Kalyan Ray

Kalyan Ray's No Country spans four generations, three continents, and has a cast of characters a mile long. I must say that there were so many people to keep track of that I needed a genealogy chart and wish one were included in the book. Some of the characters, like Padraig and Kush, were pretty interesting. Others, like Frankie, were not, and a little trimming of the novel might have been good there. Bibi was another character that I thought was fairly undeveloped and her fate was show more completely predictable the minute she walked into the locked factory. The Irish potato famine and the partitioning of India, with the hardships endured in these countries, were the most interesting parts of the book for me.

Except for a tiny chapter at the beginning which introduces the book with a present day murder, the story moves in chronological order, beginning with Brendan & Padraig in Ireland in the mid 1800's. During the first few chapters I kept expecting the plot to return to the murder scene, but that was left for the end of the book. It would have been much harder to craft the story, but I think if Ray had brought the reader back and forth through time and intertwined the murder investigation with the past that led up to it, No Country would have been a more compelling and satisfying read. As it was, the story did keep me engaged and I thought the prose was good, but it just dragged on too long and I was ready for the end when it finally arrived. show less

Ricorda molto Rutherfurd, anche se non ha lo stesso respiro da epopea e manca della generale positività dei suoi finali. Molto bella la parte dell'India, anche se gli eventi storici vengono giusto tratteggiati.

No Country opens in 1989, when an Indian-American couple is found murdered in their upstate New York home. Within pages, the novel shifts to introduce best friends Brendan and Padraig in 1840's Ireland. Through a series of events, Padraig is forced to leave behind his love, Brigid, and winds up headed for Calcutta on a ship chartered by the East India Trading Company. Brendan is unable to help Brigid survive the Great Famine, but manages to escape to America with Padraig's daughter in hopes show more of starting life anew. No Country traces the branches of Padraig's family as they grow outward from Ireland toward the United States and India, weaving forward through history toward the present.

From the beginning, Ray establishes the center of his story firmly in Brendan and Padraig. As children and decades tumble forward, each is connected to the pair through the questions they ask and the home they seek. Though the coincidental links between characters can feel like a stretch at times, the story is told on a grand, cinematic scale that makes anything seem possible.

The patchwork of the novel's cover is reflected in the historical events pieced together to form major marking points throughout the story, such as the Irish War of Independence and the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Yet, the strength of No Country is in the moments between those landmark events.

Continue reading at River City Reading show less

A novel sprawling over 140 years, several generations, and three continents, providing a picture of everyday life in those various settings. The complexity of the lives of the various intriguing characters kept the book fresh although I must admit I lost some threads towards the end. As the title suggests, one theme is the dislocation caused by immigration.