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A review by theshrinkette
No Other World by Rahul Mehta
4.0
3.5
This book started out well for me, Mehta's got a descriptive writing style that reminded me of Rakesh Satyal. Things I liked: The characters are flawed in a way that goes hand-in-hand with the plot. I thought he did a really good job tackling anti-trans bigotry both within and outside of the queer community in the third part of the book. Loved that Shanti was portrayed as a woman that acknowledged her sexuality, which almost never happens for women of color. Things I didn't like: All of the various characters arcs are left abruptly, and I was left wanting to know so much more about all of them, especially Pooja and Kiran. I was also mildly annoyed by the "brown person lusting after white dude" tropes that occurs not once, but twice in the narrative. Overall, it's well-written, and handles subjects of religion, racism, queerness within the context of an immigrant story pretty well.
This book started out well for me, Mehta's got a descriptive writing style that reminded me of Rakesh Satyal. Things I liked: The characters are flawed in a way that goes hand-in-hand with the plot. I thought he did a really good job tackling anti-trans bigotry both within and outside of the queer community in the third part of the book. Loved that Shanti was portrayed as a woman that acknowledged her sexuality, which almost never happens for women of color. Things I didn't like: All of the various characters arcs are left abruptly, and I was left wanting to know so much more about all of them, especially Pooja and Kiran. I was also mildly annoyed by the "brown person lusting after white dude" tropes that occurs not once, but twice in the narrative. Overall, it's well-written, and handles subjects of religion, racism, queerness within the context of an immigrant story pretty well.