Comment

Nov 28, 2017uncommonreader rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
This novel was much lauded in the US (NYT Book Review, The New Yorker, etc.) but much less enthusiastically reviewed in the UK and elsewhere. Personally, I found it very disappointing. Mahajan's idea is good - to examine the aftermath of a bombing in a Delhi market in 1996 in terms of its impact on the parents of two children who were killed and on a friend who was with them and his family. The description of domestic life was good, but the characters involved with the bombing and subsequent actions were unconvincing. They seemed American. Their motivation, not religious, but not well explained, remained a mystery. Overall, Mahajan provided little context and no insight. The novel was disappointing and very American in its sensibility and focus on the individual.