Just finished this little novella with my lunch and okay, I do get the hype now - that ending is fantastic!
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It’s only a short book so I don’t want to give too much away. It’s essentially a look at how money warps. It not only changes one’s superficial situation, but affects personalities and interfamily dynamics too. We see this through one close-knit Indian family who go from having to count every rupee to basking in new-found wealth practically overnight. The entire family is dependent on one uncle, which does strange things to the way they interact with one another. The translation from Kannada was super smooth, this book is really a pleasure to read. I also loved how Shanbhag crafts the minutiae of the family’s everyday life - it’s impeccable. Very glad I picked this one up, even if it didn’t wow me from the very beginning, it definitely did by the end.