|
Loading... The Age of Shiva: A Novelby Manil Suri
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  kepkanation | Nov 2, 2009 |  I loved this book as much as his first and thought Meera was an extremely well portrayed, especially for a male author, and look forward to further books by this author. (  ) peterwhumphreys | Jun 20, 2009 | I tried very hard to read this book since I acquired it through the early reviewer program on Librarything, but in the end I had to stop. Firstly, the book opened up with what seemed like an erotic episode that turned out to involve a mother and her baby feeding. Secondly, while the Indian history, the background, kept pulling me along, kept me involved, the overall story itself was not something that I could sink my teeth into. I just plain could not get myself to like any of the characters. In an of itself a flaw I can get around most of the time, but I just couldn't get myself to do so this time. I am sure the book could have and maybe even did become much better as it progressed, I just could not continue and put it to the side to finish later. Well, months passed, a year or so, I think. And so I have to conclude that I might restart and then finish this book later, my attempt this time is at an end. Take this knowledge in mind while using reflecting on this review. I will admit that the author is quite good at constructing memorable scenes. I still can remember, vividly, specific events that occurred in the book. MikeBriggs | Feb 10, 2009 |  CMA_Library | Jan 22, 2009 | After reading The Death of Vishnu, I was looking forward to Suri''s new novel. Sadly, I was disappointed. It's a bit difficult, in most cases, to enjoy a novel when you don't like the narrator/main character. As someone else said, Meera comes across as petty and vengeful; all of her decisions seem to come out of spite or selfishness. Her obsession with her son goes beyond dysfunctional, and yet she always feels self-righteous about her actions. Every time she begins to realize the mistakes she has been making, she vows to correct them but ends up justifying her errors and continuing her negative behaviors, telling herself it's for Ashvin's good when it's clearly to indulge herself. Perhaps if I was more knowledgeable about the characteristics of Shiva, I'd have enjoyed this more--but I really don't think so. A good novel needs more than a plotted parallel structure with links to a myth. It needs characters who are more than stereotypes and a story that engages the reader. Suri's writing is fine, although I've read many other Indian authors who give a better, more complete view of life in India. (  ) Cariola | Jun 28, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
References to this work on external resources.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book description |
|
(retrieved from Amazon Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:11:35 -0500)
The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.
Quick Links |
The Age of Shiva: A Novel by Manil Suri was made available through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Sign up to possibly get pre-publication copies of books.
Wikipedia in English
Suri still brings India to life, and the cultural and historical notes are some of the best parts of the book. Yet in the end, they serve only to point out how false his main character, Meera, really is; against a backdrop of realism, her character is a mere caricature. She never exists as a real person, just as a foil to get the author from one drama to another. (