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A review by machadamia
Now You See Us by Balli Kaur Jaswal
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
For this book, I think my expectations was my downfall. Having read Erotic stories for punjabi widows, I was keen to start on this one because I thought that Jaswal would bring the same humourous and heartwarming tone to this seemingly dark tale. But I was wrong, and it is mostly dark with some humour here and there. My main gripe, however, is that there's too many threads that don't exactly weave into one single plot. The plot that was supposed to bring the three women together didn't really do so in my opinion. This book can be split into 3 separate novellas, and it would have been fine.
That said, I have to give kudos to the author for painting such a realistic tale, drawing on actual accounts and political happenings. I felt like I was seeing the world through a different perspective, one that I never was able to view with my privileged background. And it is because of this that I feel so frustrated with this book. I so want to love it and yet I cannot because I do not see how these 3 women's stories belong together in one volume. I feel like the underlying plot point of the murder mystery was overshadowed by the women's own troubles and only one of them was really trying to solve it. I felt like more could have been done to weave their backstories into the solving of the murder mystery. Such asCora's story being revealed (admittedly she did try but to me it felt forced). And honestly, Angel's story could have been resolved with or without the murder mystery. So, I really wonder what the point of her character being here is.
About the characters,I liked Cora and Angel well enough, but Donita was so unlikeable to me right from the start. I hated that she could not put aside her pride in her dressing even though it would have been more respectable. The author described her clothes as revealing and her shorts as basically showing half her butt...I don't think it's prejudice to say that this isn't appropriate dressing for work. Although I did warm up to her, I felt like this character was meant to show that domestic helpers can be spunky like Donita with a healthy sex drive and brazen, which I do agree with. While I know this character is meant to be contentious, I’m also aware that I am reading this from a privileged position so the whole time I kept asking myself, do I feel this because I feel like domestic workers should act a certain way or because I am genuinely put off regardless? I think there may be a mix of both and the act of reading this book has allowed me to confront this side of myself that I am not entirely comfortable with.
Overall, I think the author wanted to show us the hidden lives of domestic helpers and that they are real people with real needs who do so much for their employers and that domestic work should be valued, so these people should be valued. I do recognise that she did so, but I felt like the story wasn't cohesive enough.
That said, I have to give kudos to the author for painting such a realistic tale, drawing on actual accounts and political happenings. I felt like I was seeing the world through a different perspective, one that I never was able to view with my privileged background. And it is because of this that I feel so frustrated with this book. I so want to love it and yet I cannot because I do not see how these 3 women's stories belong together in one volume. I feel like the underlying plot point of the murder mystery was overshadowed by the women's own troubles and only one of them was really trying to solve it. I felt like more could have been done to weave their backstories into the solving of the murder mystery. Such as
About the characters,
Overall, I think the author wanted to show us the hidden lives of domestic helpers and that they are real people with real needs who do so much for their employers and that domestic work should be valued, so these people should be valued. I do recognise that she did so, but I felt like the story wasn't cohesive enough.