I had read less than 20 pages (of this book), and right then I knew that I had a winner on my hand. I loved the poetic prose all long the book.
Is this Kundera, Coetzee, Rushdie, Ferrante, Samantha Harvey or Sara Baume? No.
But then, is this something I shall read again?. Of course. I can see myself reading it again and again through the years.
On writing, I would rate this 12/10.
On character development - I would rate this 6/10. A lot of the characters (especially from Kashmir) sound like hackneyed caricatures. We don't see really the backstory of their motivations or what stills them, and that leaves them sometimes as hollow notes coming from an exquisite flute.
As for the characters from Kashmir - I was not really rooting for anyone much as I read it....the book did not want me to root for anyone. On the other hand, the urbanites - namely the mother, the narrator (the daughter) and the father sound true - sound like ones that possess a backstory. As in, their motivations are clear as water.
Overall a strong recommend - more as a poetic read - as a great prose - than (versus) as a great story. Goose pimples - I wish I could write like her. Some of her sentences will remain with me forever.
At 448 pages brings my 2020 reading total to 2551 pages.
Images from HuffPost and Amazon
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