This may take a while...

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Mini-ring to Calissa.

Kindly loaned by peggysmum at the Canberra March Meetup.

What a marathon effort! But I loved every moment of it. It was such a long, leisurely read, rather like a marriage itself.

I was immediately charmed by the poetry it contains, particularly in lieu of chapter titles. I enjoyed the way poems were scattered throughout and I especially loved Amit's acrostics.

When I first began, I thought I'd have trouble keeping all the different names and character straight. However, it was surprisingly easy, even without the family trees at the front. I also wished I knew more about Indian customs, but the further it went on the less it mattered (or perhaps the more I absorbed along the way).

For a big book, it comes in surprisingly bite-sized chunks. Nor did I ever find it boring, though the sections concentrating on politics tended to hold my interest less. I particularly enjoyed the ending, when politics and relationships intersect. Seth is very good at giving glimpses of other people's lives and the way they think.

I'm almost sad our relationship is over.

RELEASE NOTES:

Lucky enough to work next door to the book xing zone when I got the release alert. Read this book a long time ago, am looking forward to doing so again.