Buddy Read for the Museum of Failures

[Amy]

This is the Buddy Read for the Museum of Failures. No matter when you read it, please feel free to have us talk together about it here:

[Amy]

My review - 2/8/24

What an absolutely beautiful book! I loved it. This author, Thrity Umigar, has the most lyrical, beautiful, spiritual way of writing. One takes one of her phrases, often on every page, and just kind of mulls it over. It really wraps you in, and stays.

The book was shaping to be a four star read. But then in its last 100 pages, it begins to move its tale in such a painful, yet beautiful way. The depth of pain, love, resilience, growth, and forgiveness in these characters was simply amazing. It was heart stopping. I literally had to stop reading because I was weeping with all the emotions blended. This one hit me incredibly strongly on every level.

At its core, this book is about the unassailable bond between parents and children. And how the infinite and boundless capacity for love (and pain) can shape us in ways unimaginable, and to what lengths we would go to to protect children, even if it means severing that bond. It was also wrapped up in India as well, in terms of the disparity of mindset, attitude, choices, and realistic resources. The book was a stunning masterwork and one not soon forgotten. I loved it, and it will go easily into my Top Ten this year. I highly recommend it. But I do have a wondering. I wonder if this book will hit parents differently. If they will somehow resonate with the themes more strongly than others who have not or not yet had that experience shape them. As a mom and daughter, everything about this book hit me on just the right levels. I wonder whether others will have the same experience of it, and why or why not in either case. I can't wait to talk about it. I am opening the Buddy Read in PBT, and I hope others will join in when they get to it.