An entertaining if occasionally cheesy love story in the rich historical setting of strife-torn Bangladesh.
Two generations of Bengalis weather religious tensions, political upheaval, and star-crossed love in this fizzy romance.
He’s Bakhtiar Khan, a Muslim physics student in Dhaka, Bangladesh; she’s Pooja Roy Chowdhury, a Hindu philosophy student in Kolkota, India. They meet cute in a Bangkok hotel and soon realize they are soulmates. Pooja’s prejudiced grandmother hates the idea of her marrying a Muslim and starts fasting to protest the wedding but relents when Pooja counters with her own fast. The interfaith marriage goes swimmingly, and the couple moves to Florida. They both become professors, and the novel’s focus shifts to their son, Satya, a prodigy who, at age 7, speaks six languages, has a physics lab in his bedroom, and relentlessly fact-checks fairy tales. At 17, he gets his math Ph.D. and is offered a position as CEO of a tech startup, but he opts instead for a grander vision: establishing a retirement home for indigent old folks back in Bangladesh with a school attached for poor kids, all financed by produce fields and a fish pond. Satya’s meticulous plan for the project, called Shanti Kunja, goes great, and love softens his austere intellect. He friendzones his besotted assistant, Roma, but is smitten himself by fetching journalist Aratrika. Passion erupts when Satya and Aratrika are drenched in a downpour, and Aratrika demands that Satya help remove her bra—the clasp is stuck—so she can change into dry clothes. Then turmoil breaks out with the (real-life) overthrow of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a 2024 uprising led by Islamic fundamentalists, and violence threatens to undo the new relationship and sink Shanti Kunja. Mohit’s yarn is an energetic take on Bengali-style romance, reigned over by matriarchs and gal-pal matchmakers, prodded along by whirlwind courtships and happenstances that fling lovers into each other’s arms, and written in throbbing, heartfelt prose (“The moment I saw you, my soul was trapped in your eyes”). Threading through is an earnest, philosophically complex critique of organized religions— “Religion is the progression of early sorcerer’s magic,” says Satya, a stance that puts him dangerously at odds with mullahs—and a plea for tolerance and freedom of thought. The result is a somewhat contrived but still affecting story of people pushing past antagonistic faiths to find love.
An entertaining if occasionally cheesy love story in the rich historical setting of strife-torn Bangladesh.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9798344031187
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 31, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A moving, realistic look at one woman’s post-divorce family life that manages to be both poignant and funny.
A recently divorced writer juggles a chaotic full house, a struggling career, and a confusing romantic life.
Lila Kennedy thought she had the perfect family—a loving mother, a doting stepfather, two wonderful daughters, and a great husband. She even wrote a self-help book about repairing a marriage, which was published a mere two weeks before her husband left her. After her own mother’s sudden death, Lila finds herself an unexpected single mom with her health-nut stepfather, Bill, for a roommate. When her long-absent actor father, Gene, moves in, things go from crowded to chaotic. When Gene isn’t talking about his memories of starring on a Star Trek–like television show, he’s starting fights with Bill. Perhaps the worst part is that Lila’s supposed to produce a new book about the unexpected direction her life has taken. She quickly finds that writing about her real-life romantic exploits (including the kind gardener Bill hired and the sexy single dad she lusts after at school pick-up) and the actual heartbreak that upended her family is easier said than done. Moyes creates a world that is believable and funny. It’s hilarious to read about the distinct characters in Lila’s life—such as her lentil-loving stepfather and egocentric biological father—interacting with each other. There’s plenty of drama here, but none of it feels forced. It all comes from flawed people doing their best to coexist and making plenty of mistakes along the way. Moyes combines the warmth of an Annabel Monaghan rom-com with the humanity of a Catherine Newman novel, creating a story that will provoke tears and laughter.
A moving, realistic look at one woman’s post-divorce family life that manages to be both poignant and funny.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781984879325
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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