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A review by elle_reads
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay
4.0
Instagram @elle_reads
BOOK REVIEW
[The Far Field] A woman searches for a Kashmiri clothing salesman.
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WHAT I LIKED
The Far Field is Shalini's coming to terms with the reverberations of her actions. It’s a confession. I enjoyed the overtones Madhuri Vijay was able to convey using this plot structure. Her writing has a touch of Rushdie prose with Murakami’s melancholy vibes. I loved her understated yet lively images of India.
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The side characters are this text’s saviors. While I had a difficult time caring about Shalini (she’s a bit of a Salinger character - and y’all know how I feel about those), I continued my read just for the sake of understanding the people Shalini encounters. Shalini’s relationship with her mother is equally fiery and drenching. Her relationship with the merchant she adventures to find is equal parts mysterious sage and pitious wreck.
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WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Shalini just didn’t do it for me. I get that she’s supposed to be ignorant of the issues of Kashmir, but she’s just too ignorant of even the issues outside her own garden gate in Bangalore. I felt like her naiveté was more for the ease of the author explaining events to readers than additional plot meaning. There were so many written nods that Shalini inherited her mother’s fiery temper, but we never truly saw it. The author tells you Shalini grew from this experience, but never actually showed us. It was one dimensional with the unfulfilled promise of more.
//
The Far Field (by Madhuri Vijay) ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️4/5
//
BOOK REVIEW
[The Far Field] A woman searches for a Kashmiri clothing salesman.
//
WHAT I LIKED
The Far Field is Shalini's coming to terms with the reverberations of her actions. It’s a confession. I enjoyed the overtones Madhuri Vijay was able to convey using this plot structure. Her writing has a touch of Rushdie prose with Murakami’s melancholy vibes. I loved her understated yet lively images of India.
//
The side characters are this text’s saviors. While I had a difficult time caring about Shalini (she’s a bit of a Salinger character - and y’all know how I feel about those), I continued my read just for the sake of understanding the people Shalini encounters. Shalini’s relationship with her mother is equally fiery and drenching. Her relationship with the merchant she adventures to find is equal parts mysterious sage and pitious wreck.
//
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Shalini just didn’t do it for me. I get that she’s supposed to be ignorant of the issues of Kashmir, but she’s just too ignorant of even the issues outside her own garden gate in Bangalore. I felt like her naiveté was more for the ease of the author explaining events to readers than additional plot meaning. There were so many written nods that Shalini inherited her mother’s fiery temper, but we never truly saw it. The author tells you Shalini grew from this experience, but never actually showed us. It was one dimensional with the unfulfilled promise of more.
//
The Far Field (by Madhuri Vijay) ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️4/5
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