I think this was a pretty okay book. I picked it up mainly because of its setting in India and its reference to Dubai. I wouldn't say I was disappointed, but I have almost neutral feelings towards this book.
What I liked:
+The writing style. I loved how the words and events flowed into one another, creating anticipation.
+Setting. I enjoyed the way the author talked of subjects that created havoc in India. (Still, do) These include divorce, motherhood, arranged marriage, and of course, inter-caste marriages. I feel the setting of the book in that era was used to its full.
+Description and details. The first chapter of the book is a very detailed, but interesting description of childbirth in India, in those times, and after reading that, I was hooked.
+Women. I greatly admired the women in this story, in particular, Amma, Ammoomma, and Shailaja's teacher. Their support for Lakshmi and the way they stood with her against all odds was relatable, and what I'd like to describe as real feminism. It is because of such women that society is much better than it used to be.
+The writing style. I loved how the words and events flowed into one another, creating anticipation.
+Setting. I enjoyed the way the author talked of subjects that created havoc in India. (Still, do) These include divorce, motherhood, arranged marriage, and of course, inter-caste marriages. I feel the setting of the book in that era was used to its full.
+Description and details. The first chapter of the book is a very detailed, but interesting description of childbirth in India, in those times, and after reading that, I was hooked.
+Women. I greatly admired the women in this story, in particular, Amma, Ammoomma, and Shailaja's teacher. Their support for Lakshmi and the way they stood with her against all odds was relatable, and what I'd like to describe as real feminism. It is because of such women that society is much better than it used to be.
What I didn't like:
-I felt the focus was more on the events than the actual characters. For most of the story, we saw Lakshmi and Hanif as victims of the narrow-minded society, unable to do much about it. The narration felt like the telling of happenings, and I wasn't connected with either of the main characters for most of the part.
-The excessive use of Malayalam in the dialogue. I am an Indian, but not from Kerala, and I don't understand the language. I understand that the author used the dialogue in such a way to make the story one of its kind and authentic, but the switch in languages played no part in my experience other than breaking the flow of my reading. Each time, I would refer to the translation in the brackets to get the context.
-I felt the focus was more on the events than the actual characters. For most of the story, we saw Lakshmi and Hanif as victims of the narrow-minded society, unable to do much about it. The narration felt like the telling of happenings, and I wasn't connected with either of the main characters for most of the part.
-The excessive use of Malayalam in the dialogue. I am an Indian, but not from Kerala, and I don't understand the language. I understand that the author used the dialogue in such a way to make the story one of its kind and authentic, but the switch in languages played no part in my experience other than breaking the flow of my reading. Each time, I would refer to the translation in the brackets to get the context.
There is a lot of good in this book, but the second point that I mentioned above greatly impacted my reading, thus my rating of 3 stars. I got a free ARC of this book from NetGalley and BooksGoSocial in exchange for an honest review.
Rating- 3/5
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