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caitlinvmcc's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
ovimstein's review
4.0
The description is perfection, the writing is gorgeous and poetic and as vast as the universe. The first story is the most poignant by far and it kind of loses traction after that, but the writing is enough to keep going — the beauty with which she describes the world feels akin to being wrapped in a warm blanket and makes me want to go to India :)
aarman1081's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn’t get into it after the first section. It tried way to hard to use by using flowery language while having a very weak plot that gets interesting at times but then leads nowhere.
The connections across time are weak and if your’re reading fast you might miss the connection. I for one had to switch to the audiobook because reading it was just so boring.
It succeeds at painting the picture of post-colonial India well, but falls flat as it moves forward in time. If it had just focused on the family at the start of the book and followed them through time it might have been much more engaging.
It touches on interesting themes like love, family, belonging, and geopolitics but again, just falls flat for me.
As much as it pains me to say, I would have DNF’d without the audiobook. I love supporting Indian authors who write about this time period by Swarup did not impress me with this work.
The connections across time are weak and if your’re reading fast you might miss the connection. I for one had to switch to the audiobook because reading it was just so boring.
It succeeds at painting the picture of post-colonial India well, but falls flat as it moves forward in time. If it had just focused on the family at the start of the book and followed them through time it might have been much more engaging.
It touches on interesting themes like love, family, belonging, and geopolitics but again, just falls flat for me.
As much as it pains me to say, I would have DNF’d without the audiobook. I love supporting Indian authors who write about this time period by Swarup did not impress me with this work.
o_harlow's review
3.0
Shubhangi Swarup’s prose and creativity is truly astounding and undeniably worthy of praise! As for the storyline itself, I struggled in parts. While there were pieces of the narrative that captivated me to my core, there were others that seemed to go right over my head, and some I was just tempted to flip past. Overall, I’d say this was a gorgeously written debut novel — just not fully for me, personally.
shiloniziolek's review
4.0
A love letter to the earth and all the creatures, stationary, mobile, and passed that have lived on it.
tally22's review
4.0
This is a beautiful book. There were spots that were hard to follow, but overall just beautiful.
lottie1803's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
izzzzzzie's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The first section was an instant 5 stars worthy of a frequent reread. Sadly the rest didn’t meet the same standards but was overall a beautiful story.