Wow. It's been a while since I was a bawling mess when finished with a book, but this stunner of a story did it.

Indian-American journalist and author Thrity Umrigar crafts a searing portrait of the religious, social, and gender divides in modern-day India that will stay with you long after the novel is over.

Smita, an Indian-American journalist, travels to Mumbai to cover the story of Meena, a Hindu woman from the low caste, who is suing her brother's for the murder of her Muslim husband. Meena's brothers are charged with an "honor" killing: They burned Meena's husband Abdul alive and left Meena herself with a horribly scared face and hand. Meena now lives with her cruel mother-in-law and is raising her and Abdul's young daughter. Smita, joined by driver/high-caste Indian man Mohan, travels from Mumbai to Meena's small village, to investigate the story, while coming to terms with her own conflicted feelings about the home she left behind and its complex yet harrowing divisions in class, gender, and faith.

Smita and Meena's stories are both told, Smita's in third person and Meena's in first. This literary device is an effective way of giving each women a strong, visceral voice, while still grounding Smita's tale in observation and Meena's in emotion. Frankly, I was shocked that these divisions, which subjugate certain castes, genders, and faith communities, are still so prevalent today (Umrigar says, in an author's note, that she based this story on actual articles written by NYT's Ellen Barry in 2017). It's horrific how women, Muslims, and poor people are treated. This may be only one aspect of Indian life, but it was still shocking. Yet, as with all amazing fiction (and real life), the tragedies and injustices of Smita and Meena's lives are threaded with pockets of joy, love, and hope.

One caveat: If the atrocities of the world are affecting your mental health right now, this might not be the book for you in this moment. While powerful and unforgettable, it presents horrific events that aren't easy to read.

Still, I was enormously effected and moved by this powerful novel by a talented writer. And, once again, I was enlightened about another locale in this vast world of ours and the continued plight of women to find their place and power within its societal structure.

Highly recommend.

This expansive family drama from debut author Kirthana Ramisetti follows philanthropist & billionaire Dava Shastri, the matriarch of a big Indian-American family, on her last day alive. Dying of cancer, Dava decides to end her life on her own terms. Before that moment, she alerts the press that she has already died so she can see how she'll be eulogized. She also gathers her children, their partners, and kids at her home off of Long Island. While trapped by a storm, family secrets are revealed and Dava, an Indian woman who yearns for the clout and accomplishments of JD Rockefeller, tries to counteract the media's sensational narratives about her life by inspiring her children & grandchildren to carry on her legacy.

I listened to this audiobook and the narrator, Soneela Nankani, does a wonderful job portraying a large cast. This novel is stuffed with characters, storylines, and conflict. Dava's story, rightly, intrigues above them all...but it's so compelling, I became somewhat bored with all the other characters, who seemed very similar to one another. One other quibble--the story takes place in 2044, but I didn't really get a feel for anything "futuristic" in the details Ramisetti shares in each scene.

That said, Dava is a wonderful character and absolutely the star of this novel. Complex and distinct, she's a force of nature with a complicated core. The stereotypical narrative is reversed--she's the breadwinner and strong personality of her marriage, while her husband is the docile one who handles domestic matters. She makes no apologies for her ambition, which is refreshing. And while she is strong in her convictions, she's still relatable in how vulnerable she becomes when her life nears its end.

I enjoyed this book and the emotive narration by Nankani. Yet, the storylines were still a bit too convoluted for me to be fully invested in the secondary characters and their stories. If you're a fan of messy, dramatic, family-centered novels, you'll absolutely enjoy this debut.

Much thanks to @netgalley and @grandcentral for the #giftedcopies in exchange for an honest review.

Quade expanded a short story into this expansive and powerful novel. It shares a year-in-the-life of the Padilla family living in New Mexico. Angel, a pregnant teen, comes to live with her estranged father and grandmother. Her father, Amadeo, is an unemployed alcoholic who tries to soothe his tortured soul by portraying Jesus in a Good Friday procession, nails drilled into his hands and all. His mother, Yolanda, is keeping a secret from her family: She's dying. A host of characters swirl--and toil--around these main three as they confront the complexities of Earthly life, while trying to find the joy in it and if there's meaning behind the struggles.

Quade does an amazing job sprinkling humor and hope throughout this story that has its fair share of disappointments, anger, and tragedy. I frequently say this in my book reviews: I love stories that reflect the complexity of real, honest life. And this novel does a stellar job of that. For all the messiness and challenges of teen pregnancy, sexuality, alcoholism, societal strictures and prejudices, and cancer, there are things--real-life miracles--that shine shards of light through. Angel's maturity. Yolanda's strength. Amadeo's ability to keep dusting himself off and trying again. All are ever hopeful for love and redemption.

This book also helped me examine my own faith, which I've been struggling with the last few years. With the world so full of pain, tragedy, evil, and heartache--and the glare of the spotlight put on these things by the news and social media--it's hard to find and hold onto the higher meaning of it all. To believe there even is one. It's all so overwhelming (the last three years, especially so) that it's hard to see the miracles in the drudgery of everyday life...it's hard to hold onto hope. Quade--and the Padilla family she lovingly and vividly created--reminded me that the duality of earthly existence IS the main message of any religion or faith and that of the story of Jesus's life on Earth. With tragedy comes joy, with struggles come miracles, with hate comes love. Wounds hurt but they also heal.

Fowler's latest, a historical fiction novel that puts the spotlight on three of John Wilkes Booth's siblings, Rosalie, Asia, and Edwin, is outstanding. Mixing fact, rumor, and fiction, she renders an engrossing portrait of a troubled and complex family haunted by the divisive issues of the time, alcoholism, the supernatural, and fame.

It starts with Junius Brutus Booth, the Shakespearean actor/patriarch and alcoholic who had 10 children with Mary Ann Holmes, who was thought to be his only wife, until his first wife reveals herself & harasses the family for years. As the sibling about whom very little is factually known, Rosalie becomes a spinster/motherly type in Fowler's eyes, tormented by the early deaths of Mary Ann, Frederick & Elizabeth and especially the death Henry Bryon at 11 from smallpox. She routinely hears the voices of their ghosts chiding her from the graveyard by the family farm. Throughout a life of sewing, cooking, cleaning, and living off her siblings, Rosalie laments her lack of romantic love & independence but soothes her turmoil with alcohol. Edwin, the second oldest son, starts as the forced caretaker of his drunkard & traveling actor father, but eventually becomes the lauded theater star Junius thought he was & John had hoped he'd be. Also succumbing to the lure of alcohol, Edwin supports the family with his earnings, while trying to find his place as both an actor and son of the notorious Junius. Asia, the closest to John, was a depressed yet strong-willed writer and wife/mother who wrote a hoped-to-be-redemptive memoir about her beloved John, which was only published 50 years after her death. In it, she calls him "the world's first martyr" & tries to make sense of his Confederate sympathies & his descent into violent white supremacy.

Interspersed among these vivid character portraits, are stories about the freed slaves employed by the Booths & the political progress of Abraham Lincoln. These tidbits work as terrific bookends to the stories of the Booth siblings. Fowler is adept at both physical description of the various locales the Booths live in and the fraught emotional and familial experiences they endure. I loved her fictional spin on this fascinating family. In my mind, her goal of purposely not spotlighting John, but highlighting the siblings who fought with, lived with, and loved him is a stunning achievement of family saga/historical fiction. Highly recommend!

Rear recounts the investigation of the abduction/murder of her stepsister, Stephanie Kupchynsky, a young violin teacher in Rochester, NY. While intriguing, the narrative shifted a bit too much for my tastes, going from stories about her life with Stephanie’s father (her mom married her stepfather after Stephanie went missing), corruption in the Greece police department, comparisons b/t herself & the victim, and the many people who were considered suspects. It made it feel like there really wasn't a strong thesis or a concluding idea from the story. While intriguing, I still felt like the book relied too much on Rear centering the story about her as opposed to drawing a clearer picture of Stephanie & her tragic fate.

This meticulously researched & engrossing book shares the story of Death Row inmate Edgar Smith. Smith’s story veers off in a different direction than most due to the support—& celebrity—he gained from friendships w/Nat’l Review creator & conservative thinker William Buckley & the literary establishment (including a sexually charged penpal relationship with his book editor, Sophie Wilkins). Yes. He published a best-selling book about his crime (& who he said really did it), while on Death Row. Weinman shows how this reality assisted in the release of Smith, even after his conviction.

Weinman's heavy use of research--and larger concepts derived from that research--set this book apart from most true-crime tales. There's the way-too-frequent (and infuriating) analysis about the danger to women from violent, angry men. Yet, through this story readers get to see Smith's thoughts about women from his writing. He portrays his first victim as a woman (she was 15!) who taunted men with provocative, tight clothes and the reputation of being loose with her sexual morals. In essence, Weinman shows how Smith blamed Victoria for his behavior, not himself (sadly, again, way too common). To think so many women (including Sophie Wilkins) willingly fell under his spell is both infuriating and sad.

The unusual aspects of this, at its core, too-familiar tale, make this true-crime book a true original. Smith’s saga is especially galling considering how he was able to manipulate so many people (oh, Sophie, really?!) to get his conviction overturned—giving him the opportunity to try & kill again. If you like true-crime books but are looking for one that stands apart from the rest, this is it.

These stories were so well-written and powerful. As a whole, this collection explores the immigrant experience and how South Indian women navigate varying issues. My absolute favorite (and really one of the best short stories I've read in a while) was "Nature Exchange," which touches on the tragedy of a shooting. I sobbed at the end. Others I enjoyed were "Malliga Homes" about a widowed woman who waits for her daughter to visit from her home in America. All in all this collection does a wonderful job exploring a very specific experience--immigrating from South India--through the lens of broad issues experienced by all. I really liked this one and look forward to more from Bhanoo.

Early on in this moving novel, mother Meilin is telling son Renshu a story based on a treasured scroll of images she carries with them. The moral of the story--like so many stories, both real & fiction--is this: "Within every misfortune there is a blessing, and with every blessing the seeds of misfortune. And so it goes, until the end of time." This sentiment describes every moment of this expansive, emotional novel.

Taking place over 8 decades, this story follows Meilin and Renshu as they travel through China, Taiwan, and beyond during the Chinese/Japanese War, China's Civil War, and the mass exodus from Taiwan. Themes of tragedy, hardship, love, family, and survival abound. While paced differently in various parts of the novel, I never felt that the story lagged or went too quickly: The characters are too vivid and engaging for that. Meilin, the definition of sacrifice, wants nothing more than for her son to survive and thrive, which he does, once he goes from Taiwan to Northwestern University to study engineering. Yet he's still tortured by the tenuous nature of an immigrant man living in another country. As time moves on and events unfurl, the mother and son bond is stretched as, due to circumstances beyond their control, and the two are separated for long periods of time. But, through it all, the love and devotion these two share, doesn't waver. And, although she comes in later in the novel, Lily, Henry's daughter, is equally well-rendered. Yes, tragedy--sometimes rather ugly tragedy at that--befalls this family frequently, yet the promise of nirvana, or "peach blossom spring" as one of Meilin's stories calls it, keeps them going. As they live their lives, the moments of happiness and ease of mind come with tragedy, heartbreak, and sorrow. While fiction, this glorious novel gets that part of the human experience exactly right. Highly recommend!

I listened to parts of the audio of this one, as well. It's wonderful. Eugenia Low does a wonderful job bringing all of these vital characters to life. Thanks to @HachetteAudio for the free @Librofm copy for an honest review.