A review by the_naptime_reader
Baumgartner's Bombay by Anita Desai
2.0
Middle of the road, 2.5 stars for me. I continue to enjoy the beauty of Desai’s writing, however Again I find that her plot meanders and ultimately doesn’t really reach anything.
The main character Hugo Baumgartner is such a tragic hero. He is a man caught in between everywhere he goes, never fitting in. In childhood he sat on the stairs that divided his apartment and his mother, from his father and his workshop/store, not belonging in either. A Jewish man by heritage who did not belong in Nazi Germany, but was also an outsider from the Jewish community, and then a foreigner in India...multiple more examples. You feel sorry for him, but it’s almost just a depressing tome as he sinks further and further, and for what point.
The main character Hugo Baumgartner is such a tragic hero. He is a man caught in between everywhere he goes, never fitting in. In childhood he sat on the stairs that divided his apartment and his mother, from his father and his workshop/store, not belonging in either. A Jewish man by heritage who did not belong in Nazi Germany, but was also an outsider from the Jewish community, and then a foreigner in India...multiple more examples. You feel sorry for him, but it’s almost just a depressing tome as he sinks further and further, and for what point.