Tomb of Sand - Geetanjali Shree
This book is one of those that instead of telling you a story it takes you on a journey. Something that for sure has to be done correctly in order for me to like it. There may not be a lot happening specifically in the book. Ok yes there is stuff happening. But there is not much of a greater storyline? You learn and see a lot of different relations between people. There is a deep theme about the complexity of human relations and how to handle grief.
It also gives you a somewhat realistic view and look at how loosing someone might be. The loss and depression of not knowing what to do as such.
For me this story was kinda not my taste, I tend to want a greater storyline and this simply only had smaller ones. It was not my kind of taste but also not really terrible. The writing style was also kinda denser and in need for more analyzing than i wanted it to be.
I am quite disappointed with how part 3 turned out, to be honest. I was initially confident that it would be a solid 4.25-star read, but particularly the police station interrogations and the way Anwar was found through his son seemed ridiculously comical to me and lacked realism. Having experience with partition literature, I was not a fan of how the journey without a visa and the police interrogation felt preachy and cartoon-like .
Apart from these issues, I found myself confused during the parts where Ma got stuck in riots and crossed the border, although the narration became much clearer towards the end. Additionally, I am unsure if I agree that Ma's death was properly suited for a book like this; it seemed to come out of the blue.
my rating is 3.75 stars at the moment but I may change it after thinking more deeply about it.
Also my recommendation is getting the written book from the library if possible. There are several lengthy passages of philosophical monologues that can be challenging to fully comprehend when listening to an audiobook, especially when it comes to going back and forth (which can be exhausting). I personally listened to some parts of the audiobook while exercising, and I found myself having to reread the longer chapters from my tablet. I'm not suggesting that everyone will face this issue, but I thought it was worth mentioning.