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steveatwaywords's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What a magnificent read. A lyrical and subtle exploration of dozens of vital questions, woven by its conclusion into some moments of wonder.
But wait. Let's get those nay-sayers out of the way first. If you are seeking a tightly-written, action-directed, straight-to-streaming IP that doubles as beach read fantasy and tear-jerking melodrama, go somewhere else. Choices for you are being churned out by writing teams and AI by the thousands.
So, despite that warning (and the several warnings the novel's narrator also provides along the way), let me say that this is an absolutely compelling page-turner and every scene felt immaculately directed to its effect. Those effects are explicitly not conventional plotting, though this exists, as well, almost (but definitely not) incidental to the larger text. How does one sustain a book that takes over 100 pages for its octogenarian grandmother to rise from her bed? How when it takes over 50 pages for her to go from a standing position to one fallen? And then, when something momentous truly does occur, it is sometimes whisked through in a page or brief patch of sentences.
Why are we reading?
For Shree's reflections, her reveries on life at all ages, her satirical digs at social mores and conservative proprieties, our posturing and political priorities, our entrenchments and blindness to the compassion and humanity requisite to gender, to disability, and to infantilizing of the aged. About the graphic and unsettling challenges to senior care--from smells and sounds in bed-sharing to bathroom routines and crises. Shree's lens is at once a marvelous and uncomfortable macro look at a single family's c0lliding myopias and also a despairing but affirming diatribe on the fundamental brokenness of South Asian social-political history and . . . everyone's.
So slow down. Don't try this book "skipping over the asides" as so many reviewers attempted. You miss not only the idea of the novel, but also its wonderful word play and turns of thought made all the more resonant by gifted translator Daisy Rockwell. Seeing what she produced here for remarkable and poetic moments made me marvel at what she must have been working with in the original Hindi. What she has given us from Shree is an English translation both subtle and beautiful.
I want very much to talk about how the book comes together at its end, but I will not spoil it. It is full worth the journey for its dazzling and significant close. But I will add this: this has been marked as a work of experimental fiction, and contrasted to mainstream Hindi literature, it certainly is that. But I would note that this is, too, a work of magical realism. We know it almost as quickly as a Buddha statue waits its moment in the grandmother's room or she inexplicably raises her cane into the air. Our mysterious, partly-connected narrator weighs in frequently in relating the story, and this too can seem an odd structural choice--but it, too, becomes a powerful idea. Slowly, over time, reverie to reflection, subtle moment to memory of substance, Shree's novel draws together difference and opens outward and outward. Readers skipping this story, missing it or glossing over it, failing to give it their attention, are indeed part of its very subject.
But wait. Let's get those nay-sayers out of the way first. If you are seeking a tightly-written, action-directed, straight-to-streaming IP that doubles as beach read fantasy and tear-jerking melodrama, go somewhere else. Choices for you are being churned out by writing teams and AI by the thousands.
So, despite that warning (and the several warnings the novel's narrator also provides along the way), let me say that this is an absolutely compelling page-turner and every scene felt immaculately directed to its effect. Those effects are explicitly not conventional plotting, though this exists, as well, almost (but definitely not) incidental to the larger text. How does one sustain a book that takes over 100 pages for its octogenarian grandmother to rise from her bed? How when it takes over 50 pages for her to go from a standing position to one fallen? And then, when something momentous truly does occur, it is sometimes whisked through in a page or brief patch of sentences.
Why are we reading?
For Shree's reflections, her reveries on life at all ages, her satirical digs at social mores and conservative proprieties, our posturing and political priorities, our entrenchments and blindness to the compassion and humanity requisite to gender, to disability, and to infantilizing of the aged. About the graphic and unsettling challenges to senior care--from smells and sounds in bed-sharing to bathroom routines and crises. Shree's lens is at once a marvelous and uncomfortable macro look at a single family's c0lliding myopias and also a despairing but affirming diatribe on the fundamental brokenness of South Asian social-political history and . . . everyone's.
So slow down. Don't try this book "skipping over the asides" as so many reviewers attempted. You miss not only the idea of the novel, but also its wonderful word play and turns of thought made all the more resonant by gifted translator Daisy Rockwell. Seeing what she produced here for remarkable and poetic moments made me marvel at what she must have been working with in the original Hindi. What she has given us from Shree is an English translation both subtle and beautiful.
I want very much to talk about how the book comes together at its end, but I will not spoil it. It is full worth the journey for its dazzling and significant close. But I will add this: this has been marked as a work of experimental fiction, and contrasted to mainstream Hindi literature, it certainly is that. But I would note that this is, too, a work of magical realism. We know it almost as quickly as a Buddha statue waits its moment in the grandmother's room or she inexplicably raises her cane into the air. Our mysterious, partly-connected narrator weighs in frequently in relating the story, and this too can seem an odd structural choice--but it, too, becomes a powerful idea. Slowly, over time, reverie to reflection, subtle moment to memory of substance, Shree's novel draws together difference and opens outward and outward. Readers skipping this story, missing it or glossing over it, failing to give it their attention, are indeed part of its very subject.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Deportation
Most of the more graphic or disturbing qualities of the work are kept off-stage and referenced. But all of these form a significant part of the plot and character-shaping of the protagonist and addressed, for the most part, in honest and healthy ways.melodyseestrees's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I read an uncorrected proof and I am someone who lacks cultural understanding of the culture within the text. With these notions in mind I continue.
I still enjoyed the story and was fully aware that several of the nuances escaped my understanding. For example the Rosie was handled throughout the tale felt strange to me. The relationship between KK and Beti. The relationships between Beti and her siblings. The unreliable narrator factor within a character we had implicitly trusted.
It is on me as a reader for not researching the factors I did not find easy to understand and I do recommend thoroughly reading the translators notes as well as doing your own research. The tale is subtle in its whimsy and serious in its message. This is an important story for many people to read, even though it will take work on their part to mend the cultural gap. The writing style is different to that of many stories published for an American audience. I think that is beautiful. Take your time, write in your copy, highlight sections.
I still enjoyed the story and was fully aware that several of the nuances escaped my understanding. For example the Rosie was handled throughout the tale felt strange to me. The relationship between KK and Beti. The relationships between Beti and her siblings. The unreliable narrator factor within a character we had implicitly trusted.
It is on me as a reader for not researching the factors I did not find easy to understand and I do recommend thoroughly reading the translators notes as well as doing your own research. The tale is subtle in its whimsy and serious in its message. This is an important story for many people to read, even though it will take work on their part to mend the cultural gap. The writing style is different to that of many stories published for an American audience. I think that is beautiful. Take your time, write in your copy, highlight sections.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Transphobia, Trafficking, and Murder
Minor: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and War
clara_mai's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Its hard to find words that describe Tomb of Sand, but I will try to sum up a few thoughts. First of all, it is astounding how few of the 735 pages that make up this story contain actual plot/action and still Geetanjali Shree manages to keep it interesting. Never was there a point where I found myself bored, even when she described the most mundane circumstances. One reason for this is the perspective from which said circumstances (situations, relationships, feelings, sceneries...) are examined, because it tends to be quite extraordinary. For instance, there are whole chapters spent on birds dreaming of saris or the history of a door, which then maps the dynamics of a whole family. Another factor, probably the most prominent is the language. It is playful in a way that I have never read before (all my respect to the translator, Daisy Rockwell, who in the translator's note writes about her efforts to convey the way Shree plays with the Hindi language) and has so much character that it takes on a life of its own. Especially toward the end, though, there is much more suspense also created on a plot level, which is executed excellently. Tomb of Sand touches on a variety of themes such as feminism, class, gender, history, folklore, global warming and religion and all of them are woven together in the context of the lives of a family in India, particularly an older woman and her daughter. As this novel "pays hommage to the rich tradition of subcontinental literature inspired by the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan" (Daisy Rockwell, translator) it also made me aware of historical events I previously knew very little about. I think the fact that this book made me think about birds, their way of understanding language and the world and their friendships, both among each other and to humans, on its own shows the impression that Tomb of Sand has the potential to leave.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Death