Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

17 reviews

samfictiondistilling's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-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? Yes

4.5

I've just finished listening and I'm absolutely devastated. So glad to have read it though.
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ieemee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

This is the kind of books that everyone should read. It follows the story of refugees who live in Australia. The author has a great way show a scenario and allowing the reader to reflect on their own position. This is art that truly says something and while it was emotionally difficult to read at times. I feel I have a richer understanding of the world.  I will be recommending this book widely 
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elzbethmrgn's review against another edition

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challenging tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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e11en's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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stanro's review against another edition

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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. 
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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

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sidhe's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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