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henrismum's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
First in series-
Audiobook (All of my entries on The Story Graph are audiobooks.)
Why I added this book to my TBR pile: I tried reading the book a few years ago, but I didn't get far. The title kept showing up as suggested reading, so I decided to try to audiobook. Even in audio form, it was a very slow story. I had to listen at 1.2 speed.
The subject matter was quite intriguing, but I wonder how this work is accepted in 2020's India. I assume the writer did a great deal of research and attempted to present the facts accurately. Nonetheless, I wonder how Indians (and Indian-Americans and Indians who live in Britain and around the world) rate this representation of their culture 100 years ago.
Will I read more of the series?Probably Not Maybe Likely Most Likely Definitely
Audiobook (All of my entries on The Story Graph are audiobooks.)
Why I added this book to my TBR pile: I tried reading the book a few years ago, but I didn't get far. The title kept showing up as suggested reading, so I decided to try to audiobook. Even in audio form, it was a very slow story. I had to listen at 1.2 speed.
The subject matter was quite intriguing, but I wonder how this work is accepted in 2020's India. I assume the writer did a great deal of research and attempted to present the facts accurately. Nonetheless, I wonder how Indians (and Indian-Americans and Indians who live in Britain and around the world) rate this representation of their culture 100 years ago.
Will I read more of the series?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy
bootsmom3's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Islamophobia
kimberlyallen011's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping
forlorn_traveller's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, and Blood
honeycomb_system's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
We would classify The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey as a cozy mystery that just happens to be set in 1920s Bombay. Think the legal maneuvering of David Rosenfeldt’s Andy Carpenter series with the small town feel of Rita Mae Brown’s Mrs. Murphy series, all infused with the delicious flavors of India.
The main character, Perveen Mistry, is based on the first female lawyer in India. We really enjoyed watching her use the law to fight for justice where only she can: within a Muslim household’s zenana. We also enjoyed watching her grow as she becomes more competent, takes on new challenges, and learns to work around the constraints society places on her. The characters in the story kept us hooked – for the most part.
Sadly there were some sections where the book started to drag and it felt like we were slogging through the doldrums. We enjoyed the rest of the book so much that it thoroughly aggravates us that Massey chose to include the chapters set in 1917.At first we assumed that there would be a connection between Cyrus, the love interest featured in these chapters, and the murder in 1920. Spoiler: Cyrus is a Chekhov’s gun. We really have no idea why the author thought it was necessary to include him at all. It feels like the 1917 chapters are Massey preaching to the reader about how awful things were for women in Bombay. These chapters should’ve hit the cutting room floor, or at the least been massively condensed. Take our advice and skip the 1917 chapters. It will significantly improve your reading experience.
But we still loved the book enough to read it four out of five stars and buy the sequel.Perveen, her father Jamshadji, and her friend Alice are all characters we definitely want to spend more time with. We also love the vivid pictures Massey paints of life in Bombay with the wide variety of cultures and their clashes with British colonialism. She uses just the right salting of languages like Hindi to add authentic detail without confusing readers who don’t know these terms – Especially important in an audiobook when we didn’t know how to spell the non-English words in order to look them up.
Soneela Nankani does an excellent job of narrating. She gives slightly different accents to characters from different cultures and has a pleasant voice. She never seems to stumble over non-English words.while some reviewers found it difficult to keep track of who is who, we had no trouble tracking who was speaking. While we appreciate the energy Nankani brings to the narration, after a while we noticed that she seems to give every sentence an astonished feeling, which does become annoying. We noticed that Audible switches narrators with the sequel. We usually hate it when they do this, but perhaps Sneha Mathan’s narration will not suffer from the constant astonishment problem.
A Word to the Wise (Content Warnings)
Major: Domestic violence; sexism, misogyny, and colonialism/racism appropriate to the period; toxic family dynamics; manipulation/gaslighting; religious abuse.
Moderate: Assault, alcoholism, kidnapping, child abuse, violence, homophobia, heteronormativity.
Minor: Brief mention of blood, incest.
TL;DR
We already consider the Asian Readathon a success because we found a new series to love. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey is a book anyone who loves a good cozy legal mystery with a plucky heroine should try. we are already looking forward to book two!
The main character, Perveen Mistry, is based on the first female lawyer in India. We really enjoyed watching her use the law to fight for justice where only she can: within a Muslim household’s zenana. We also enjoyed watching her grow as she becomes more competent, takes on new challenges, and learns to work around the constraints society places on her. The characters in the story kept us hooked – for the most part.
Sadly there were some sections where the book started to drag and it felt like we were slogging through the doldrums. We enjoyed the rest of the book so much that it thoroughly aggravates us that Massey chose to include the chapters set in 1917.
But we still loved the book enough to read it four out of five stars and buy the sequel.Perveen, her father Jamshadji, and her friend Alice are all characters we definitely want to spend more time with. We also love the vivid pictures Massey paints of life in Bombay with the wide variety of cultures and their clashes with British colonialism. She uses just the right salting of languages like Hindi to add authentic detail without confusing readers who don’t know these terms – Especially important in an audiobook when we didn’t know how to spell the non-English words in order to look them up.
Soneela Nankani does an excellent job of narrating. She gives slightly different accents to characters from different cultures and has a pleasant voice. She never seems to stumble over non-English words.while some reviewers found it difficult to keep track of who is who, we had no trouble tracking who was speaking. While we appreciate the energy Nankani brings to the narration, after a while we noticed that she seems to give every sentence an astonished feeling, which does become annoying. We noticed that Audible switches narrators with the sequel. We usually hate it when they do this, but perhaps Sneha Mathan’s narration will not suffer from the constant astonishment problem.
A Word to the Wise (Content Warnings)
Major: Domestic violence; sexism, misogyny, and colonialism/racism appropriate to the period; toxic family dynamics; manipulation/gaslighting; religious abuse.
Moderate: Assault, alcoholism, kidnapping, child abuse, violence, homophobia, heteronormativity.
Minor: Brief mention of blood, incest.
TL;DR
We already consider the Asian Readathon a success because we found a new series to love. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey is a book anyone who loves a good cozy legal mystery with a plucky heroine should try. we are already looking forward to book two!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Homophobia, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Blood
arcookson's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Blood