mahamreads's Reviews (365)

gorgeous gorgeous book

*received an arc courtesy of netgalley*

The one thing that stood out for me while reading this was King's writing - it was very simple and elegant (no use of unnecessary flowery language etc) and it was quite descriptive and visual, which was a treat because I was able to imagine every single thing in my mind, just like a movie.

With regards to the characters, I do wish they had been a bit more fleshed out. Dana was an interesting character, if at times a bit meek and blind to red flags. Surprisingly, the character that annoyed me the most was not the titular mother-in-law but Sam, the groom. He seemed like such a pushover, and devoid of any thoughts of his own. 

The storyline was interesting, but a bit predictable. I saw the twist at the ending coming but I felt it was the right ending and tied things up neatly.

All in all, this was a fun read! I'd recommend picking it up when you're in a slump.

I had a bit of trouble getting into this book because I felt like it started off kind of boring, but once i crossed the 10% mark I couldn't stop listening to it. The twists and turns seemed to come out of NOWHERE and the tone was so haunting and thankfully it was fast-paced so it didnt end up getting boring. The character development was also so interesting because I found myself hating the characters I had liked at the beginning and vice versa, and the use of multiple POVs made it all the more interesting!

I don't really know what I expected going into Bombay Monsoon, but I was unfortunately disappointed. As someone living in Pakistan, I have strong ties to India and I found the depiction of my neighboring country flawed at best and problematic at worst.

The book revolves around our main character, Dan, a reporter for UNI working in Bombay during the state of Emergency called by Indira Gandhi in the 1970s. During the first half, I found Dan to be an interesting character, in fact it was nice to see him standing up for India when the brash Russell put it down, but after a certain amount of time there is a subtle shift in Dan for the worst. He is resentful when his boss says they will be working on the 4th of July and will have a holiday on the 15th of August instead. Dan insinuates that the US is better than India because they have perfected the art of democracy despite being an older nation, and his tone is condescending, which left a bad taste in the reader's mouth. Furthermore, there are little jabs as to how backward Indian society is with regards to how women, servants, and others are treated and I found myself feeling offended at times on behalf of the Indian people.

The plot of the story was interesting at first, but as Dan got increasingly worse so did the book and unfortunately I ended up disliking it. 

*I received an ARC via NetGalley*

I don't think I have the words to do this book justice. I went into it thinking it would be a story about domestic violence and a woman escaping an abusive relationship but it turned out to be so much more than that. Alethea may just be one of my favourite characters ever, with her wit but also her vulnerability and self awareness and it is bittersweet that I have to say goodbye to her. I did have some difficulty understanding the Trinidadian creole the book was written in but I feel like it lent an authenticity and intimacy to the book and made me feel so much closer to the characters. All in all, this is probably one of my favourite books of the year

I loved Silence of the Girls, but I think this book was much better. Barker's writing is almost haunting at times, and there's this sense of tension thats prevalent throughout the book and just has you on the edge of your seat for no reason. at the same time, however, there were certain lines and phrases that were just sooo lyrical and eloquent and the contrast between these and the haunting lines was just *chefs kiss*. 

With regards to the plot, there wasn't really one, as such, which I didnt mind at all. I loved that we got to spend time with these characters without a plot getting in the way and I really hope there's a third book un the series!

I have mixed feelings about this novel.
On one hand I absolutely adored the writing. It was elegant, lyrical, and so vivid that I could imagine everything perfectly. 

On the other hand, I think the characters are where it got a bit clunky. Kupersmith wrote this novel with multiple POVs and after a certain point it became difficult separating characters from one another, and I feel like most characters (apart from Winnie) were not fleshed our properly so they came across as somewhat flat.

The ending was a treat though, it was wonderful to see everything come together, but I feel like it would have could as much of a treat if it has been a little less complicated

I felt like this book lacked a background story. We don't know why the mother acted the way she did, and most of the scenes between Steven and her seemed made up because of the language etc used. Speaking of language, the writing on this was quite boring. Sure, there were some lines I liked and underlined but for the most part it was just the words cow and shit repeated over and over in different sentences.

The best word I can use to sum up this book is probably 'mediocre'. There were some parts that were interesting, but they were almost immediately followed by the most boring things ever, as if the writer had some word limit they had to fulfill. I found the ending interesting (if a little cliche) but the pages and pages after the plot twist where Laura is talking to different people about the final plot twist sort of watered down the impact of that also and near the end I couldn't wait for the book to finish