Daphne Beal

I very much enjoyed this story of the friendship between Alex, a young American woman living in Nepal, and Maya, a young Nepali woman trying to escape life in rural Nepal to build a better life in the city of Kathmandu. Things don't quite work out as planned and Alex is wracked with guilt over introducing Maya to her friend Will, a notorious womanizer who had promised to help Maya. Maya keeps disappearing for mysterious reasons and Alex vows to find her when she hears she is in Bombay. The show more sense of place is incredible and the book kept me enthralled, even if the characters were sometimes infuriating, and the book had no real resolution, just like real life. The book is full of introspection about love, friendship, the choices we all have to make, and the consequences we have to live with. A memorable book for sure. show less

From http://www.skrishnasbooks.com

My favorite aspect of In the Land of No Right Angles is the vivid imagery of both Nepal and India. I've never traveled to Nepal, but because of Daphne Beal's amazingly detailed descriptions, I can picture what it must be like. This must have taken an inordinate amount of research, especially considering the fact that Beal is neither Indian nor Nepali.

The book has an incredibly haunting quality that stems from the ghosts that the main character, Alex, must show more deal with. Her preoccupation with saving Maya from herself is an undercurrent that runs through the entire story. There is also a sense of suspense; there is much more going on behind the scenes than is apparent in the book, and Alex is aware of this. It leaves the reader with the desire to know and to understand what really is happening, what we can see glimpses of just beyond the shadows.

While I can't say I enjoyed the subject matter of the book (I'm not going to ruin it for the rest of you by telling you what it is!), it was incredibly insightful and I feel like I learned a lot about the Nepali/Indian underworld. However, as the story is told solely from Alex's point of view, the reader is only given the information she can glean from those around her.

At the end of the book, the reader is left wanting. Some of the questions posed through the book are answered, but many are not. Though this can be frustrating, the novel plays out like real life. I wish there had been a bit more of a resolution, and that some more of the earlier questions in the book had been answered, but I understand why Beal chose to end the book the way she did. It was an intriguing and mysterious book, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who has an interest in literature about the Indian subcontinent or Asia in general. show less

It reads like someone's college-aged travel journal, with the embellishment of older perspective. Icky Americans in Nepal and India. Didn't like any of the characters, including the narrator. The whole thing made me feel like I needed a shower. Not even sure why I bothered to finish it--kept hoping for deeper insight. Not so much, I'm afraid.

Well, she's definitely working something out by writing, I guess. More power to her, but I wish I hadn't read it.