I'm having a terrible hard time reading "The Inheritance of Loss". This book recently won the Man Booker Prize and I have not read or seen one negative comment about it. Everything I have seen has been on a raving wild scale.I'm about halfway through. I could never pick it up again and I wouldn't miss the fact that I didn't find out what happened. I really feel like I'm on another planet from the rest of the reading public.
Has anyone else had this reaction to this book? I was so looking forward to reading it and am bitterly disappointed.
8 comments:
I haven't read this particular book, but I've had that experience with other supposedly amazing, multi-prize winning novels.
oh, I hate that! I know just what you mean. And I say life's too short, wild reviews or no.
1) it's confusing. You never know right away who is talking. There are multiple narrators, and you don't even start to put together how they all know each other, are involved until pretty far into the book.
2) it's a little boring. I don't think the characters are very developed. I have a sense that might be coming but for now I have no idea why this person is so angry or that person is so clueless, etc. The characters just seem bland, and I don't feel connected to them in any way...
Hope that answers your question. I'm pretty new at determining what exactly it is that is bothering me. I've always been more of a don't like it/do like it kind of person, so I'm trying to analyze and that's what I come up with....
My friend is reading it at the moment for her book club and she has the same complaint. I think she finds it uninteresting. I will get specifics and let you know. But rest assured, you aren't the only one.
So weird, I just did a post on not being able to finish Didion's Year of Magical Thinking -- a book everyone and their uncle loves, but one I couldn't seem to get through or really "experience."
I started this novel and loved it and then kind of fell off the reading, sort of as if my engagement just didn't hold. It strikes me (for me personally) as a book I need to stick with, better or worse, to see if it "comes together" at some point. For me, the language is beautiful, but her narrative technique flattens out the character development. That's where I have a problem.
I absolutely agree with you Lisa! I am reading this for a group and dont like it. I got about 50 pages in and still was as confused as hell and gave up. I felt like a dork since like you said, everything you hear about it is wonderful. Now I don't feel so bad.
Kay
Hi, Lisa!
Take heart, you are not the only one struggling to enjoy the Kiran Desai book, I have spoken to many people who could not progress beyond pg.50. I personally loved the read - I loved her exhuberant style of writing, I loved all the characters (having lived in India for so many years, they all seemed so familiar to me), best of all I knew and understood the history of that particular region...I think this book can be a very confusing read for someone who has little knowledge of that area or the people because the author (and I think you made mention of this already) has not sought to do much by way of character development.
Take a look at my review if you wish - I wrote it a while back, but I hope you find it helpful.
http://lotusreads.blogspot.com/2006/11/inheritance-of-loss-by-kiran-desai.html
I'm also a 'I like it or I don't' type of person too. Put it away. Perhaps you'll pick it up again someday or perhaps you won't - definitely don't feel guilty about it. I struggle with the guilts when I set aside a book but I do think reading certain books is all about timing. Right now I've got Thirteen Moons on hold and I've no idea why. I loved it and then just set it aside as if I had finished it. Odd but I figure I'll try it again soon and see if I can finish it...or not.
Heather
www.thelibraryladder.blogspot.com
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