Reading 1001 discussion

I also rated it 4 stars
Snipped from My Review

There is so much “loss” passed from generation to generation … loss of culture, of ethnic identity, of opportunity, of love, of respect, of class, of illusion .... It’s not a fast or easy book to read. The plot doesn’t carry you along and it is bleak in places. Yet the writing is beautiful.

I finished this book last night and gave it 3 stars. It was well written, and the fluid vignette nature of the prose played well into conveying the dynamic state’s of Sai’s and Biju’s lives. I agree with the above too that it encompasses so many forms of loss and change in complex ways. However, I wasn’t absolutely blow away by the book in any way despite it being good.

I thought this book had so much potential, but it never lived up to my expectations. The description of the setting, both in India and the U.S., was well done and allowed me to clearly visualize the places. It helped to see the difficulty of the characters' situations.
However, I never became invested in the characters. With all that was going on in their lives, I wanted to come to care about them and root for them, but that never happened and I feel it is what kept me from truly appreciating this story. I'm also not sure that I felt the constant back and forth in time helped this book; it also sometimes seemed to make it harder for me to follow and become invested in the characters.

Reason read: Asian Author Challenge (India), 1001, ROOT, Booker (2006)
This novel has been on my shelf since 2013. I found it slow to get into so never really got it started but I've read it now. It has two points of view (life in the US as an illegal) and life in India (anglicized). It's a story that informs of the internal conflicts within India post colonization. It's the impact of the past and present on the present and future generations. It features the Gorkhaland Movement.The term Gorkhaland was coined by Subhash Ghisingh, leader of Gorkha National Liberation Front, who led a violent agitation for its formation in the 1980s.This movement culminated with the formation of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988. Topics addressed in the book include; globalization, multiculturalism, economic inequalities, fundamental and terrorist violence.

Rated 3.6