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A review by bookie_momster
The Magnificent Ruins by Nayantara Roy
3.0
It is the summer of 2015 and Lila De recieves a phone call from her semi- estranged mother. Her beloved grandfather has passed away and left the ancestral family home to her. At the age of 16, she left her mother and maternal family to live with her father, she has not been back to Kolkota since then. She is apprehensive about seeing her mother again, with whom she's always had a tense relationship. As excited as she is to see her extended family again, she knows they are wary of her, especially now that she owns the house they've lived in forever.
She now has to make decisions regarding the grand, but dilapidated house, while simultaneously keeping the family happy. Lila's cousin, Biddy, is getting married and there is a lot to be done to make the house ready for all the festivities. As she becomes immersed into her family, she learns of all the hidden secrets and resentments within the walls. Age old customs and beliefs are held onto very strongly and Lila has to come to terms with quietly accepting them as well. While the relationship with her mother is just as strained as ever, she finds comfort in the arms of her teenage love, but that has it's own complications.
This book was almost a DNF for me but I pushed through and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't say the book was slow by any means, but it reads more like a long family saga, although it takes place over just 8 weeks or so. I did have a hard time finishing it quickly and think it was probably a bit longer than it should have been. I liked how complex all the characters were and as an Indian-American myself, I could understand all the difficult family dynamics and how things can often be shoved under the rug and not acknowledged. How society's perception is considered so important, and can also be the most damaging. The house was a great metaphor for the family inside. While on the outside it was grand, the insides were deteriorating.
Thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin Books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
She now has to make decisions regarding the grand, but dilapidated house, while simultaneously keeping the family happy. Lila's cousin, Biddy, is getting married and there is a lot to be done to make the house ready for all the festivities. As she becomes immersed into her family, she learns of all the hidden secrets and resentments within the walls. Age old customs and beliefs are held onto very strongly and Lila has to come to terms with quietly accepting them as well. While the relationship with her mother is just as strained as ever, she finds comfort in the arms of her teenage love, but that has it's own complications.
This book was almost a DNF for me but I pushed through and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't say the book was slow by any means, but it reads more like a long family saga, although it takes place over just 8 weeks or so. I did have a hard time finishing it quickly and think it was probably a bit longer than it should have been. I liked how complex all the characters were and as an Indian-American myself, I could understand all the difficult family dynamics and how things can often be shoved under the rug and not acknowledged. How society's perception is considered so important, and can also be the most damaging. The house was a great metaphor for the family inside. While on the outside it was grand, the insides were deteriorating.
Thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin Books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.