I am about half way through so I'll put out a few comments.
I had to keep a list of character names along side me for Chapters 1 and 2 so I could track of people, the names threw me a bit, now I'm okay.
I REALLY REALLY wish there was an appendix of "Indian terms" so I knew what some of these things are. I'm reading this book on my kindle and the dictionary there doesn't know them either. Words like namaaz and daal.
Chapter 7 - Maybe I'm just a detail person but it seemed to me that the tub of butter became a box, am I right? What am I missing?
Chapter 11 - "Armaaiti picked at dry skin on her face". I hope this is a detail I will need to know about later otherwise why??
Chapter 14 - FEVERED BRAIN! The brain fever in a new form.
And then in Chapter 14 - Iqbal is thinking about his scrotum!?!?! Sure.
** spoilers ** I read this on our Kindle. There were some miscellaneous pages at the end, so when I finished the last chapter, fully expecting more to the story, and my progress bar said 95%, I was just sure that there would be 1 more chapter. But no. It was Shirley all over again… 400 pages of heavy drama leading up to a lackluster ending. Gah! Ending with Amraiti’s death or at least their reunion, would have been much more satisfying for me.
That being said, I did enjoy the story – though I agree with Joy, there were some unnecessary filler lines that should be cut. The one that sticks out the most was near the end of the book, Ka talking on the phone and picking at a small pimple on her cheek. Oh, and the way Nishta’s belly jiggled over her jeans in the airport.
Through most of the book I really struggled with Iqbal. For some reason I felt like Umrigar was biased towards him because of his religion. Then I thought that maybe it was me who was judging him too harshly because of his religion, so I tried really hard to like him. After all, Nishta is a highly educated woman and if she loved him enough to stay, maybe there were some redeeming qualities there. By the last ¼ of the book I decided that no matter what religion he followed, he was just a wicked little man who controlled and abused the women in his life. What changed my mind, you ask? a) Taking Nishta’s cell phone and passport, restricting her access to money, striking her b) Having the vasectomy without discussing it with Nishta c) The explanation of his quitting the bank without discussing it with Nishta Did anyone do the same?
I just finished this afternoon. I've been meaning to post prior to this point but there were no quotes that struck me as particularly spectacular or any specific occurences that I felt the need to write about.
Like A, I was dissapointed in the ending but enjoyed the book overall. I was reading a real book and could tell as I kept getting closer to the end that there were not enough pages to get to the reunion or death so I was somewhat prepared, but still dismayed!
I liked the characters and the way the book was made to bring them back into each other's lives. There were lines and whole sections I would have dropped. At times the internal dialogue, especially or Armaiti, seemed too long, drawn out, and repetitive.
Usually, like J, I would have issues with keeping characters straight, but in this book I did not seem to have that problem. I think it was because their personalities and names were different enough from each other.
J- good job catching the tub-pot-box switch in Chapter 7. I had to go back to reread to see what you were writing about.
I think I have a little more sympathy for Iqbal than A. Especially after the last scene when Adish gets him arrested. Afterall, isn't that what he has been saying all the time? It reminds me of that song by Jewel "I was thinking it might do some good/if we robbed the cynics and took all their food/that way what they believe will have taken place".
However, that is no excuse for his treatment of Armaiti and his ignorance to her real feelings. Seriously, he thought she was happy?
I too wondered about the end and the amount of pages that were remaining. I thought FOR SURE the plane would crash on takeoff, so the ending was better than what I had predicted.
I didn't like Iqbal either. Too much oppression. Nishta was pretty much a prisoner in her own house.
I did like the use of the burqa to disquise Nishta to get her out of the house.
I would have liked a little more history about the "revolution", I am not tuned in to India's history.
This book was an emotional read for me. Had to wait and absorb the book and collect my thoughts before posting.
After spending time with and losing special people in my life from cancer I totally agree with Armaiti's decision not to have treatments. The short time gained compared to the pain of the treatments does not balance out. In fact it often can make the end even more miserable because the person is not only dealing with the illness but the side effects of the treatments. If her diagnosis had given her a longer possible time then treatments may have been worth trying, but in her case I think she made the right decision.
I have known well educated intelligent women who have been/are in abusive marriages/relationships and their behavior does not match what we tell them "you should know better". The woman often feels that she is getting what she deserves, that she is responsible for the abusive behavior. She is often an enabler by her remaining and letting it continue. This happens with wives of alcoholics and/or victims of sexual abuse. It is very difficult to get these people to see that they do not have to put up with what is happening to them. Nishta fit this in my mind. She doesn't like what Iqbal does and yet she feels sorry for him.
I am glad that Iqbal was stopped from reaching her at the airport. He was finally confronted with his abusive behavior. Even though he did not/could not accept the wrongness of what he had been doing to Nishta he needed to be stopped. Good grief, he even took her name from her. Finally someone had the guts to stop him.
joychina's comment about chapter 11.. "Armaiti picked at dry skin on her face". I re-read that part of Chapter 11 and then I did what Armaiti did - picked at my face. Guess what - I realized it is a form of nervous reaction when I hear about something that was said or done and I don't understand why someone would do or say such a thing. The author was describing Armaiti's reaction to what she heard about Iqbal not letting Nishta come to see her.
Nishta said that she nerves were making her eat more and she couldn't properly exercise because she wore the burkha. I think she also lost her incentive to look nicer because the burkha covered her up in public so it didn't matter what she looked like. No wonder she jiggled when she put on regular street clothes in the airport.
This story wrapped around a bond of friendship strong enough to help out one of their own when they saw how deeply that person needed help. We didn't find out if they were able to get together before Armaiti died but somehow that was ok.. they had bonded together to do something important and that could be as good as seeing each other.
I get the sense that when Iqbal got to tell his mother that Nishta was gone that his mother would say "Good. I never really liked or trusted that woman. She did not belong in our family. I am glad she is gone". Now she has Iqbal to herself again.
I agree with Armaiti's decision not to have treatment's as well. Honestly, I thought her daughter should have gotten over her choice much sooner rather than harping on it repeatedly. Of course, I've never been in that position myself.
I thought B's comment about Iqbal's mothers response was amusing and probably very accurate.
I don't deny that Iqbal was manipulative and controlling, but I still feel sorry for him in the airport.
I agree with Armaiti's decision not to have treatment's as well. Honestly, I thought her daughter should have gotten over her choice much sooner rather than harping on it repeatedly. Of course, I've never been in that position myself.
I thought B's comment about Iqbal's mothers response was amusing and probably very accurate.
I don't deny that Iqbal was manipulative and controlling, but I still feel sorry for him in the airport.
I understand why Melissa feels sorry for Iqbal because of the way he was treated at the airport. In his mind all he was trying to do was to prevent his wife from leaving him. And he almost succeeded. If he HAD succeeded I have to wonder how he would have treated her.
I forgot to say initially that I also agree with Amraiti's choice to decline the cancer treatments.
B, your comments were spot on - I am sure you are right about Iqbal's mother.
I felt a little bad for Iqbal in the airport. How he was detained pretty much confirmed all the years of paranoia he had about being a minority. I am sure he'll look back on it as a justification of his earlier actions (leaving the bank, etc), without rationalizing the fact that he did err by bypassing airport security.
As a reader I think the reason I sympathized with Iqbal at first as because I expected his character to reform. If you've seen the movie Chicago, you'll know that there's one thing the press can't resist: "a reformed sinner." And it's true for me too.
Harold read The World We Found this past weekend, and his comments were "It was really good and well written but the ending was terrible. There should have been 1 more chapter"
11 comments:
I am about half way through so I'll put out a few comments.
I had to keep a list of character names along side me for Chapters 1 and 2 so I could track of people, the names threw me a bit, now I'm okay.
I REALLY REALLY wish there was an appendix of "Indian terms" so I knew what some of these things are. I'm reading this book on my kindle and the dictionary there doesn't know them either. Words like namaaz and daal.
Chapter 7 - Maybe I'm just a detail person but it seemed to me that the tub of butter became a box, am I right? What am I missing?
Chapter 11 - "Armaaiti picked at dry skin on her face". I hope this is a detail I will need to know about later otherwise why??
Chapter 14 - FEVERED BRAIN! The brain fever in a new form.
And then in Chapter 14 - Iqbal is thinking about his scrotum!?!?! Sure.
J, in my experience men are almost always thinking about their scrotums. =)
** spoilers **
I read this on our Kindle. There were some miscellaneous pages at the end, so when I finished the last chapter, fully expecting more to the story, and my progress bar said 95%, I was just sure that there would be 1 more chapter. But no. It was Shirley all over again… 400 pages of heavy drama leading up to a lackluster ending. Gah! Ending with Amraiti’s death or at least their reunion, would have been much more satisfying for me.
That being said, I did enjoy the story – though I agree with Joy, there were some unnecessary filler lines that should be cut. The one that sticks out the most was near the end of the book, Ka talking on the phone and picking at a small pimple on her cheek. Oh, and the way Nishta’s belly jiggled over her jeans in the airport.
Through most of the book I really struggled with Iqbal. For some reason I felt like Umrigar was biased towards him because of his religion. Then I thought that maybe it was me who was judging him too harshly because of his religion, so I tried really hard to like him. After all, Nishta is a highly educated woman and if she loved him enough to stay, maybe there were some redeeming qualities there. By the last ¼ of the book I decided that no matter what religion he followed, he was just a wicked little man who controlled and abused the women in his life. What changed my mind, you ask?
a) Taking Nishta’s cell phone and passport, restricting her access to money, striking her
b) Having the vasectomy without discussing it with Nishta
c) The explanation of his quitting the bank without discussing it with Nishta
Did anyone do the same?
I just finished this afternoon. I've been meaning to post prior to this point but there were no quotes that struck me as particularly spectacular or any specific occurences that I felt the need to write about.
Like A, I was dissapointed in the ending but enjoyed the book overall. I was reading a real book and could tell as I kept getting closer to the end that there were not enough pages to get to the reunion or death so I was somewhat prepared, but still dismayed!
I liked the characters and the way the book was made to bring them back into each other's lives. There were lines and whole sections I would have dropped. At times the internal dialogue, especially or Armaiti, seemed too long, drawn out, and repetitive.
Usually, like J, I would have issues with keeping characters straight, but in this book I did not seem to have that problem. I think it was because their personalities and names were different enough from each other.
J- good job catching the tub-pot-box switch in Chapter 7. I had to go back to reread to see what you were writing about.
I think I have a little more sympathy for Iqbal than A. Especially after the last scene when Adish gets him arrested. Afterall, isn't that what he has been saying all the time? It reminds me of that song by Jewel "I was thinking it might do some good/if we robbed the cynics and took all their food/that way what they believe will have taken place".
However, that is no excuse for his treatment of Armaiti and his ignorance to her real feelings. Seriously, he thought she was happy?
I too wondered about the end and the amount of pages that were remaining. I thought FOR SURE the plane would crash on takeoff, so the ending was better than what I had predicted.
I didn't like Iqbal either. Too much oppression. Nishta was pretty much a prisoner in her own house.
I did like the use of the burqa to disquise Nishta to get her out of the house.
I would have liked a little more history about the "revolution", I am not tuned in to India's history.
This book was an emotional read for me. Had to wait and absorb the book and collect my thoughts before posting.
After spending time with and losing special people in my life from cancer I totally agree with Armaiti's decision not to have treatments. The short time gained compared to the pain of the treatments does not balance out. In fact it often can make the end even more miserable because the person is not only dealing with the illness but the side effects of the treatments. If her diagnosis had given her a longer possible time then treatments may have been worth trying, but in her case I think she made the right decision.
I have known well educated intelligent women who have been/are in abusive marriages/relationships and their behavior does not match what we tell them "you should know better". The woman often feels that she is getting what she deserves, that she is responsible for the abusive behavior. She is often an enabler by her remaining and letting it continue. This happens with wives of alcoholics and/or victims of sexual abuse. It is very difficult to get these people to see that they do not have to put up with what is happening to them. Nishta fit this in my mind. She doesn't like what Iqbal does and yet she feels sorry for him.
I am glad that Iqbal was stopped from reaching her at the airport. He was finally confronted with his abusive behavior. Even though he did not/could not accept the wrongness of what he had been doing to Nishta he needed to be stopped. Good grief, he even took her name
from her. Finally someone had the guts to stop him.
joychina's comment about chapter 11.. "Armaiti picked at dry skin on her face". I re-read that part of Chapter 11 and then I did what Armaiti did - picked at my face. Guess what - I realized it is a form of nervous reaction when I hear about something that was said or done and I don't understand why someone would do or say such a thing. The author was describing Armaiti's reaction to what she heard about Iqbal not letting Nishta come to see her.
Nishta said that she nerves were making her eat more and she couldn't properly exercise because she wore the burkha. I think she also lost her incentive to look nicer because the burkha covered her up in public so it didn't matter what she looked like. No wonder she jiggled when she put on regular street clothes in the airport.
This story wrapped around a bond of friendship strong enough to help out one of their own when they saw how deeply that person needed help. We didn't find out if they were able to get together before Armaiti died but somehow that was ok.. they had bonded together to do something important and that could be as good as seeing each other.
I get the sense that when Iqbal got to tell his mother that Nishta was gone that his mother would say "Good. I never really liked or trusted that woman. She did not belong in our family. I am glad she is gone". Now she has Iqbal to herself again.
I agree with Armaiti's decision not to have treatment's as well. Honestly, I thought her daughter should have gotten over her choice much sooner rather than harping on it repeatedly. Of course, I've never been in that position myself.
I thought B's comment about Iqbal's mothers response was amusing and probably very accurate.
I don't deny that Iqbal was manipulative and controlling, but I still feel sorry for him in the airport.
I agree with Armaiti's decision not to have treatment's as well. Honestly, I thought her daughter should have gotten over her choice much sooner rather than harping on it repeatedly. Of course, I've never been in that position myself.
I thought B's comment about Iqbal's mothers response was amusing and probably very accurate.
I don't deny that Iqbal was manipulative and controlling, but I still feel sorry for him in the airport.
I understand why Melissa feels sorry for Iqbal because of the way he was treated at the airport. In his mind all he was trying to do was to prevent his wife from leaving him. And he almost succeeded. If he HAD succeeded I have to wonder how he would have treated her.
I forgot to say initially that I also agree with Amraiti's choice to decline the cancer treatments.
B, your comments were spot on - I am sure you are right about Iqbal's mother.
I felt a little bad for Iqbal in the airport. How he was detained pretty much confirmed all the years of paranoia he had about being a minority. I am sure he'll look back on it as a justification of his earlier actions (leaving the bank, etc), without rationalizing the fact that he did err by bypassing airport security.
As a reader I think the reason I sympathized with Iqbal at first as because I expected his character to reform. If you've seen the movie Chicago, you'll know that there's one thing the press can't resist: "a reformed sinner." And it's true for me too.
Harold read The World We Found this past weekend, and his comments were "It was really good and well written but the ending was terrible. There should have been 1 more chapter"
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