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A review by readingwithmygoldens
The Atlas of Reds and Blues by Devi S. Laskar
2.0
It was okay....
That's how I'm rating this one. I REALLY wanted to like this and thought I was going to be blown away. Again, I'm standing here and wondering, "What did I miss???"
It wasn't the structure of the book that bothered me. Normally, I'm fine with short paragraphs as chapters or even a sentence (in some cases). However, I think the structure of this and how choppy it was hurt my ability to read and relate or empathize as much as I could have. I'm not saying that every story has to be told in linear fashion. However, there were some pretty disgusting things that happened to the character and my reaction was more, "This can't possibly be true (I'm not calling the author a liar - I just had trouble stomaching people (white people) being so openly cruel and transparent about being so racist). I know the racist P.O.S are out there, I just have never seen it spoken so overtly before. To a person of Bengali descent! Anyway, I didn't feel the same gut punch of a reaction as I thought I should have been feeling. It also could have been the tone of voice the author was using? She came across very snarky about it so I don't know - maybe it was the delivery and I was meant to feel that way.
I guess my other problem was the fact that what the book slip cover describes as the time the narrator loses it and there is a police raid at her house as this big event and we learn almost nothing about it. We are introduced to the scene (again in short spurts) once it is happening. We don't know why it's happening, or what the resolution was. Maybe that doesn't matter - the point is that it DID happen and it DOES happen.
Obviously, I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this book (do you like how this entire review is an inner dialogue with myself??), and I think it is GREAT to start a discussion and maybe that's worth more than feeling something sometimes. All I know is that I was left feeling disappointed because I wanted more.
That's how I'm rating this one. I REALLY wanted to like this and thought I was going to be blown away. Again, I'm standing here and wondering, "What did I miss???"
It wasn't the structure of the book that bothered me. Normally, I'm fine with short paragraphs as chapters or even a sentence (in some cases). However, I think the structure of this and how choppy it was hurt my ability to read and relate or empathize as much as I could have. I'm not saying that every story has to be told in linear fashion. However, there were some pretty disgusting things that happened to the character and my reaction was more, "This can't possibly be true (I'm not calling the author a liar - I just had trouble stomaching people (white people) being so openly cruel and transparent about being so racist). I know the racist P.O.S are out there, I just have never seen it spoken so overtly before. To a person of Bengali descent! Anyway, I didn't feel the same gut punch of a reaction as I thought I should have been feeling. It also could have been the tone of voice the author was using? She came across very snarky about it so I don't know - maybe it was the delivery and I was meant to feel that way.
I guess my other problem was the fact that what the book slip cover describes as the time the narrator loses it and there is a police raid at her house as this big event and we learn almost nothing about it. We are introduced to the scene (again in short spurts) once it is happening. We don't know why it's happening, or what the resolution was. Maybe that doesn't matter - the point is that it DID happen and it DOES happen.
Obviously, I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this book (do you like how this entire review is an inner dialogue with myself??), and I think it is GREAT to start a discussion and maybe that's worth more than feeling something sometimes. All I know is that I was left feeling disappointed because I wanted more.