bread back”
I’ve put off writing this since May because I didn’t know what to say. The book speaks so well for itself, but it takes the full book to do so-- how do I distill it into a review?
The book largely centres around Jemubhai, a judge living in the Bengal region of India, who learned law and self-loathing at Cambridge in the 1930s. We meet his granddaughter, Sai, raised in English-run boarding schools before being left with Jemubhai. She falls in love with a young Gorkha (an Indian ethic group that is Nepali-speaking) man, forbidden for his race and political beliefs in an independent Gorkha state. We also meet the unnamed “Chef”, whose mind is always on his son Biju in New York, working and living as an undocumented immigrant, but yet who writes back to India with lies about living the American Dream. Through them all we are shown the impacts of racism and colonialism through time, including globalization, economic inequality, multiculturalism, immigration and tourism, intergenerational trauma, and individual, societal, and state violence.
I felt like I could have highlighted half the book for its quotes, each a blow forging a blade to hold at the heart of colonialism:
* Profit could only be harvested in the gap between nations. They were damning the third world to be third world.
* While the shopping was converted to dollars, tips to the servants could be calculated in local currency.
* justice was without scope; it might snag the stealer of chickens, but great evasive crimes would have to be dismissed because, if identified and netted, they would bring down the entire structure of so-called civilization.
It sounds dark, but the book has hope, even ending on a positive. It certainly has love. People who liked A Fine Balance -- or who are too intimidated to start it -- should read this book. It will be one of my top books of the year for sure.
I’ve put off writing this since May because I didn’t know what to say. The book speaks so well for itself, but it takes the full book to do so-- how do I distill it into a review?
The book largely centres around Jemubhai, a judge living in the Bengal region of India, who learned law and self-loathing at Cambridge in the 1930s. We meet his granddaughter, Sai, raised in English-run boarding schools before being left with Jemubhai. She falls in love with a young Gorkha (an Indian ethic group that is Nepali-speaking) man, forbidden for his race and political beliefs in an independent Gorkha state. We also meet the unnamed “Chef”, whose mind is always on his son Biju in New York, working and living as an undocumented immigrant, but yet who writes back to India with lies about living the American Dream. Through them all we are shown the impacts of racism and colonialism through time, including globalization, economic inequality, multiculturalism, immigration and tourism, intergenerational trauma, and individual, societal, and state violence.
I felt like I could have highlighted half the book for its quotes, each a blow forging a blade to hold at the heart of colonialism:
* Profit could only be harvested in the gap between nations. They were damning the third world to be third world.
* While the shopping was converted to dollars, tips to the servants could be calculated in local currency.
* justice was without scope; it might snag the stealer of chickens, but great evasive crimes would have to be dismissed because, if identified and netted, they would bring down the entire structure of so-called civilization.
It sounds dark, but the book has hope, even ending on a positive. It certainly has love. People who liked A Fine Balance -- or who are too intimidated to start it -- should read this book. It will be one of my top books of the year for sure.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
slow-paced
A bit bloated and meandering. Also a little dour and scatalogical. And not quite what I wanted after her first book, but I can't hold that against it.