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jaclyncrupi's review against another edition
4.0
This was heart-wrenching and powerful and depressing. Set in India and America it follows two friends separated by horrendous acts of violence and depravity and the lengths they will go to to be reunited. I definitely reached the point where I couldn’t handle anything else happening to them only to have a lot more happen to them. I felt the same way when reading Beauty is a Wound. This is an electrifying debut novel though and definitely worth reading.
shailydc's review against another edition
3.0
I appreciate the positive themes of friendship and controlling your own power.. but dang, it was hard to get through. The logical / skeptical side of me struggled with how Poornima and Savitha continued to find their way to each other all things considered.
rociovoncina's review against another edition
2.0
Titulo: Girls Burn Brighter
Autor: Shobha Rao
Año publicado: 2018
Motivo de lectura: #asianreadathon
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Fisico / Electronico: Electronico
Mi edicion: -
Idioma: Ingles
Puntuacion: 2.5/5
De esos libros que duelen poner este puntaje, un claro ejemplo de una historia con potencial, y ser testigo como la autora asesino su propio libro.
La construccion de los personajes realmente es buena, son personajes profundos, llenos de sentimiento. La autora hace incapie en lo que es la amistad femenina, y como el aspecto economico muchas veces influye en el destino de las personas de maneras irreversibles.
La trama por momentos es realmente triste (no es algo que personalmente me moleste), menciono esto porque se que para algunas personas esto podria ser determinante para leer un libro o no.
En este libro la felicidad practicamente no tiene espacio, es el drama puro y duro el conductor de gran parte de la trama. Toca temas muy duros
Es una lectura brutal y deprimente, donde por momentos todo es oscuridad, impotencia y desasosiego.
Para ser totalmente honesta, por momentos senti que la autora abusaba de la brutalidad que se encuentra en la historia, como que estaba ahi en un intento de mantener en shock al lector, pero cuando se trata de la historia, realmente se sentia algo asi como "maldad simplemente por maldad". No es que la maldad tenga sentido o justificacion, no, no lo tiene, pero si estas leyendo un libro y tanta brutalidad no cumple una funcion en la historia..es entrar en un sadismo innecesario que nada aporta.
Esta brutalidad si hay algo que aporto es una monotonia, por momentos un cansancio de pensar "si, ya entendi, la maldad no tiene limite, ya me quedo claro", esto hace estancar la trama, y reduce por completo los posibles recursos que Shobha Rao podria haber usado.
Y el final, Dios mio! No es posible que ese sea el final, un sabor entre abrupto e incompleto, ese sentimiento de "lei todo este libro para esto?"
Autor: Shobha Rao
Año publicado: 2018
Motivo de lectura: #asianreadathon
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Fisico / Electronico: Electronico
Mi edicion: -
Idioma: Ingles
Puntuacion: 2.5/5
De esos libros que duelen poner este puntaje, un claro ejemplo de una historia con potencial, y ser testigo como la autora asesino su propio libro.
La construccion de los personajes realmente es buena, son personajes profundos, llenos de sentimiento. La autora hace incapie en lo que es la amistad femenina, y como el aspecto economico muchas veces influye en el destino de las personas de maneras irreversibles.
La trama por momentos es realmente triste (no es algo que personalmente me moleste), menciono esto porque se que para algunas personas esto podria ser determinante para leer un libro o no.
En este libro la felicidad practicamente no tiene espacio, es el drama puro y duro el conductor de gran parte de la trama. Toca temas muy duros
Spoiler
(abuso, maltrato, violencia, brutalidad, cosificacion de la mujer, prostitucion, entre otros temas).Es una lectura brutal y deprimente, donde por momentos todo es oscuridad, impotencia y desasosiego.
Para ser totalmente honesta, por momentos senti que la autora abusaba de la brutalidad que se encuentra en la historia, como que estaba ahi en un intento de mantener en shock al lector, pero cuando se trata de la historia, realmente se sentia algo asi como "maldad simplemente por maldad". No es que la maldad tenga sentido o justificacion, no, no lo tiene, pero si estas leyendo un libro y tanta brutalidad no cumple una funcion en la historia..es entrar en un sadismo innecesario que nada aporta.
Esta brutalidad si hay algo que aporto es una monotonia, por momentos un cansancio de pensar "si, ya entendi, la maldad no tiene limite, ya me quedo claro", esto hace estancar la trama, y reduce por completo los posibles recursos que Shobha Rao podria haber usado.
Y el final, Dios mio! No es posible que ese sea el final, un sabor entre abrupto e incompleto, ese sentimiento de "lei todo este libro para esto?"
jhulme's review against another edition
4.0
I was really torn between 4 and 5 stars. I think I probably chose 4 stars out of pettiness. The writing is beautiful. The story is captivating. The subject material is intense and occasionally leaves you wondering if there are any good people in the world. But I’m still glad I read it.
therkive's review against another edition
5.0
I don't think I have felt this way after a novel in a long time, to be honest. Shobha Rao's prose is raw and beautiful. Both Poornima and Savitha undergo some of the darkest aspects of life - from an arranged marriage that transitions into domestic abuse to rape and human trafficking - and even so, their love and friendship, throughout their forced separation, remains the purest part of their lives. It makes sense that they did not find each other, not for lack of trying, serendipity only going so far as to have them just miss each other. Love is a hunger, as Savitha says, one that never satiates you, a warmth that you're constantly seeking to fill your stomach up with.
This fabric of the sari, which she threaded herself, acted as her protection, until it no longer could not, the last piece forced from her hands and leaving her opened for the taking. And it is here that we end, Savitha at rock bottom inside of a dingy rest stop bathroom, and Poornima on the other side of the locked door, unknowing that her only love is inside.
Spoiler
In a way, the sari Savitha was weaving as a wedding gift for Poornima acts as a symbol of how lost they become and how life tore down Savitha until she could no longer stand back up. It's unfinished because Poornima's father rapes Savitha, leading her to run away; it's a solace as she undergoes a forced amputation because a buyer wishes her to be without the limb; it acts as a symbol of defiance to Savitha's owners in Seattle, who take pieces of the only symbol of her strength to break her.“They’ve taken you, haven’t they? the crow said. They’ve taken you piece by piece. And this—this is the last piece. Now, in this clearing, with these strangers. I warned you, it said. I warned you all those years ago. In Indravalli. I said, Make sure they take you whole. But you didn’t listen. You didn’t listen. And now look at you. You are nothing. You are a girl. You are a girl in a clearing.” / “And so it was: that the fabric of something she’d never understood, had never even tried to understand, was what had enclosed her heart, what had held it with its soft and wrinkled and cottony hands; it was this cloth that was now ripped wide open.” / “But how was I to know? she thought, lying on the ground. How was I to know: that it was always this: always the boll to the loom to the cloth, and then, finally, and with such fragility, to the heart.”
This fabric of the sari, which she threaded herself, acted as her protection, until it no longer could not, the last piece forced from her hands and leaving her opened for the taking. And it is here that we end, Savitha at rock bottom inside of a dingy rest stop bathroom, and Poornima on the other side of the locked door, unknowing that her only love is inside.
sincerelymendacious's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
bsmith27's review against another edition
4.0
Story of 2 Indian girls who are trying to escape a patriarchal society who does not value women. But their escape leads them into sex work and eventually America. A great story of friendship.
ashliebysmashliereads's review against another edition
5.0
This book was a wild ride I was not anticipating. It was beautiful, painful. Brutal.
Triggers for rape, violence, human trafficking, mutilation.
Triggers for rape, violence, human trafficking, mutilation.
meghnasa's review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
deathcabforkatey's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism and Racism