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gabrielleviola 's review for:
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens
by Shankari Chandran
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The writing at times was gorgeous; at others, suffered from literalism: believing that its reader is too distracted or ignorant to pick up on context clues. I don't think anything is lost from working that dialogue into the story naturally, and everything is gained for the reader, the plot, and the characters.
But, that wasn't my main issue with this novel. When it was a more insular story of these people's lives, their histories, and their mysteries, I was engrossed. The plot took a hard left turn on a red light when it opened itself up to the rabbit hole of going viral and introducing a broader spotlight onto Cinnamon Gardens. The characters, the message, and me, as a reader, were lost to this. It did end with some of its original gorgeousness but I was left wondering if we could have gotten there anyway, if the characters were left to work out their wounds amongst themselves. Instead, we were left with the same characters we started with: no growth, few wounds healed.
But, that wasn't my main issue with this novel. When it was a more insular story of these people's lives, their histories, and their mysteries, I was engrossed. The plot took a hard left turn on a red light when it opened itself up to the rabbit hole of going viral and introducing a broader spotlight onto Cinnamon Gardens. The characters, the message, and me, as a reader, were lost to this. It did end with some of its original gorgeousness but I was left wondering if we could have gotten there anyway, if the characters were left to work out their wounds amongst themselves. Instead, we were left with the same characters we started with: no growth, few wounds healed.