cpwang65's review against another edition
5.0
The book covers a lifetime from the viewpoint of multiple characters. It starts out about a pair of brothers growing up in India in the Calcutta area. The brothers are close in age, about fifteen months apart. One brother grows up to be a revolutionary, while the other goes to graduate school (oceanography) in America, in Rhode Island, and ends up living the rest of his life there.
The brother who is a revolutionary, ends up getting killed, leaving behind a pregnant wife. His brother, comes back to India, marries his dead brother’s wife. She ends up coming to America and he ends up raising the daughter with his new wife.
The marriage is a lifeless one; the two of them really never do anything together. The wife manages to go back to university, and ends up getting her PhD (philosophy). When the husband and the daughter goes back to India after the death of the grandfather, they come back to find out the wife has left for a new job in California.
The daughter ends up growing up, doesn’t go to college, ends up becoming involved with farming / agricultural / growing organic things. After a long time away, the daughter returns to her father, with news that she is pregnant. The father decides to reveal to the daughter the truth about her real father. She storms away, but does return to live with her father to raise her child.
Meanwhile the father becomes involved with a woman who was once a teacher of his daughter. He asks his estranged wife to sign the papers for a divorce. She ends up coming in person, but the husband is away, but the daughter and grand daughter are there. There is a big scene, and the daughter lies to the daughter about who the visitor is. (The daughter has told people that her mother is dead).
The story is a very sad one, but the author has done a great job describing things from each person’s point of view. The ending is about the specifics of how the one brother died a long time ago.
The brother who is a revolutionary, ends up getting killed, leaving behind a pregnant wife. His brother, comes back to India, marries his dead brother’s wife. She ends up coming to America and he ends up raising the daughter with his new wife.
The marriage is a lifeless one; the two of them really never do anything together. The wife manages to go back to university, and ends up getting her PhD (philosophy). When the husband and the daughter goes back to India after the death of the grandfather, they come back to find out the wife has left for a new job in California.
The daughter ends up growing up, doesn’t go to college, ends up becoming involved with farming / agricultural / growing organic things. After a long time away, the daughter returns to her father, with news that she is pregnant. The father decides to reveal to the daughter the truth about her real father. She storms away, but does return to live with her father to raise her child.
Meanwhile the father becomes involved with a woman who was once a teacher of his daughter. He asks his estranged wife to sign the papers for a divorce. She ends up coming in person, but the husband is away, but the daughter and grand daughter are there. There is a big scene, and the daughter lies to the daughter about who the visitor is. (The daughter has told people that her mother is dead).
The story is a very sad one, but the author has done a great job describing things from each person’s point of view. The ending is about the specifics of how the one brother died a long time ago.
ioana_cis's review against another edition
4.0
The book is slow on actions but kept me going from page to page to see what will happen to the characters in the end. Easy to read, I learned a lot about India's history and how Indians perceived the changes in their country. The descriptions given are well written as I could feel myself walking in the streets of Kolkata or Rhode Island. Udayan, the most active character disappears to early and the other ones are a bit in slow motion to develop as individuals entity.
I really appreciated the change of the narrative person and could well see their own version.
“War will bring the revolution; revolution will stop the war”
I really appreciated the change of the narrative person and could well see their own version.
“War will bring the revolution; revolution will stop the war”
kealex02's review against another edition
5.0
A haunting--and haunted--book. So much loss, heartbreak, and despair situated in a complex political and social time. The ending brought everything together, including the reasons for Guari's actions. I also thought the book was beautifully written. The scenes were clear, compelling, and vivid. I found so many profound sentence, statements that summed up life in creative and unusual ways. It was my first book by Lahiri and I will be reading more.
jonesam30's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.75
jcpdiesel21's review against another edition
4.0
Powerful and emotionally resonant. I haven't read anything by Lahiri in such a long time that I had forgotten how effortlessly beautiful her writing is, and this sweeping saga is no exception. The characters here are well defined and have strong, engaging individual voices that I enjoyed following. I had trouble getting into the book at first since I found the political history of India documented at the beginning a little dry and difficult to digest, but its inclusion is necessary as groundwork and determines much of the characters' fates. The story contains an abundance of tragedy, yet there are glimmers of hope scattered throughout.
minty's review against another edition
4.0
Though I felt this took a bit of time to get going, it settled into a beautiful, aching story. Jhumpa Lahiri is the master of really complicated, sympathetic characters who work against each other but you can be on everyone's side at different times.
gsroney's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, because I know Jhumpa Lahiri can do better. I enjoyed this sweeping family saga, laced with tragedy but also affection, and yet it still felt like it lacked focus and the subtlety that I’ve come to appreciate in Lahiri’s other superior works. Still, it was captivating and certainly worth the read.
“Subhash was 13, older by 15 months. But he had no sense of himself without Udayan. From his earliest memories, at every point, his brother was there.”
“Most people trusted in the future, assuming that their preferred version of it would unfold. Blindly planning for it, envisioning things that weren't the case. This was the working of the will. This was what gave the world purpose and direction. Not what was there but what was not.”
“Isolation offered its own form of companionship: the reliable silence of her rooms, the steadfast tranquility of the evenings. The promise that she would find things where she put them, that there would be no interruption, no surprise. It greeted her at the end of each day and lay still with her at night.”
“Subhash was 13, older by 15 months. But he had no sense of himself without Udayan. From his earliest memories, at every point, his brother was there.”
“Most people trusted in the future, assuming that their preferred version of it would unfold. Blindly planning for it, envisioning things that weren't the case. This was the working of the will. This was what gave the world purpose and direction. Not what was there but what was not.”
“Isolation offered its own form of companionship: the reliable silence of her rooms, the steadfast tranquility of the evenings. The promise that she would find things where she put them, that there would be no interruption, no surprise. It greeted her at the end of each day and lay still with her at night.”
geminiusa's review against another edition
sad
medium-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? Yes
3.0
bcgg's review against another edition
3.0
Very concise writing. Nothing wasted and a provocative read.