Ganga’s revelations and internal meditations are delicate and expressive, a poetical lament of the soul. This was also the December pick for my book club, Storytime with Squibbles and I didn’t think I could top my October and November picks but I think this has done it. It is divided by genres, and includes folders for writing resources, book websit This group is dedicated to connecting readers with Goodreads authors. there was too much for me to even consider this story realistic and then im completely taken out of the moment and it no longer becomes a thriller because it is no longer believable. To name them would go into spoiler territory, but the choices made by the characters literally made no sense.

With a practical understanding of contributing ideologies -- like white supremacy, meritocracy, colorblindness -- and interpersonal and systemic dynamics — like unconscious bias, and power and privilege — you will have a broadened awareness of yourselves, “others,” and our interconnected society. Lulled by lyrical descriptive prose into this dreamy, idyllic childhood, albeit with somewhat detached parents, there develops a feeling of something being not quite right, the child's perspective clouds reality, something haunts her and the reader, a sense of unease. Taking everything together, and after some time to consider, I would definitely recommend this book. John Marrs creates two protagonists that he develops with skill throughout the novel and each tells the story from their perspective.They gave her a huge pestle, the kind village women use to pound rice and forced her to smash the heads of her children. Also, for someone who hates their mother, she’s so unsuspecting when being told she has rare incurable disease. For much of our time together I wished for a better relationship than the one we have, but I’ve come to understand this is the hand I have been dealt. You could say at one level that this is about the culture , the traditions, the deep rooted views on how one should live their life , about how families should be, how marriages are arranged, how it matters how one is viewed by others, how this all is so different in America and how a teenage girl who comes to America from Sri Lanka with her troubled and grieving mother must cope .

If you are planning on reading it be warned, it is pretty emotionally taxing and it’s a read that won’t be for everyone. As we read the alternating views of Maggie and Nina, spreading over various timelines, it's hard to know who is the craziest, Maggie or Nina.It definitely got me glued to my seat nervous as hell while waiting for what’s going to happen next. My only negative comment, with regard to the captivity, is that I felt it didn't fully capture the despair inherent in the situation. I definitely prefer John Marrs's more sci-fi books like 'The One' and 'The Passengers' but this book was brilliantly written, and undoubtedly had me on edge! My eyes popped out of my sockets, my hands are shaky, actually my entire body was shaky and everybody is thinking I’m the worse break-dancer. This book is full of twists and turns, each more shocking than the one before, I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through!

We come into being in the middle of the narrative, midway through stories that have been unfolding long before us. Love some of John Marrs books - adore Elizabeth Knowelden but oh dearie dear dear dear that old lady character voice made me abandon this book in seconds - nails on a blackboard - I could not stand to listen any longer - maybe one for me to read rather than listen to. There are some moments in this time frame that are a bit long and I wanted the story to move on, but it's her story to tell, and the pace actually seemed to make the ending pop even more for me. I reach both hands up into the guava tree to catch the orbs that are swollen and about to split, a wet pink edge in their jade skins. Both books involve someone holding someone else prisoner in her home and the intricacies of the relationship between the two people.I still rank Marrs as one of my favorite authors but this book took so long to get into, I definitely wouldn’t rank it as one of his best. Nayomi Munaweera gives us a tender, frightening, thought-provoking story about a very specific girl, but the issues are universal—love, violence, fear, jealousy, otherness. The story alternates between Maggie and Nina’s perspectives, two women with many secrets and lies between them. It is forbidden to copy anything for publication elsewhere without written permission from the copyright holder. The use of a bucket, instead of a toilet, being one such element, though in this case, it is frequently cleaned.