The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

Well, I've broken my slump. I came to realize that the kids returning to school is going to be something that will be making me wacky anxious for a while, so it's best to just read-read-read and push through it.  So today I finished The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. I chose this book because it won the Man Booker Prize, and I tend to really like any book that wins that particular award.  It's also about India....need I say more on that?  As I read the book I was very drawn into the story, interested in another look at the history, and attached to the characters.  I didn't honestly like many of the characters, but I wanted to see where their stories were going.  This is not a book that will make you feel good because there is so much misery in each person's life, and some of their actions make it hard to feel for them.  I was rooting for a few hopeful endings, but it wasn't to be.  In a way I really liked the book for the sake of the history. It was another look at India through the eyes of a variety of social classes.  That always interests me, and so in a way I would like to give it a high rating.  It's well written and had an impact on me.  However, it was a pretty hopeless look at life in India and in America.  I'm glad that I read it, but I am not sure if I'd suggest it to a friend.

reading slump

I'm having a slump.  I know it's not my book because the bit that I have read is very good.  It is probably the kids going back to school, me looking for a job, yada yada yada.  I need a slump breaker.

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares is the story of Daniel Grey, who has the ability to remember his past lives and recognize others who he has known during those lives.  He has gone through centuries with the guilt of something that he did during his first lifetime to the woman that he comes to love in a later life. The story is told through the eyes of Daniel and Lucy.  Although Lucy does not have the ability to remember past lives, he continues to find her and try to convince her.  Daniel's vengeful brother, Joaquim, from his first life in North Africa in 541, is another character who carries the memory.

I wondered if it would be difficult to follow the story with the jumps in time (and even in the names of characters, although Daniel keeps his name throughout the story), but it all came together very well.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  It was totally engrossing from the very beginning.  I really didn't like the way that it ended without closure.  However, I found out that this is the beginning of a trilogy so I guess I can handle the non-ending.  I wish I had known this prior to picking it up because I may have waited until the next one was closer.  I hope that the next book explores more of Joaquim's backstory, possibly even through his point of view.