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A God in Every Stone

Kamila Shamsie

Start date: March 1, 2015

Finish date: May 31, 2015

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Jun 24, 2014 Juniper rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2015-books

2.5-stars, really.

okay, so... yeah. shamsie set herself a rather epic task with this novel and i am left feeling like she doesn't quite achieve greatness. the possibility was there but, for me, it just didn't come together well, had stylistic challenges, and left far too much until the final chapters of the story.

the novel bridges the centuries - the quest for scylax's circlet is anchored to its origins, and persia of the 5th century. but the primary action of the book takes place during the yea 2.5-stars, really.

okay, so... yeah. shamsie set herself a rather epic task with this novel and i am left feeling like she doesn't quite achieve greatness. the possibility was there but, for me, it just didn't come together well, had stylistic challenges, and left far too much until the final chapters of the story.

the novel bridges the centuries - the quest for scylax's circlet is anchored to its origins, and persia of the 5th century. but the primary action of the book takes place during the years 1914 through 1930. from the start of WWI, the involvement of the 40th pathans fighting for britain (on the battlefield at ypres), hospitals in london and brighton where doctors and VAD nurses care for the wounded, through to the british massacre on the street of the storytellers in peshawar, and the fight for indian independence, shamsie fits a lot into her 315 page novel.
there are three main characters:

• vivian, a privileged english woman; an only child treated like a son, afforded opportunities most women didn't have. she gained an interest in archaeology, attends a dig in turkey, serves as a VAD nurse, then continues on her archaeological quest/tribute.
• qayyum gul: enlisted in the 40th pathans, and was injured at ypres.
• najeeb gul - qayyum's 12yo bother, who is taken under vivian's wing.

shamsie alternates perspectives in telling this story, and jumps around in time. she also, at one point in the novel, changes over to an epistolary style. i have no issue with any of these methods, but they created a very disjointed read for me - i didn't ever gain a rhythm with the work and the flow was quite clunky. i also was not as emotionally engaged in the book as i expected. it was all quite a detached experience for me until the last few chapters. while the style was still bumpy, the emotional charges shamsie finally revealed in her characters, so late in the book, was a bit of a relief. it's just too bad that same energy and impact was missing in the rest of the novel.

i very much appreciated the very evident research shamsie put into creating this book. and the histories and settings were fascinating. i wish i liked this more than i did. sorry!

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