Reviews

Lyrical, meandering, you need to have a lot of patience with this one, allowing the story to unfold and finding the rhythm of the book but once you do and you've given in, it is magical. The end, of course, is extremely heartfelt and tragic and is another testament to the devastation of the India-Pakistan Partition but the journey to that end is also beautiful and poetic, you just have to lean in to the expansive sort of storytelling. Oh, and the book is downright hilarious at times.

karenaerts's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

mweis's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

This very much a case of 5 stars for the writing and the project of the book but 2 stars for my enjoyment. This book is a tome and for the first 50% of the book it just meanders its way through the lives of this Indian family and I had no idea what was going on. The plot did start to come together, but at that point I was sort of checked out. The writing was beautiful and there were several parts that had me pausing to reread or to think about a phrase, but I think in my exploration of literary fiction I have determined that I need something with a little more plot than this.

All that to say, I think if I reread it with a better expectation of what I was getting into, this could be a book I adore.

acweber's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

nahlabooks's review against another edition

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3.0

This is the kind of novel that has an essence and exists in spite of the reader. The novels says what it has to say. The reader will either flow with it or be difficult but this novel doesn’t care

azlanm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

madsrgreen's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful sad 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

3.75

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