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A review by kadbee
A Person Is A Prayer by Ammar Kalia
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thank You to NetGalley and Oldcastle Books for the ARC.
A stunning debut that I would expect to see front and centre in a Waterstones. The prose was engaging and the narrative kept me hooked, so much so that I read this within two days.
The exploration of life and death is one that I feel many may reflect upon, and enjoy seeing the many different perspectives offered within this book.
There are some issues I have with the writing, reading under the assumption that this is to be sold in the UK, readers are confronted with this questionable anti-white person sentiment that is repeated throughout the book through all of the characters perspectives. The anti-polish sentiment stood out the most as it was prominent at the start of the book and used for jokes within the chapter. Not to say the exploration of racism isn't welcomed, but it may put readers off of reading a book that is calling all white people lazy, racist, job-stealing, repeatedly throughout the book. There is also internalized racism towards Indian people which may put them off of reading as they are called dirty, untrustworthy, scammers, quite often in this book.There is also a short segment about homosexuality and how one of the characters may not be able to forgive his son if he came out to him, whilst also knowing about the suspected homosexuality of a relative. This could have been left out as it just makes the character seem like a racist, homophobic, cheating man with little redeeming qualities.
I wish I got to know the female characters a little more in depth as Sushma feels underdeveloped despite being a major character within the narrative. If there was less narrative changes and more focus on 1 or 2 characters the book may have felt more fleshed out.
A stunning debut that I would expect to see front and centre in a Waterstones. The prose was engaging and the narrative kept me hooked, so much so that I read this within two days.
The exploration of life and death is one that I feel many may reflect upon, and enjoy seeing the many different perspectives offered within this book.
There are some issues I have with the writing, reading under the assumption that this is to be sold in the UK, readers are confronted with this questionable anti-white person sentiment that is repeated throughout the book through all of the characters perspectives. The anti-polish sentiment stood out the most as it was prominent at the start of the book and used for jokes within the chapter. Not to say the exploration of racism isn't welcomed, but it may put readers off of reading a book that is calling all white people lazy, racist, job-stealing, repeatedly throughout the book. There is also internalized racism towards Indian people which may put them off of reading as they are called dirty, untrustworthy, scammers, quite often in this book.
I wish I got to know the female characters a little more in depth as Sushma feels underdeveloped despite being a major character within the narrative. If there was less narrative changes and more focus on 1 or 2 characters the book may have felt more fleshed out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Death, Racism, Car accident, Miscarriage, Homophobia, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Violence, Child death, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse
Minor: Vomit, Cancer, and Addiction