I really have no idea what to rate this book. Some of it is brilliant, and then there are the aspects that I have reservations about.
Here are my thouI really have no idea what to rate this book. Some of it is brilliant, and then there are the aspects that I have reservations about.
Here are my thoughts: 1) The beauty of this book comes in its character development. Verghese creates fully fleshed out, believable, emotionally complex characters with rich inner lives. 2) Even the side characters are memorable. Verghese uses small vignettes that bring them to life. 3) Another strength of this novel is the engrossing political debate that is woven in, especially in the last third. Characters who are supposedly the "good" guys get schooled on class privilege and structural inequity. The diverted translation at the Maramon Convention is my favorite scene in the book.
However, 4) Verghese's willingness to kill off central characters (and characters which he's done such an amazing job developing) begins to feel emotionally manipulative. It feels like a cheat to get emotion from the reader - and he doesn't even need to do it because he's already created an emotionally rich landscape through the characters. 5) Likewise, killing off main characters with such regularity disrupts the narrative flow. Losing a character means introducing a new storyline which has the potential to take the reader out of the story. 6) For that reason, the book feels too long, or maybe just that it needs tightening up. 7) Which is why the way-too-rushed ending feels so jarring.
What an odd and enjoyable book! Thanks to my friend Marisol for drawing my attention to it because it hadn't been on my radar at all. This is the storWhat an odd and enjoyable book! Thanks to my friend Marisol for drawing my attention to it because it hadn't been on my radar at all. This is the story of a woman who is trying to figure out what "normal" is and, especially, how to get people to leave her alone for not conforming. People think she is weird and even violent because she takes things literally instead of figuratively. She's a little like Amelia Bedelia who spreads talcum powder over everything when told to dust and sketches the curtains when told to draw them. The narrator Keiko as a child likewise cannot understand why you wouldn't bring a dead bird home and cook it when her parents make chicken and other birds for dinner all the time. This is an entertaining and thoughtful book about the pressure that society exerts on anyone they see as different....more
This was a really interesting book about 3 Muslim women who take a trip together to visit the grave of the first British woman to make the pilgrimage This was a really interesting book about 3 Muslim women who take a trip together to visit the grave of the first British woman to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Cracks in their friendship show up right away, and these cracks are related to where they are in their personal lives. The characters are negotiating what it means to be an immigrant in Britain and how family and faith have shaped their relationships.
I loved the details about their friendship and their personal struggles. The weakness of the book comes when it moves from the very real issues and situations these women are negotiating to highly symbolic, dream-like sequences. These sequences took up way too much space and took the reader out of the story. It was unfortunate that so many of the women's issues were resolved through these sequences because the realist parts of the book were much more interesting.
Thanks to Grove and Edelweiss for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review....more
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