Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Vibrant Years by Sonali Dev

1 review

emcat591's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I enjoyed this book for the most part. Bindu, Aly, and Cullie were a fun multi-generational family of women each going through interesting events in their own lives, as well as the central plot which brought them all together. The side characters were not as interesting (Bindu's friends, Lee, the various dates they went on, Aly's lawyer friend whose name I can't remember), but since they didn't pop up much, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Cullie's story to me was the best, as she struggles to develop a new app to keep her current app and true labor of love free to use. I loathed manipulative Steve, and I found her developing relationship interesting. She had a strong character, which I really enjoyed, and her relationship with each of her parents was also very interesting to read.

Aly's story was overall very frustrating on her behalf as she tries to navigate obvious discrimination at work and her desire to advance her career, her past relationship with Ashish and dealing with him in the present, her overbearing mother and Bindu, and her relationship with her daughter. I felt she got the short end of the stick in many situations, although I was happy for her in the end.

Bindu's story was the one that to me had the most problems. I love the idea of a fabulous grandma living her best life in a luxurious retirement home, but felt that two key pieces of her story were a bit off.
Spoiler The second inheritance from Richard seemed mostly unnecessary, as I felt the author could have found different ways to instigate those plot points without having two inheritance plotlines happening at the same time. I understand that it affected Aly's story and ultimately brought Bindu and Lee together, but again, it seems that there could have been other ways to have those plot points take place. Secondly, the whole situation with Oscar was just...bleh. I really think that Bindu should have known that her family would not react poorly to the fact that she was in a nude scene in a movie forty years ago. It just doesn't seem like that big of a deal. I understand that she had some trauma with her mother disowning her, kicking her out, and actually trying to kill her, but she's spent a good chunk of her life with Aly and Cullie and should have known that they wouldn't freak out. Regarding Ashish's potential parentage, I see where that could have been a bigger deal in her mind, but I still feel that she should have known her son well enough to know that he would forgive her. And the way that plotline was handled, with Ashish already knowing the answer, seemed a bit anticlimactic. To me, the much bigger deal was that Bindu was taken advantage of as a seventeen-year-old by a thirty-year-old wealthy film director. The power imbalance was awful, and the "excuse" given of his wife being mute/etc was not helpful in the slightest. That was never really addressed and instead the situation was mostly romanticized, which I didn't really agree with.
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