Book: A Cool Dark Place
Author: Supriya Dravid
Pages: 248
Read On: Hardback
How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days
Plot Summary: Following her faux fathers suicide, Zephyrs life unravels into a shapeless tapestry woven in the ethanol-hand of her grandfather, Don an amoral, sensual, manipulative bastard whos too clever for heaven and too deranged for hell. An alcoholic extraordinaire for whom the clock always struck quarter past rum for whom it was always just about the libidinous moment, a man with imperial swagger and disco-ball eyes, the super king of a vast empire of solitude and permanent resident of his daughters wounded heart, Don's actions shatter Zefs past into fragments of warring memories. Armed with only her blade of tears, she carves her way through a quagmire of dark, atavistic forces.
A mother daughter bond formed in the afterlife, memories stored in Ziploc bags and the horrific struggle to piece together a past that's been through the shredder A Cool, Dark Place is all of these plus the unsettling realization that ones life was ghost-written by two drunks.
General Thoughts: I had heard amazing things about this book from various sources and wanted to read it for a while now. I saved it for August and I was so excited to read it, it was the first book I picked up this month.
Things I Liked:
1. The writing was absolutely lovely. Poetic and evocative and really, really good. I am looking forward to read more from the author.
2. The family in this book is kooky and zany and strange. All good things.
3. The characters in this book are very well crafted and seem like real living and breathing people.
4. The author does a fantastic job of capturing the essence of grief and loss and heartbreak in this book. The grief at the passing of a loved one is shown so well in this book.
5. Don- the grandfather, is such a wonderful yet infuriating character. Memorable and different and he is so much fun.
6. I also liked the slight mystery about Zef's 'real' father and the story behind it.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. Somewhere in the middle of the book my interest and enjoyment began to waver and I was a little bored to be honest.
2. There is quirky and there is wayyyyy to much quirk...this book fell into that category.
3. This was an overall an disappointing read for me....I guess I had high expectations and they weren't met.
4. I like books that have style and stylized writing but I don't like when style takes precedence over story. I felt this book overtime favoured style over story and I am not a fan of it.
Rating: 2/5
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