Jyoti

Very dense at times and not at all about Subhadra.

What a poignant and vivid work of a brilliant life lived. It's sad how more biographies are not written like this.

Most of the poems were great, some were close to it, but the third section of the book was exceptional!

Some might find it a great read, although, I felt it was rather dry. Too jargon-y, distant sort of language as if an external observer is writing it.

Could have been revised and made a bit more easy to read.

Could have been a blog post

What a brilliant, nuanced story!!

Haunting and stunning. And not to mention Lahiri's vivid writing.

It's generally an engaging book, but the ending is so underwhelming and sort of felt out of place. Disappointing since most of it is brilliant.

Beautiful plot, superbly flawless writing and relatable as an immigrant.

There are beautiful descriptions of the hills, and slick observations on the caste and race, but that's the end of it. The plot fails miserably.

Starts good, but becomes repetitive. There is a reason some things should only be written as blogs or longform essays and not a whole book when there's not enough content.

Highly data driven, but hits the point. Must read if you want to know more about the poor state of Indian Sanitation and how caste is THE reason.

Except that the end felt rushed, and a few characters unexplored (and there are too many of them), there is an incredible satirical tinge in this short novel (or as the author says- a biography).

Made me giggle and made me sad.

I had high hopes because Kanshiram and his politics deserve much better literature. This book however is not chronological or engaging- seems rather repetitive or vague. Parts of text are written without a fraction of passion that Kanshiram had for his cause.

I will find something better on him to read.

Premchand has always had great characters - this one however lacks in how they are developed; especially women. There is a lot of back and forth in how characters act depending on what the scene demands which feels erratic.

The premise is basically how Hindu society reformation movements have played out in people's lives from back in the day- especially savarnas. And the book sufficiently brings out the hypocrisy.

One quirky character was the servant's who is very well written with a few scenes he is in. That is possibly because it's right in Premchand's quarter to pen people from the lower strata.

All in all it's a short read, easy to follow, fun at times, sad at others, and can be given a shot if you are Premchand's fan.

It seemed like Desai was hopping from one character to another, one timeline to another, one place to another more than her character Biju did from one NY restaurant to another. Which, if had been done better would have made it a gripping read- even with the sheer lack of a plot.
Desai is a beautiful writer in terms of descriptions and observations, but eventually the hodgepodge of her thoughts in an incredibly distracting writing style with overuse of lists as humor makes this book a boring read. Better leave it alone.

An ‘anecdotal but backed with data' book that keeps you engaged. The stories have a very regional flavor to it. Definitely recommended.

Pretty vague and weak arguments often repeated with no substance added. Redundancy of thoughts bores the reader.
There are only a few points that he seems to be making:
1. Ramayana was written for the sole purpose of glorifying north Indian Aryan kings. It's not real history either.
2. Ram and everyone else knew that Bharat should have been the king but they all accepted Ram as a king-to-be in absence of Bharat.
3. There are doubts about Sita's birth.
4. Ramayana characters are not ideal gods/humans. They have despicable qualities except Kaikayi, Ravana etc.

So on and so forth.

Despite being against Brahamanical Hinduism, the book offered little to me as a reader.

The myth of development in tribal areas with rampant naxalism is broken in the fast paced, short, and concise book.