lottpoet's review
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
koby's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a sucker for a multi-generational family story, so I enjoyed this one about an Indian/American family. I think it captures a lot about family dynamics, and I learned some interesting things about Indians in Africa, but the weakness for me in this book is that I never really cared about any of the characters on a deeper level. Still worth a read though.
raoionna's review against another edition
1.0
Orientalist ~ Academic ~ Thorough
tl;dr: family extends over continents and generations
This book was well-written if without much emotion. I couldn't point to a particular sentence out of whack or any stylistic problem. However, it was devoid of feeling. The characters felt sort of wooden, like someone knew their story from research but didn't know how to make them breathe. There was so much that could have been good in this book. It's ambition was to be like Allende or Lahiri, but instead it was like an exercise in strong, boring writing. I do also wonder if the author had any person connection to her subject. Her only character that had any emotional weight was a white academic who was in a relationship with the Indian-American character. I wondered if that was her, and why she could do that character some justice. Overall, not worth the effort to read.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
tl;dr: family extends over continents and generations
This book was well-written if without much emotion. I couldn't point to a particular sentence out of whack or any stylistic problem. However, it was devoid of feeling. The characters felt sort of wooden, like someone knew their story from research but didn't know how to make them breathe. There was so much that could have been good in this book. It's ambition was to be like Allende or Lahiri, but instead it was like an exercise in strong, boring writing. I do also wonder if the author had any person connection to her subject. Her only character that had any emotional weight was a white academic who was in a relationship with the Indian-American character. I wondered if that was her, and why she could do that character some justice. Overall, not worth the effort to read.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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