Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Vibrant Years by Sonali Dev

2 reviews

snipinfool's review

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emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

 The Vibrant Years revolved around the lives of three generations of Desai women. Bindu was sixty-five and had moved from India to the US to live with her son and daughter-in-law when her granddaughter was born. She was a widow who lived very differently than she had as a subservient wife. She dressed how she wanted and lived her life as fully as she chose. Bindu had a secret she kept for almost 50 years and worried her family would discover what it was. Alisha was forty-seven and Bindu's ex daughter-in-law. When Alisha and Bindu's son divorced, Bindu chose to continue living with Alisha. The two women had a very close relationship. Alisha was a TV reporter who wanted more air time than the occasional special interest story given to her. She had been waiting for ten years for a move up at her TV station. Cullie was twenty-five and Alisha's daughter. She was a brilliant coder who created an app, Shloka, which helped herself and 8 million subscribers manage their anxiety. Cullie was struggling to create a new app to use in conjunction with Shloka. She hoped the new app would convince her company to move away from the idea of charging a subscription fee for using Shloka. They were considering going back on their promise not to charge for the app. Cullie spent most of her time working and had few outside interests. All three women were very close and supported each other in every way they could.

I enjoyed reading this story. Each of the women were at different phases of their lives, but still had many similar wants. Bindu was the most interesting to me. She had a varied life between her time as a wife to a man who had strict expectations and her time as widow who made her own choices in life. Dev's descriptions of Bindu make her the most colorful character and my favorite from the book. What Alisha experienced at work resonated with me as well. I think many have had the experience of staying with something longer than they should have in hopes of it getting better. The Vibrant Life was a very good read. 
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morethanmylupus's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring 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

4.0

The best part of this book was that it truly centers women - the joy is in watching them grow and find their way and it's not all due to a man. 

I loved this book so much that I recommended it as a pick for my neighborhood monthly book club. Watching Bindu break away from so many societal restrictions and truly be herself was wonderful. The relationship between Ali and her MIL (rather than her mother) was beautiful. I loved watching Cullie come into her own. Their dating adventures were hilarious. 

Highly recommend this one if you want a book about strong women, the relationships women build to support each other, and of women breaking away from societal norms to find their own way.


A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

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