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A review by valereads2105
A Burning by Megha Majumdar
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This book didn't seem quite sure what it wanted to do. It follows three different perspectives, with interludes from other characters a couple of times. However, it led to none of the characters being fully fleshed out. It felt like they were all fighting to be the main character and somehow Jivan lost.
C- 6.5
From the way the blurb is written, Jivan seems to be the main character, with Lovely and PT Sir being slightly more secondary. However, we spend the least time with Jivan, so I didn't really care what happened to her.
A- 6.5
The book did a good job at conveying the atmosphere of the political rallies. It showed the emotions of the crowd well, so it made it easy to understand how PT Sir began to be pulled into this nationalistic politics, even if it couldn't fully explain it. However, from Jivan's perspective, the atmosphere lacked. She was in jail for much of the book, yet that oppressive, dirty environment wasn't really put across very well.
W- 8
The writing is definitely the highlight of this book. The character voices are very distinct; they structure sentences differently, use different vocabulary and have different priorities. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to add dimension to these characters, leaving me still feeling like I only half knew them.
P- 6.5
I love stories with separate perspectives which eventually interweave so that all of the characters are influencing each other's lives (see Bonnie Sue Hitchcock's work), so I was optimistic entering this book. However, the characters never speak to each other. They are in the same room once and it's a very short scene that felt rushed.
The book covers around a year, so the pacing is hard to follow. It doesn't feel like we've known the characters long because they fade in and out of relevance, so the ending doesn't feel satisfying. It means very little to me whether they suffered or achieved their dreams. It either needed to be longer to fully develop these characters beyond the surface level or to have less main perspectives. Lovely was my favourite character to follow, yet her plot isn't actually as relevant as PT Sir's or Jivan's. She only really plays a part for one scene and for the rest is just trying to become a Bollywood actress.
Both PT Sir's and Lovely's life progressions felt rushed. It was difficult to see why PT Sir was being afforded these life-changing opportunities and the power to ruin people's lives. He felt like a suck up who was being scammed because of how easy it was for him to gain notoriety. It also felt like Lovely was being scammed when she got a good opportunity because of how suddenly it came. It again comes back to the issue of each character not being afforded enough page time to have things happen naturally.
I- 7
L- 6
E- 7.5
C- 6.5
From the way the blurb is written, Jivan seems to be the main character, with Lovely and PT Sir being slightly more secondary. However, we spend the least time with Jivan, so I didn't really care what happened to her.
A- 6.5
The book did a good job at conveying the atmosphere of the political rallies. It showed the emotions of the crowd well, so it made it easy to understand how PT Sir began to be pulled into this nationalistic politics, even if it couldn't fully explain it. However, from Jivan's perspective, the atmosphere lacked. She was in jail for much of the book, yet that oppressive, dirty environment wasn't really put across very well.
W- 8
The writing is definitely the highlight of this book. The character voices are very distinct; they structure sentences differently, use different vocabulary and have different priorities. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to add dimension to these characters, leaving me still feeling like I only half knew them.
P- 6.5
I love stories with separate perspectives which eventually interweave so that all of the characters are influencing each other's lives (see Bonnie Sue Hitchcock's work), so I was optimistic entering this book. However, the characters never speak to each other. They are in the same room once and it's a very short scene that felt rushed.
The book covers around a year, so the pacing is hard to follow. It doesn't feel like we've known the characters long because they fade in and out of relevance, so the ending doesn't feel satisfying. It means very little to me whether they suffered or achieved their dreams. It either needed to be longer to fully develop these characters beyond the surface level or to have less main perspectives. Lovely was my favourite character to follow, yet her plot isn't actually as relevant as PT Sir's or Jivan's. She only really plays a part for one scene and for the rest is just trying to become a Bollywood actress.
Both PT Sir's and Lovely's life progressions felt rushed. It was difficult to see why PT Sir was being afforded these life-changing opportunities and the power to ruin people's lives. He felt like a suck up who was being scammed because of how easy it was for him to gain notoriety. It also felt like Lovely was being scammed when she got a good opportunity because of how suddenly it came. It again comes back to the issue of each character not being afforded enough page time to have things happen naturally.
I- 7
L- 6
E- 7.5