Predictable, but fun
This is the 7th book in the Comoran Strike series, and the books are getting heftier; this one is nearly 1200 pages long. No complains though, it was a fun read. This is not so much of a review, and...
Moral Ambiguity in Times of Desperation
Dystopian fiction is far from uncommon in these times, but Megha Majumdar’s second novel stands out because of its plausibility. Here are no plump suburbanites turned feral vigilantes, or fearful tribes with survivalist tyrants leading them: this novel, A Guardian...
A lot to convey, but not well executed
More than a hundred pages in, I was still struggling to remember who is who, even though there are not that many protagonists or characters. The novel is supposed to be a tale of three generations of female Puerto Ricans,...
No cliches, but imprecise
In 2010, 17 year old Hira is selected along with about 70 other Pakistani teenagers for a 10 month exchange program which will take her/them to America. Living a comfortable, upper-class life in Rawalpindi with her parents and 12 year...
Bad Decisions and Misery
9 months pregnant in Portland Oregon, with a low level job in tech and a husband who is an unsuccessful actor, Annie is in Ikea buying a crib when The Big One — the massive earthquake that is predicted to...
‘The sexiest flowers on earth’
The Orchid Thief of the title is John Laroche: a tall guy, skinny as a stick, pale-eyed, slouch-shouldered, and sharply handsome, in spite of the fact that he is missing all his front teeth. Susan Orlean wrote about him for...
A gentle heart-breaker
This is one of the gentlest books I have ever read, and it is a book which is going to break your heart, oh so gently, but it will crack your heart, probably repeatedly. For a debut novel, it is...
A House of Contemplation
I don’t think there are many novels about nuns, and that too, nuns who are not out and about in schools and hospitals, but those who retire to a nunnery to pray and work in solitude and isolation. One would...
Parallel Universes, well executed but ultimately unsatisfying
A very slim novel, a very quick read. At less than 200 pages, considering so many novels are now the size of bricks, the brevity seems part of Kitamura’s understated style. The novel is definitely cleverly handled, with a lot...
Love and reconciliation, but also bitterness and anger
There’s a small flood of books by Indian-American authors in the last few years that are specifically about the second-generation Indian-American experience. Other Indian-American novelists have spanned multiple generations (Well-Behaved Indian Women, by Saumya Dave), some simply feature Indian characters...
Twilight years of an American couple
The title contains a bit of a joke given the protagonists are 90 year old Abe Winter and 87 year old Ruth Winter, and the story is set in their twilight years. It is a bit of a love song...
A small world, poorly explored
Corie Adjmi’s novel is set in the Syrian Jewish community of America. Many readers (including myself) will not be familiar with this community, or perhaps even be aware that they exist, but there are close to a million Syrian Jews...
Loss of a beloved parent
I did not expect to read this book untouched, given it is about a brilliant, gentle, and unconventional man and father, David Sibelius, who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when his daughter, Ada, is just twelve. Having majored in mathematics, at...
Upward Mobility, still Tenuous
In the upscale East Hamptons of Long Island, a young man is at a party, snorts some coke, and then gets arrested for possession. This being his first offense, he eventually is required to attend addiction classes. The title gives...
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