Red Earth and Pouring Rain

I tried, I really tried. It's so long and full of petty cruelty, from a person shooting a monkey with a BB gun to bullying to wars and culture loss via colonization. The narrative is convoluted and there are multiple frame stories and some super annoying fourth-wall-breaking commentary. I was constantly confused about why anyone was doing anything, because there's not a lot about what the characters are thinking/feeling and they just randomly do things that kind of suck? And at best people are kind of indifferent to each other? Plus I could not keep track of everything that happened and all the different characters and none of it really seemed to matter.

I truly did not like anyone in this entire book. The main characters in particular are so unlikeable and also their actions and choices are totally inconsistent throughout the book. The story gives the impression of constantly setting up something and then just shifts away, leaving you wondering what happened to that guy anyway, did anything ever come of that sub-plot, why did you spend all this time telling me this stuff and then it just fades into the background? It's as if the author wasn't even interested in his own stories or characters, just in the act of storytelling, and in proselytizing about the act of storytelling itself, which doesn't really work if you don't have a good story to tie it together. It's a Peer Gynt onion that turns out to contain nothing at all beneath all the layers of trapping, and hopes you won't notice.

There's some magical realism elements but it's mainly gods showing up to talk to people and then a few other random events that seem essentially meaningless. I don't know, the whole thing was just exhausting. It's like an Indian version of 100 Years of Solitude where a bunch of people with confusingly-similar names make opaque choices for incoherent reasons and tragedy follows everything.