Reviews with content warning for Violence - Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

I am not a clever reader. I like fluffy books, mysteries with no real consequences and romances. Part of why I read is to escape the world around me. But every now and then I pick up a book that is clever and digs into the world around us and this book was that. It was not an easy read, but it was a very worthwhile one.

It started out quite slow but by the middle of the book I was hooked and I cannot stop thinking about it. What a delight to read such well written and rounded characters. What a delight to read such a variety of characters. This is an incredible portrayal of Australia, that calls our society out exactly as it should.

Graphic violence, depictions of racism, depictions of cis white men acting like cis white men. Also, lots of light spots, calm moments and quite funny one-liners.

Content Warnings

stanro's review

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challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

This is the recent Miles Franklin prize-winner and I’m onto it. Moments of humour. Graphic racist violence. Politics of the self-serving kind. Insight. That’s just in Australia. The violence in Sri Lanka is more naked and government sponsored. And there are many well-drawn characters.

“Black July” appears. I scurry to Wikipedia for a brief overview of it. Familiar plot, whether Russia and Eastern Europe against Jews, or Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany, also against Jews. And I think of Ruanda and Biafra (Adechie’s excellent Half of a Yellow Sun returns to mind). Now, in northern Sri Lanka, it’s merely a different setting. My heart is heavy.

Later on there is a retelling of someone’s experience of Black July. My heart is even heavier.

And with the recurring discussion about China’s role around the world, it is interesting to hear of China’s military base in southern Sri Lanka and the use by Sinhalese against Tamils of Chinese weapons - all part of the tightening grip of the “pearl necklace.”

In the course of the novel, Chandran is obviously proud of her Tamil culture and its history. She provides sketchy notes for this ignorant reader. I am forced by this to realise that though I’ve heard of the Tamil Tiger Liberation Front and though I’ve met refugee Tamils as teacher unionists, I am abysmally ignorant of any of what she sets out or that they experienced. I’m embarrassed. And I’m thoroughly hooked into this book, with its characters and their back stories and present difficulties and I’m keen to see what happens to them.

“(N)ational identity, territorial sovereignty and self-determination are grounded in history. Who was here first won’t determine who will be here last, but it will help us understand who has the right to be here at all. … Possession of land is nine tenths of the law. Possession of history is nine tenths of the future.” Of course I think of our history wars in Australia. I am firmly on the side of acknowledging our pre-colonisation peoples and their culture. And their rights.

As I read on, I think this book is both a doorway to truths about Sri Lanka and an allegory for Australia. And at times a very clear statement about Australia.

This book has characters to cherish and worry about, politics, history, racism, mystery and learning new things. I think it flags a little while it traces a Human Rights Commission case, using that as a means to become rather didactic. Having used that and similar conciliation arenas professionally several times, I recognise the veracity of her descriptions of procedure and the emotional journeys of participants while there.

After this slowing down of the book’s pace, there is a rapid building of momentum to a conclusion where several important loose threads are woven into the final tapestry of the book. Some of this I find heartbreaking.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran displaces several outstanding books as my most-liked and most engaging book of 2023. Still, it’s only mid-August.

Content Warnings

stefhyena's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Ok first a warning. The title and cover make it seem like it's going to be a cosy feel-good read and it really isn't. Which mainly I liked (I hate bland) but there are some detailed and realistic depictions of violence in it and it's not a "leave your brain at the door" book either. Not escapism. There are oases of calm with turmeric in the paint or whatever that can lull you into thinking you are a tourist here but then the big themes come back.

The protagonist I would say is Maya, an elderly Tamilese widow who owns a nursing home that she built and is now a resident in. She is supported by many family and friends- carers, doctors, etc who help flesh out the vibrancy of her life. The other centre of the book, perhaps the (albeit reluctant) antagonist is Gareth, the white man who seeks to claw back his entitlements in a world where women and migrants no longer consider themselves below him in the pecking order (this is over-simplified but I think true. He is "not racist" he goes and eats curry cooked by his wife's best friend but his over-entitlement leads him to consistently say and do stupid things that legitimate the actual racists waiting in the shadows.

The actual racists in this book are ruthless, violent and without any moral compass whatsoever. They are two-dimensional and motivated purely by hate. I would like to say that they are an exaggeration but I guess the point of them isn't whether or not that sort of person is actually common (it would be naive to say they don't exist at all) but what words, actions and silences from politicians and others give them empowerment to escalate? In this book the white silences that allow other people to be racist are pretty clear. The book also has enough heart to give us a wealth of imaginary and real white people who are anti-racist ...so while it definitely calles out whiteness and coloniality (Cook gets specifically targetted as he should) there is also some ability to see nuance and not generate polarisations. Although as the book makes clear it's a bit unfair that it is always the Brown people who have to do the diplomatic work of showing they are not racist. I feel that there are a couple of scenes with Gareth where Anji is being too kind, too understanding, too "emotionally intelligent" and I feel relieved when we finally see her anger. Nonetheless when Ruben punches him I find that excessive and as unwise as something Gareth would do. I would have liked something terrible to happen to Davidson in the book, I know that would be unrealistic but so are some of the other scenes. I felt the last big catastrophe was too much. I didn't want to go through that I was unhappy with it...but I guess as a book about racism (mostly) it has to show that there's a relentlessless to the awfulness of it.

It's a positive book. It has easter-eggs, famous people who have given the author permission to pop them in in Twitter cameos and such. It has interesting reflections on fiction and non-fiction writing. Stories and histories and language itself. I also do wonder about turmeric in paint. Should that be a thing?

Content Warnings

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective

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

5.0

Content Warnings

danajoy's review

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challenging dark sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

The beautiful, whimisical cover and cosy sounding name makes this novel appear to be a light choice. Based on those you'd likely be forgiven in believing that this was a warm, safe, story about a nursing home.

This is instead a deeply important but difficult and confronting story about survival, racism and violence. The content is highly confronting.

The Sri Lankan civil war is not a topic I was very aware of.

This story is brutal and important.

Content Warnings

katiiekhaos's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

This book is beautifully written and has a rich world and characters, however I found myself getting confused with the multiple time lines and so many main characters. I wanted to love this one more, however I can tell the author is incredibly talented and will definitely pick up more of their books in the future.

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