The Read Around The World Book Club discussion
May 2017 Malaysia
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Chapter 7- 9
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Melanie
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Apr 26, 2017 08:47AM
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Melanie wrote: "At halfway point? How do we all feel about this book so far?"I truly enjoy this book even though these characters are getting on my last nerve!!
Appa seems to be the father who pops in now and again to discipline and then it's back to work.
Amma has given up hope that her children want to be with her. She acts ugly to them and really seems aloof most the time IMO.
Paati is such a nasty old woman that the whole bath scenario was too long for me ... push her already! But seriously - she just added flames to the fire by feeding Uma mainly, and probably the other kids too, such nasty things about their mother. ohmygosh such a scenario for disaster with her in the mix.
Chellam has a mean streak and now we learn why she has to be sent off.
Aasha just wants her big sister to pay her some attention and Uma is a spoiled brat. Telling her mother that she knows more than her ... ugh. There is no respect in this Big House. For anyone - young or old. Each seems to be on a pathway not connected with the other and the lack of compassion is strong.
Melanie wrote: "My heart was breaking for Aasha despite her telling on Chellam to protect her sister. And even with regards to the sapphire pendant. There is so much sadness there and she is sooo neglected. They a..."Yes! No wonder she envisioned seeing Paati afterward - Aasha craves affection, attention, and belonging. Very sad.
Perhaps when Amma has the tea for the ladies, it is somehow a way for her to show them that she has importance? That she too can do these functions?
oh what a disjointed family this is!Paati is an awful person who treats Chellem so badly. I don't like how she had used Uma as a tool in her fight against Amma. I think that is why Uma has become withdrawn as there is a realisation about this and also her distress her whole family is a mess.
Suresh and Sasha are not always nice, but are only children and follow what the adults do. No love in this house at all:-( I think Amma wanted Paati to fall, she had an opportunity to sit her safely down, Challem hoped shed fall too otherwise why leave her so long unattended?
excuse the corrective text. drives me mad changing spelling!
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Paati is an awful person who treats Chellem so badly. I don't like how she had used Uma as a tool in her fight against Amma. I think that is why Uma has become ..."
Awful right, everyone is just so awful.
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It's interesting that you say that, at the time I wondered if the political aside is meant to show us something about the falling apart of the family? Or just to illustrate how all of Appa's ambition have just fallen apart. In a way, it's almost as if anything he touches does not work out.
Chapter 8 was heartbreaking for me, Patti is an awful person but doesn't deserve the beatings and what not when she is vulnerable but even till the end she couldn't let go of her hate towards Amma! I feel so sad for Uma and all the kids they are so damaged from living in a nuclear house hold, poor Aasha is desperate for attention no wonder she sees ghosts! Appa annoys me, he should be more present for his family, it is like he gave up when he married Amma and she wasn't what he expected!
Chapter 10 has slightly broken me! I HATE Amma so much, she is a horrible person! Poor Uma, I felt so sorry for her and what Amma was saying, Aasha broke my heart, poor girl just wants some love and attention! I found this whole chapter subtlety devastating!
Luckily Chellam was unconscious or she would have been blamed for the pendant too. I think everyone in the family feels as the author writes on page 178- why should I feel sorry for her when she doesn't feel sorry for me? Amma is the adult in the house since Appa is absent but has such a difficult life, and never had real adult role models that she cannot even love her children. So sad to see everyone crumbling.
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I still think a lot about Aasha. :( Poor thing
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Yes that one sentence sums up everything about the story and the family
