arjunthakrar's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
serranok's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
kolymaarasto's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
tgbuck's review
3.0
On a scale of no-thank-you to Everyone Read This Now, I land somewhere a little past neutral -- not for lack of visceral response to the strange gore of it, but for lack of feeling particularly moved to ponder all the juicy questions about being human that the description promised.
The blend of poeticism and technical precision was mesmerizing, and Paralkar clearly knows his anatomy. Reading his descriptions of surgery reminded me of how I felt as a 3 year old, staring in jaw-dropped awe at surgery shows (what exactly I was watching I don't remember, and why my parents let me is another question...), so close to the television screen I was almost cross-eyed. There's something so beautiful about the science of the human body.
That said, the far-fetchedness of the plot paired with the shiftiness and slight inconsistencies of the characters kept me from really trusting and letting myself fall into the story.
All in all, an entertaining and well-written adventure into some dark shit. 3 stars, as in "wouldn't read again, but glad I did" and "I feel kind of sick after reading this, but not in a bad way?"
The blend of poeticism and technical precision was mesmerizing, and Paralkar clearly knows his anatomy. Reading his descriptions of surgery reminded me of how I felt as a 3 year old, staring in jaw-dropped awe at surgery shows (what exactly I was watching I don't remember, and why my parents let me is another question...), so close to the television screen I was almost cross-eyed. There's something so beautiful about the science of the human body.
That said, the far-fetchedness of the plot paired with the shiftiness and slight inconsistencies of the characters kept me from really trusting and letting myself fall into the story.
All in all, an entertaining and well-written adventure into some dark shit. 3 stars, as in "wouldn't read again, but glad I did" and "I feel kind of sick after reading this, but not in a bad way?"
leorejoanne's review
4.0
This book is quite dark and a bit morbid. It tells of a surgeon in an Indian village, who one night is visited by a family of dead people – a man, a very pregnant woman, and their child. All were killed by bandits with vicious knife wounds and left to bleed out on the roadside. In the afterlife they had managed to persuade an angel to bring them back, but the catch is that they were brought back exactly as they were, with their life-threatening wounds, but without any blood, or need to breath. This will change at dawn, when their bodies will fill with blood again, so they must find help quickly to try and treat their wounds, before they bleed to death all over again. I was not surprised to learn after I finished reading that the author is a physician, as one of the things I liked the most about this book were the descriptions of the various surgeries the surgeon performed on the dead, and especially the exploration of how different and weird it is to do surgery on someone who is dead trying to fix their wounds (for example, blood does not flow, so it’s hard to ascertain were blood vessels were torn). In this short book Paralkar explores life and death, compassion, and corruption.
The language is beautiful, unsentimental, usually straight and to the point, but sometimes unfolding into gorgeous unexpected descriptions, such as:
“The surgeon looked up at the sky. It seemed charred, as if some great and distant immolation had finally been completed. When he was this girl’s age… he’d wondered how astrologers assembled all those creatures from the stars – rams and fishes and scorpions. All he ever saw were silent theatres – the way the dots of light hung there, deceptively stable from one night to the next, preparing to dash themselves to the earth at the slightest provocation”.
The language is beautiful, unsentimental, usually straight and to the point, but sometimes unfolding into gorgeous unexpected descriptions, such as:
“The surgeon looked up at the sky. It seemed charred, as if some great and distant immolation had finally been completed. When he was this girl’s age… he’d wondered how astrologers assembled all those creatures from the stars – rams and fishes and scorpions. All he ever saw were silent theatres – the way the dots of light hung there, deceptively stable from one night to the next, preparing to dash themselves to the earth at the slightest provocation”.
ophaniel's review
2.0
a strong concept weakened by its heavy-handed philosophizing & unfocused themes. the surgeries were exceptionally written & vivid; I would have preferred a greater focus on the medical & psychological aspects over the theological.
the borderline obsession with pregnancy throughout was off-putting.
the borderline obsession with pregnancy throughout was off-putting.
napkins's review against another edition
3.0
This was a solid four stars until the end, when it started to feel like the author didn't know how the story needed to end, so tried a few different things out, none of which quite landed with the same gripping feeling that the first half of the book had. In its best moments, it's a thoughtful look at morality and altruism, of the ways society has backed itself into corners.
morganjb_2021's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-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? Yes
4.0