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A review by katie_greenwinginmymouth
Latitudes of Longing: A Novel by Shubhangi Swarup
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Books that decentre the human experience are few and far between and this book flips our usual anthropocentric viewpoint in a really interesting way. The story is still centred around human protagonists but the theme throughout the book is how much those lives are at the mercy of the larger forces of the earth and climate.
To say that the book is wide ranging is a bit of an understatement, it covers a huge geographical area as well as a long time period with the connection to a pre-human history always felt in the present. At no point does this feel difficult to grasp or follow though, it’s astonishingly well written and the it’s beautiful the way the stories of the protagonists of each of the four sections are connected literally along a faultline that traces a path from the Andaman Islands, through Myanmar, up and across to Nepal and ending in disputed territory in the Karakoram.
One thing i loved about the book was how the different ways of relating to and explaining or understanding the earth were examined from different perspectives, including everything from indigenous spiritual understanding to western scientific approaches to folkloric interpretations to the military control of territory in the advancement of political ideologies, for example. All of these approaches offer different explanations for how things are yet none of them allows any human control over forces much greater than themselves.
By tracing this route through a geographical region that has seen more than it’s fair share of political upheaval, colonialism, and war over territory the book makes a concise and poignant point about the futility of politics and borders. Earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides pay no attention to any of these things. It was a hugely effective way to structure a narrative and I bonus I also learnt a lot of geography.
Similarly to the structure the language that is used manages to connect different concepts and ideas effortlessly through associations of imagery or allusive references. It’s truly a beautiful read and in case it’s not clear I LOVED this book
To say that the book is wide ranging is a bit of an understatement, it covers a huge geographical area as well as a long time period with the connection to a pre-human history always felt in the present. At no point does this feel difficult to grasp or follow though, it’s astonishingly well written and the it’s beautiful the way the stories of the protagonists of each of the four sections are connected literally along a faultline that traces a path from the Andaman Islands, through Myanmar, up and across to Nepal and ending in disputed territory in the Karakoram.
One thing i loved about the book was how the different ways of relating to and explaining or understanding the earth were examined from different perspectives, including everything from indigenous spiritual understanding to western scientific approaches to folkloric interpretations to the military control of territory in the advancement of political ideologies, for example. All of these approaches offer different explanations for how things are yet none of them allows any human control over forces much greater than themselves.
By tracing this route through a geographical region that has seen more than it’s fair share of political upheaval, colonialism, and war over territory the book makes a concise and poignant point about the futility of politics and borders. Earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides pay no attention to any of these things. It was a hugely effective way to structure a narrative and I bonus I also learnt a lot of geography.
Similarly to the structure the language that is used manages to connect different concepts and ideas effortlessly through associations of imagery or allusive references. It’s truly a beautiful read and in case it’s not clear I LOVED this book