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Leave It to Me (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
"A very fine writer, funny, intelligent, versatile and, on occasion, unexpectedly profound."
--The Washington Post Book World
"MUKHERJEE IS FEARLESS . . . DARING AND WITTY . . . Take the wild ride with Debby DiMartino from Albany to San Francisco, from lost child to masked avenger."
--The Boston Globe
"POWERFULLY WRITTEN . . . Debby has no memory of he...more
--The Washington Post Book World
"MUKHERJEE IS FEARLESS . . . DARING AND WITTY . . . Take the wild ride with Debby DiMartino from Albany to San Francisco, from lost child to masked avenger."
--The Boston Globe
"POWERFULLY WRITTEN . . . Debby has no memory of he...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
April 27th 2011
by Ballantine Books
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It sounded very promising on the back, about an adopted girl who sets out to find her parents, a hippie mom and a Eurasian dad. There were some interesting descriptions about her trip from the Eastern US to California, driving across time zones a day at a time, and passing small towns just like her hometown that she wonders why people chose to live in. However, I didn’t like the book, didn’t like the relationships the character kept forming, and found the author interview at the back more intere...more
Being citizen of the world is crazy-making. You belong to nowhere and every where claims you. You could be Egyptian, Thai, Fijian, Spanish or Persian, and strangers with a downright rudeness will marvel at your hair, dissect your skin color, and speak brazenly about the otherness of you. Mixed race, multi-culturals must learn to straddle borders and serve as ambassador to a crowd that only pretends to be homogenized. Members of the "rainbow tribe" learn to belong to multiple worlds and...more
I absolutely did not understand this novel at all. At first I understood what was happening, there is this girl name Debby, she is adopted by an Italian Family and when she is 23 she leaves them and go to California to find her real parents. I do not understand everything after she leaves. Who does she meet, Ham, Jess, who did she kill?, how did she plan to seek revenge on her parents. I finished the book, but i do not understand everything after she left New York. Could some one please explain ...more
I like this book because when i read it, it has this magical mysterious feeling that make me want to read more. This book is about a girl named Debby and she grew up with a set or couples that is really not her parents. When she was little her parents just disappear out of no where. From the time when she is old enough to take care of herself, she set out on a quest looking for her parents. Many literally element is shown through out the whole book. I think that this book took place based on the...more
Terrible. Don't even attempt lah. I had such high hopes for this one, what with it being a New York Times notable book; having rave reviews from the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, People, New York Daily; it being inducted into the Ballantine Readers' Circle, it having a group reading guide.
Urgh, but no. Ms Mukerjee's pingpong-ing plot, here there everywhere. Erratic would sum it up. Erratic. Erratic. Erratic. If it weren't for my severe respect for the published tome, th...more
Urgh, but no. Ms Mukerjee's pingpong-ing plot, here there everywhere. Erratic would sum it up. Erratic. Erratic. Erratic. If it weren't for my severe respect for the published tome, th...more
Will see how this goes-so far, I am left with the question of what to do with a book when the narrator has very little (actually, nothing)to like about her...
Now that I am done, I am still feeling the same...meh. The book is short, and hard to put down due to the constant action-but the narrator is a budding sociopath (which makes sense given her father), and it is hard to find any sympathetic way to read this. i realize that many reviewers found this book funny in some way-I found...more
Now that I am done, I am still feeling the same...meh. The book is short, and hard to put down due to the constant action-but the narrator is a budding sociopath (which makes sense given her father), and it is hard to find any sympathetic way to read this. i realize that many reviewers found this book funny in some way-I found...more
Although it pains me to admit it, and I can hear my friend Renee laughing at me already, I picked this book up by mistake. The name Mukherjee sounded familiar and as a fan of Indian writers I thought I'd take a chance. As you probably know, but I didn't at the time, this isn't the person who wrote Emperor of all Maladies.
The book was interesting at first. But then quickly devolved into an over-stylized mess of unbelievable characters. It's as if the author, a professor, gave herself...more
The book was interesting at first. But then quickly devolved into an over-stylized mess of unbelievable characters. It's as if the author, a professor, gave herself...more
A story of a young East Indian-American woman who was adopted from India by an Italian family in New Jersey. After college she travels to San Francisco to seek the identity of her mother. Premise really grabbed me, but it turned out to be the most pointless book I have read in a long time. The characters were amoral, selfish, ugly creatures with no redeeming qualities and who generated no sympathy. Fortunately, it was a short book and an easy read- I came close to abandoning it but kept hoping i...more
Unlikeable main character being unpleasant. And... Schenectedy is not in the "Hudson Valley". I thought the Italian-American stereotypes were a bit smug. Hard to put down, though.
Violent and disturbing. I wish I had read the discussion with the author before reading this. I didn't get it
Leave It to Me by Bharati Mukherjee (1997)
A brutal book that seems to favor nature over nurture. I liked it, even so.
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I enjoyed Holder of the World by Mukherjee, but was disappointed with this one. The characters are shallow in thought and description. The author doesn't provide enough detail about any of them for the reader to understand or sympathize with any of their actions. Most of these actions, which would be pretty horrific in the real world, are presented as if they are not unusal to this society-- why??
I would not recommend this.
I would not recommend this.
This is a strange one. Overall, it was decent, and I mostly enjoyed it, but there were times when it got a bit too rambly and other times when it was just a bit too out there for my taste (okay, that's an understatement ... Loco Larry? Romeo Hawk?).
If you want to read a novel by Bharati Mukherjee, I would recommend Desirable Daughters and Jasmine over this one.
If you want to read a novel by Bharati Mukherjee, I would recommend Desirable Daughters and Jasmine over this one.
Lots of fun hippie references. For me, this was a book I couldn't put down. I like this author in general.
Funky fiction! Not one of my favorite Mukherjee books, but the plot is engaging and surprising!
1st edition, signed by author
not my fave
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| I do not understand this novel.... | 2 | 1 | Oct 09, 2011 01:26pm |
Bharati Mukherjee is an award-winning Indian born American writer. She is currently a professor in the department of English at the University of California, Berkeley.
More about Bharati Mukherjee...
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