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Review: Inheritance by Indira Ganesan.


Book: Inheritance

Author: Indira Ganesan

Pages: 208

Read On: Paperback

How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days

Plot Summary: On the surface, fifteen-year-old Sonil has come to her adored grandmother's house on a small island off the coast of India to mend her shaky health. Secretly, however, she longs to find out why her mysteriously distant mother agreed to have her sent away as a child.

She spends her time studying Italian with her absentminded uncle and talking about boys and clothes with her favorite cousin until she finds the perfect escape from her mother’s rejection--a passionate affair with a young American. But the affair will have a surprising outcome, forcing Sonil to forgive her mother and to look to herself for the answers she will need in the coming years.


General Thoughts: I don't even remember when I picked this book up but it sounded very interesting. Coming of age stories when done well are always interesting and books set in summer are also enjoyable. I saved it for August and I read it one sitting more or less.

Things I Liked: 

1. I adored the writing. The descritions of the island and island life were perfectly executed.

2. Summer books are always nice, for me they always bring back memories of summer holidays when I was younger. The lazy long days and aimless meandering and trying to fill your days..oh summer days. The descriptions of summer in this book and all that Sonil gets up to made for easy and enjoyable reading.

3. Family stories are my favourite. And this family was a strange...not so normal family. A family with unique marriages and broken relationships and a family full of very interesting people.

4. There is also a slight intrigue in this book regarding Sonil's mother and why she rejected Sonil and had nothing to do with her. Though there is no BIG mystery or reveal by the end, there is a bit a mystery in the book.

5. There are quite a few very interesting and memorable characters in this book. Sonil's grandmother, her granduncle who has led this very adventurous and slightly debauched life and all of Sonil's aunts and her cousins and her half-sisters. All of the characters are well crafted.

6. The travelers in the book are also fun. Richard, Maria and later even Richard's mother were nice characters.

7. Sonil was a clever, bright and interesting main character.

8. The setting of this book, on a fictional island of Pi and the time period in which it was set, the 1980s was also very nice indeed.

9. I also really liked Jani- Sonil's cousin and her journey in the book.

10. I loved the pace of this book, I flew through it and read 1

Things I Didn't Like: 

1. I just wasn't a fan of Richard and Sonil's relationship. She is only 15 and he is 30! That is so problematic!

2. This book was very enjoyable and an engrossing read for me but I am not sure this book would work for a lot of people...if you like books where a lot happens then this is not the book for you.

3. The book ends with an epilogue of sorts and I wasn't a fan of it..it was rushed and not needed.

Rating: 3.5/5


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