Reviews

Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy

jaclyncrupi's review against another edition

3.0

2.5 The first half of this book is truly excellent and the second half is truly terrible. How did it all go so wrong? Well, I could list all the reasons but it's hardly worth it. In short, Roy relies on the inter-connected characters too much and the story slides into melodrama and becomes truly boring. So disappointing after such a promising beginning.

maijaraven's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

noel_rene_cisneros's review against another edition

Anurandha Roy construye una novela sobre el regreso de Nomi Frederiksen a Jarmuli, donde pasó parte de su infancia tras quedarse huérfana en un ashram —donde sufrió abusos físicos y sexuales siendo una niña—. En ese regreso Nomi está haciendo un documental sobre la ciudad santuario. La narración se divide entre una primera persona, Nomi, que reconstruye su pasado, su orfandad y la tercera persona, que cuenta las peripecias de ella y la ciudad a la que ha vuelto muchos años después.

breadandmushrooms's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

brodie_mckenna's review against another edition

dark reflective sad

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

saramcwoman's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this but I wish there was a more satisfying ending, it was a little too open-ended for me. I loved the characters though and that we got to understand all of their different perspectives

svrye_docx's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

bookslifeandeverythingnice's review against another edition

3.0

Sleeping on Jupiter is about the physical, emotional and spiritual journey of 3 elderly women and Nomi to Jarmuli, a beachside town where Nomi grew up. The women and Nomi took separate journeys but end up interacting enough for their stories to be intertwined. These women feel compelled to take this journey, but there are dark undercurrents to their journey and story. Terrible things happened to Nomi's family when she was young, so she was sent to a local ashram to be cared for. Instead she was abused like so many other vulnerable children. I didn't realize there would be somewhat graphic descriptions of child abuse, and wished I had known about this going into the book. So trigger warning for sexual abuse. I had mixed thoughts about this novel. The author paints an exquisite picture of the sun baked seaside town. The journey starts off intriguing and loses speed as it goes along. It also never really wrapped up everyone's story. Good but not sure if it lived up to the expectations that I had for it.

balletbookworm's review against another edition

5.0

A deeply spiritual yet very stark novel about six people in a temple town (Jarmuli isn't actually a real place, but an amalgam of seaside towns full of religious pilgrims and tourists): three elderly women on a vacation/pilgrimage, a temple guide, a photographer, and a young woman using the guise of a location scouting trip to find the ashram where she lived as a child. Utterly spellbinding and heartbreaking.

TW for several scenes of sexual violence and child abuse (Roy based these scenes on legal cases)

shosh222's review against another edition

Why this ending? I finished the book yesterday. I loved the detailed description of life in India - but what happened at the end. I was so frustrated I didn't even go back and reread.