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A review by taro4lyfer
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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? No
4.75
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens (Chai Time) has beautiful imagery, multiple points of views from diverse characters, insights into the trauma for Sri Lankan Tamil migrants, as well as a striking portrayal of the Australian landscape regarding immigrants and community.
The characters are well thought out with their own motivations, desires, and beliefs while both settings (Sri Lanka and Cinnamon Gardens) are captivatingly written.
Chai Time also won the Miles Franklin award in 2023, which is well deserved.
The only reason it isn’t 5 stars is because it is definitely the kind of book that requires content and trigger warnings, which it didn't include. Hopefully future editions will include content warnings in the book or a mention online - the online content warnings so far are user written on storygraph or AI generated based off of reviews.
The characters are well thought out with their own motivations, desires, and beliefs while both settings (Sri Lanka and Cinnamon Gardens) are captivatingly written.
Chai Time also won the Miles Franklin award in 2023, which is well deserved.
The only reason it isn’t 5 stars is because it is definitely the kind of book that requires content and trigger warnings, which it didn't include. Hopefully future editions will include content warnings in the book or a mention online - the online content warnings so far are user written on storygraph or AI generated based off of reviews.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Torture
Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
All of the trigger warning concepts are explored through the character arcs and repeatedly brought up during the story to expand on how they affect the characters emotionally.