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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Book Review - The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar



The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar 

Mostly based in India, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta were once best friends. Due to circumstances, they had drifted apart and had not seen each other since. Thirty years later, one of them was dying in America and her last wish was to see her friends once more. Would they be able to honor her wish? I chose this ARC to review (out today!) because I wanted a good friendship story.

I liked the characters (loved their names!) - they were all flawed but seemed realistic. Though some characters were developed more than others. In fact, I thought the two male characters (husbands of two characters, who were also friends with all four girls back in the days) were the more complex characters even though they were not the main focus. I also was hoping for a more emotional read - after all, a close friend was dying! - but I thought it fell a bit flat.

One of the other themes of the book reminded me of Megan's Way by Melissa Foster - what would you do if you have a terminal disease - would you go for treatments or not?  If not, why not?

Usually I shy away from literary fiction because I do not like overly descriptive story without much action. Fortunately I did not have much problem with this book, as the writing was quite easy to read. I also liked that I learned a little bit more about modern India. 


This is definitely a character-driven novel, and more about the journey than the destination. Because of that I am quite disappointed by the ending - not quite how it ended, but where it ended. I thought there would be more to the story, or at least the book should have an epilogue to tie up some lose ends. Right now it just felt unfinished.



3.25 / 5

Note - ARC was given HarperCollins in exchange for an unbiased review.



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4 comments:

  1. I read another review for this that talked about what she learned about India as well. I love when I can learn about something through reading something enjoyable. I usually like character driven novels, though, so I may still check this one out.

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  2. @Jenny - I like it too when I can learn something from the books I read! Definitely do check it out if you like character driven novels or books about other culture. I haven't read other books by this author, but it seems like her other books have good reviews also. I am picky about my fiction books.

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  3. I went to a book signing with her this week (I posted about it) and she was lovely. I hope to read this one soon.

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  4. @stacybuckeye - I have to check out your post! (I am behind with google reader this week) Lucky you!

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