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Dec 04, 2011

K.D. rated it:

So far, this is the Man Booker Prize winner that is most relevant to me as an Asian. Most countries in Asia were once colonies of European or American countries and their influences will forever stay no matter how many centuries have passed. Also, this is one of the most readable. Although the verses are oftentimes playful, the storytelling is concise. Almost all the characters seem to be alive and the imageries that the scenes create seem like imprints that will stay in your mind for a long tim More...

10 comments like (29 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

jess rated it:

While the writing was lovely and the theme of the conflicting Indian identities in post-colonial India and in the United States was really interesting and supported with well-developed characters... but.
I just couldn't get into it and found it like pulling teeth to get through.

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Sreevatsa rated it:

Have you ever lived a dream outside a slumber during your waking hours? This book makes it possible.I have come to realise that every Booker-winning novel follows a distinctive pattern of sorts that reveals all the instantly recognisable Booker leitmotifs that are vital to the plot: A range of emotions that both flavour and colour it. Thus, crude hilarity, raw sex, untold pain and interminable suffering,not to mention loads of scatology,form the mainstay of a typical Booker story. And the primar More...

2 comments like (12 people liked it)

Aug 20, 2011

Paul rated it:

I'm not going to say that this novel is bad

(Chorus of GR friends : Say it, go on, you know you want to...)

but it was pretty ghastly for me. It was strangled to death by a style you could describe as inane wittering, a crew of characters all of which are loveably eccentric and a plot that Ms Desai believes will take care of itself as the inane wittering puthers all over the loveable eccentrics.

So, to sum up

BAH

10 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

joanne rated it:

i have only read half of this book, so perhaps i shouldn't rate it. but i want to warn other people away from it!

the author is obviously an intelligent writer, and she has a real mastery of language. much of the writing is somberly poetic. but perhaps she pays too much attention to detail..... the story is slow.....

i read up to the part where the judge returns from england and rapes his wife after she steals his powder puff, and i threw the book down in disgust.

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5 comments like (16 people liked it)

Aug 20, 2008

Philip rated it:

The Inheritance Of Loss by Kiran Desai is a magnificent, impressive novel that ultimately is disappointing. As a process, the book is almost stunningly good. As a product, it falls short.

The book’s language, scenarios and juxtapositions are funny, threatening, vivid and tender all at the same time. The comic element, always riven through with irony, is most often to the fore, as characters grapple with a world much bigger than themselves, a world that only ever seems to admit them pa More...

1 comment like (23 people liked it)

Apr 30, 2008

Eveline rated it:

i just started this. so far it has this very "pretty" style that i find a little too precious, but we'll see.
--
okay i'm only halfway through this & still disliking the writing style (so exquisite! so ethnic!) & her way of describing all action in present-tense gerunds is driving me nuts. but mostly i felt compelled to update because i just read like the grossest depiction of sex ever:

"in a dense frustration of lust and fury -- penis uncoiling, mottled purpl More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2008

snackywombat rated it:

With so much incredible praise riding on this book, I really expected more of it. So basically, I'm deducting points because I was disappointed by the build-up--I mean, the NBCC and Man Booker Prize? I guess that's not entirely fair though. Standing on its own, The Inheritance of Loss gives exactly what it promises. It describes the barren lives of characters that have been robbed of love or dignity or some necessary emotion in life, all juxtaposed against the twin backgrounds of an incredibly l More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Animesh rated it:

I come away with a lot better impression than that which I had upon reading the first 30 or so pages. It is a mature writing, with insight, sophistication, and a sense of the grandly tragic.

The author weaves a series of parallel stories--imageries--about some very different lives, each quixotic, each distinguished with a color of it own. All except one has only one thing in common--they are all cultural implants, all dancing in their separate destinies, spinning towards their fate More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

Kat rated it:

This novel by Kiran Desai takes place largely in a Himalayan and Bengali corner of India, near to Nepal and Bhutan, inhabited by many people of many ethnicities. I can't help pondering what a different reading experience it must be for people well acquainted with the cultures portrayed there than for those, like myself, for whom it was a fascinating introduction to a particular time and place. While in the early stages of reading this novel I was inclined to view it as belonging--from my perspec More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2009

Nicole rated it:

Another Mann Booker prize winner this time from India. The first, and perhaps longest, lesson of the book is a new, to me, kind of poverty - inherited. After that, we see a pattern of life of many people in India and how the least of them are treated, and how they treat each other including when the lucky few (in their eyes) get to the US. One fascinating insight is the Hindu attitude to Islam - that Islam is so strict and so counterintuitive to human behavior that no one actually follows it. Th More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2008

Pamela rated it:

I heard about this book when it came out in 2006. It got rave reviews from NY Times and other places. Since I am always interested in books written by authors of color (especially women of color) I was very excited to read it when I finally got it from the LA Library. However, I lost interest in the main story about halfway through the book(young girl named Sai, falling in love with her tutor, Gyan, while living with her grandfather & his cook during the backdrop of the Nepali Indian movement More...

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Jun 25, 2007

Janice rated it:

I saw the author Anita Desai on CNN's show Talk Asia. She is the youngest person to ever win the Booker Prize. I really liked her answers and personality so I decided to look for it during my New York trip. I was staying with my sister Joyce who coincidentally had a copy of the novel.

The Inheritance of Loss became my subway book since Joyce and Cesar lived about a 20-30 minute subway ride from Manhattan. It was an engrossing story. There are two main plots... the story of the Jud More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2007

Marte rated it:

Ever since Kiran Desai won the Man Booker Prize in October last year, as the youngest female winner in the award’s 39 year history, I have been wanting to read it. I picked up my paperback copy from Heathrow while flying home for Christmas, but could not find the time. I admit I felt slightly apprehensive, thinking that as a Booker Prize winner it must be a difficult, challenging read.

Then the book was chosen as the March title for the SYP Oxford Book Club and I suddenly had both a v More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Schnaucl rated it:

I didn't like this book. Maybe it was an inability to empathize with another culture, but I think the more likely (I hope) explanation is that it felt like all the characters were given a very surface level treatment. There were 5 (arguably 6) characters the reader is supposed to care about but none of them are even close to being fully developed. I think it would have been a much stronger book if the author had focused on one or two characters and really developed them.

I'm also no More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 22, 2009

Marianne rated it:

It took me far too long to get to this book. Now I can't wait to get my hands on "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard". The characters are vivid and despite their sometimes disastrous flaws, deeply endearing. The Himalayan setting is invoked in lush and fragrant detail - while Harlem on the other hand is harsh, incomprehensible and pungent. The moral insight of the young author left me with plenty to think about, when eventually I extracted myself from the magic of the world she had creat

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 14, 2008

Marlon rated it:

When I finally met Salman Rushdie (!!!!) within seconds we got to talking about this book. Like Moshin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Inheritance tackles radical territory, more radical than you might think. Both novels break from the traditional immigrant novel by having the main character break from the country of adoption and return to the country of origin. Sure the act is nothing new, but the post 9/11 instability is. This is a lot more striking than you might think— the basic concep More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 18, 2008

Cher rated it:

Having read the reviews and expecting wonderful things, I was disappointed. I must say the last quarter of the book was brilliantly heartbreaking. But it took me much too long to learn to care about the characters. The choppy story and casual introduction of the characters didn't work for me, and I had to force myself to keep picking up the book. It did not flow for me. The story presents such a bleak view of the clash of the "first world" with the third world. It left no life untouche More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 09, 2010

Jana rated it:

I am being generous with this second star, and it's here because India with its English (post) colonisation is something that I can’t relate to, and something that I find interesting. But I still think this book is rather difficult to read and therefore difficult to like, I was really struggling. Desai’s characterisation is flat. She tried to do so much, plot itself is great, but I couldn’t relate, but relate at all, and it’s not because I am not an Indian so I don’t get the mentality, but becau More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2007

Mata rated it:

This is not a happy story, but she is an amazing writer and I think this book is worth the time. It's a book about that weaves together the legacies of colonialism and immigration in multiple character stories. Even the peripheral characters in the book tie into the theme. You see each character explore a sense of belonging in India, Britain, the US, and how each person creates (or fails to create) their own community in these settings. I can understand why people don't like the story, but I More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 17, 2009

Sps rated it:

The title made me procrastinate on starting this book. I didn't feel like being bogged down in tragic family saga, or a trap of postcolonial trauma.
And it was sort of both.
But I really enjoyed it anyway, with its gentleness and snarkiness, beating heart of natural beauty and little bursts of life history. It's well-peopled (you won't forget the judge, the cook, Noni and Lola, Sai, Mutt, Biju, Saeed Saeed...) and practically humid from the Kalimpong setting. Meanwhile the languag More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 24, 2009

Sarah rated it:

Lovely novel - fit my mood at the end as I flew for endless hours from India to the US for my father's funeral. It was all so pointless and sad. Life leaves us with nothing at the end.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 04, 2009

Karen rated it:

Great narration. I don't think I'd have enjoyed the book as much if I had just read it. Lovely writing. And interesting to see a first hand glimpse of modern issues in northeast India.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 08, 2008

Colin rated it:

This was a very good random-sleepyheaded-6AM-book-borrow to see me through numerous airports on my recent vaycay.

Desai's language is rich and nuanced, and I liked the way she explored complicated questions of assimilation, class, race, nationalism and family. She exposed difficult and sometimes ugly truths about human nature in a political and complicated world where history stays with us, while not rendering the characters themselves as simplistic villains or virtuous heroes. There More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 29, 2008

Sandie rated it:

The book is set in India and America, and is not as depressing as the title implies. My book group and I thought her characters could have been better developed, especially Sai. She shows a sense of humor in the book and some of her characters are endearing. We were not sure if the politics described in the book are based in a real situation or not.

I liked this book and really liked Kirin Desai's writing. She crafts beautiful prose. I now want to read something written by h More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2007

Bhuv rated it:

I finally got my hands on The Inheritance of Loss from the library after reading this author's earlier book, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard. I loved this book - I found it difficult to put down. The characters are developed well, and I thought it was wonderful how their stories were interwoven. I also loved the moves back and forth to different time periods during the book. The settings came alive to me due to the author's detailed portrayal of the house, the town, and other locations. More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 22, 2010

Benjamin rated it:

Not a bad read, although is was overall more sad than anything. Desai's writing style was engaging and kept me interested. The novel is mainly set in Kolimpang, India near Darjeeling which was new to me so it inspired me to do a bit of online info browsing. I am glad I did because it gave me a sense of how truly beautiful the area appears. The rest of the book is set in rural England or New York City. One of the major themes addressed is the complexities of immigration and identity in one's adop More...

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Feb 26, 2009

Prashant rated it:

It is very rarely that one comes across a book which touches upon big issues, in such a richly felt, detailed yet economic manner.

"The Inheritance of Loss",i am sure would be Kiran Desai's breakthrough novel. Set in Kalimpong (that beautiful town in the North East of India)in the mid 80's, this novel follows the journeys(and exiles) of its principal characters.

The retired grumpy judge, Jemubhai Patel, studied in a Victorian England, groomed by the Raj,all of whi More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2009

Judy rated it:

I needed a book for a trip and, lured by the prizes the book has won that were noted on the cover, grabbed this one in an airport bookstore. I was a little disappointed. The story is set in northern India during the 1980s as the Nepalese are beginning to struggle for their independence. The main characters include a retired judge who prefers his dog to any human being, his orphaned granddaughter who lives with him, her Nepalese tutor, the cook, and the cook's son who has immigrated to the U.S. More...

1 comment like

Jan 10, 2009

bookczuk rated it:

This is a novel that weaves different threads together to make one story. One thread is set in India near the Nepalese border, the other in New York City. The characters are ordinary folks, living in ordinary times, but are quite well depicted: orphaned Sai, living with her embittered granfather who is a retired judge, the cook (who misses his son, illegally in the US and working in various kitchens while avoiding the INS. Even the dog in the Judge's household plays a part in the story.

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