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A review by yajairat
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Took a bit for me to get hooked, but once I didn’t the book went by very fast for me. This story is a wonderful deep dive into the story of a queer immigrant Indian woman that is navigating her career and relationships in Middle America during the Obama administration. It touches on many topics, but I never felt like it was half-assed, they are very true to the experiences Snehah was having at that time. I grew to appreciate her growth as a person, and was left feeling hopeful that she will be okay.
The writing blew me away, just so beautiful and poetic. I was moved to tears at some points. A lot of the times I saw myself in her, as I’m a child of immigrants, and struggle with sort of building my identity. Overall, I enjoyed this!
Some quotes:
“Lord, I confess I want the clarity of catastrophe but not the catastrophe. Like everyone else, I want a storm I can dance in. I want an excuse to change my life.”
“This is built into adulthood, like one of those wall-mounted ironing boards in old houses. Somewhere in their twenties, people like me become far too horny for interior design.”
“We all have our truth if a place. There is no universal narrative of any city that is also real. Only marketing.”
“White Americans could be so cold, just like that, out of the blue. Perhaps the important thing was to not let them in deep.”
“The process of really getting to know anyone is a process of years, and for most people there is just a switch that flips and they decide, okay, this could be my person, I’m making the choice to commit to them.”
“Wp get to own their lives, they get to feel like their lives belong to only them.”
“Nobody consoles you after a rupture with a beloved friend… you only have the ache. No script to accompany it. No ritual to give it shape.”
“How was anyone expected to dream loftily about the future when the present ground them down to powder and nothingness.”
“This is what it means, to come here as an immigrant. You are here in sufferance. You are a form of currency, not a person, and only a person has the right to desire, which is to say, to be difficult.”
“The refrains of our lives are the moments we revolve around, maybe the moments that were stopped too soon, stopped before we were ready, and so we are frozen, pirouetting in time, always thinking on the possibility that might have been.”
“What nobody told me when I was a very young person was that obedience, fearful toeing of every line, chasing every kind of safety, would not save you. What nobody told me growing up was that sometimes your friends do join your family, fusing care, irritation, loyalty, shared history, and affectionate contempt into a tempered love, bright and daily as steel.”
The writing blew me away, just so beautiful and poetic. I was moved to tears at some points. A lot of the times I saw myself in her, as I’m a child of immigrants, and struggle with sort of building my identity. Overall, I enjoyed this!
Some quotes:
“Lord, I confess I want the clarity of catastrophe but not the catastrophe. Like everyone else, I want a storm I can dance in. I want an excuse to change my life.”
“This is built into adulthood, like one of those wall-mounted ironing boards in old houses. Somewhere in their twenties, people like me become far too horny for interior design.”
“We all have our truth if a place. There is no universal narrative of any city that is also real. Only marketing.”
“White Americans could be so cold, just like that, out of the blue. Perhaps the important thing was to not let them in deep.”
“The process of really getting to know anyone is a process of years, and for most people there is just a switch that flips and they decide, okay, this could be my person, I’m making the choice to commit to them.”
“Wp get to own their lives, they get to feel like their lives belong to only them.”
“Nobody consoles you after a rupture with a beloved friend… you only have the ache. No script to accompany it. No ritual to give it shape.”
“How was anyone expected to dream loftily about the future when the present ground them down to powder and nothingness.”
“This is what it means, to come here as an immigrant. You are here in sufferance. You are a form of currency, not a person, and only a person has the right to desire, which is to say, to be difficult.”
“The refrains of our lives are the moments we revolve around, maybe the moments that were stopped too soon, stopped before we were ready, and so we are frozen, pirouetting in time, always thinking on the possibility that might have been.”
“What nobody told me when I was a very young person was that obedience, fearful toeing of every line, chasing every kind of safety, would not save you. What nobody told me growing up was that sometimes your friends do join your family, fusing care, irritation, loyalty, shared history, and affectionate contempt into a tempered love, bright and daily as steel.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deportation, Child abuse, Addiction, and Alcoholism