Prajwal Parajuly

Interesting stories but rather weedy endings, 5 March 2016

This review is from: The Gurkha's Daughter (Paperback)
The author is of Indian-Nepali parents, and these eight short stories feature people from that area. A Nepali woman evicted by the Bhutanese and forced to live in a refugee camp; the child of a Gurkha soldier, resentful at the British government's treatment of his people; an elderly couple, coming to terms with all their children having left for the opportunities of America...
I found these stories quite readable, but they seemed to tail off to nothing, rather than having a moving conclusion - the sign of a really strong short story.… (mer)

Family reunion.

I had expected to enjoy this book as I'm a great fan of Indian fiction, but unfortunately, I couldn't settle into the author's style and felt the book needed considerable editing.

Three of Chitralekha's four grandchildren are flying in from overseas to celebrate her 84th birthday; a momentous occasion in Nepalese culture. With them they bring resentments, aspirations and family history.
The elderly Chitralekha was quite a character, but she didn't seem to really like any of her grandchildren, none of them was quite good enough for her. The only person she appeared to have any affection for was her maid, Prashanti, a eunuch with an interesting story.

I was very confused about the ethnicity of the characters and had to refer to Wikipedia to establish precisely where Gangtok was situated and how it was related to Bhutan and Nepal. As a Western reader I felt this was a missed opportunity for the author to educate his readers. There was background but it needed a clearer explanation.
There were also a lot of colloquialisms that needed translation and even some unnecessary language (Kindle loc 2298 and 2300 for example).

I finished the book but I was disappointed. I didn't much like any of the characters, all of whom were unbelievably self-centred. Not a book I'd recommend in spite of the high ratings of others.
I loved the cover though :)… (mer)