A review by sandra1447
The Girl in the Painting by Renita D'Silva

3.0

First off, I would like to thank the author for writing a story about Indian culture and history. I did not know much about it but the author explained a lot of things to me that I wouldn’t have understood if she had not explained it so beautifully and well. I enjoyed reading about a couple that was separated by race, ethnicity, and culture. The author showed the struggles that both Margaret and her love interest endured due to coming from different cultures and restrictions felt in their own cultures based on a social hierarchy. I found Margaret’s story more interesting than Emma’s and wish there had been more of Emma’s story so that I would feel as attached to her as I did for Margaret. I cared more for what had happened in Margaret’s life than what was presently happening in Emma’s.

The first half of the book was slower and I had to push through it a bit until I could not put it down. There were a lot of beautiful descriptions, but I felt that some of them were too long and did not contribute much to the story. I felt that there was a lot of repetitive paragraphs that had just been said a couple of pages prior so they were still in my mind and not forgotten. I would say that this book could be condensed a bit while not taking away from the actual story. I would recommend this book if you want a unique ending while also learning about Indian culture.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.