from brangwinn

I have loved the past novels of Roy, but this book failed to hold my attention as _The God of Small Things_ did. I'm not sure disjointed is the right word for the way it was written, but I could never gain empathy for the main characters, although I certainly sympathized with what life must be li...

from

I stopped a bit more than halfway through, when it became clear that my favorite character would kind of fade in importance through the rest of the book. I will probably take it up again in the coming months. Roy's wit and use of language is delightful, and I am intrigued by her examination of Mu...

from alexrichman

This flattered to deceive, for me. The first half appears to be building and building towards something, only for Roy to abandon those characters for an almost entirely new story. It's all gorgeously written, and filled with darkness and righteous anger, but didn't quite hang together.

from SonoranDreamer

The path of this story was unexpected, except for the lyrical writing of Arundhati. This is a realistic look of war and power, and the effects of war and power on average people's lives as they struggle to live normal lives within war. This book was not as good as I expected, and times I wanted t...

from Cariola

It has been twenty years since Roy published a work of fiction, the Booker winning . In between, she has focused on political causes and nonfiction, also mostly political in nature. One of her pet causes is the struggle for Kashmiri independence from India, and, sadly, her enthusiasm for the caus...