diyuk's reviews
62 reviews

Ash in the Belly : India's Unfinished Battle Against Hunger by Harsh Mander

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book is essential for understanding the complexities around poverty and hunger in India and the socio-political and cultural barriers to addressing it. It is enriched with real-life case studies from across the country that infuse a human element into the statistical analyses of hunger and destitution. 

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

It is a short novella which reads like a short story. It is about the people at the margins, where dreaming is a sin and can cost a life if you are not very careful. 

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Normal People by Sally Rooney

emotional lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

"Marianne wanted her life to mean something then, she wanted to stop all violence commited by the strong against the weak, and she remembered a time several years ago when she had felt so intelligent and young and powerful that she almost could have achieved such a thing, and now she knew she wasn't at all powerful, and she would live and die in a world of extreme violence against the innocent, and at most she could help only a few people."

Exteriors by Annie Ernaux

lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

3.0

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

adventurous emotional reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

"Many times they were awakened by the traffic of the dead. They could hear Ursula fighting against the laws of creation to maintain the line, and Jose Arcadio Buendia searching for the mythical truth of the great inventions, and Fernanda praying, and Colonel Aureliano Buendia stupefying himself with the deception of war and the little gold fishes, and Aureliano Segundo dying of solitude in the turmoil of his debauched, and then they learned that dominant obsessions can prevail against death and they were happy again with certainty that they would go on loving each other in their shape as apparitions long after other species of future animals would steal from the insects the paradise of misery that the insects were finally stealing from man."

The humorous story-telling keeps you engaged right from the beginning until the very end. It is one such gem of a book that you never forget about.  

The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho

3.0

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

challenging reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

The book is an amalgamation of diverse stories, plots, reflections, opinions; some connected and mostly random - exploring the themes of Human Anatomy, life in motion, travel psychology, migration, life, death and other transitions of twenty first century. What kept me going in this four hundred pages long book with tiny fonts, is the writing style which is so unique - like nothing that I have read before. Even though the work does not follow a single storyline, I couldn't put it down at any point, because the writing keeps the pages alive starting from the beginning till the very end. 

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0