Navigating Solutions and Darkness

Crossposted from Feminist Quill , written December 18, 2015 Title: Aftertaste Author:  Namita Devidayal Year of Publication:  2011 Series: N/A #: N/A Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 2.96 Goodreads Rating (Mine):  4 Spoiler Alert Might I start off by saying that I  cannot believe this book has a average Goodreads rating of below 3, when  SO MANY terrible books are rated 4 and 5 out of 5 stars? Plot Description:    The powerful matriarch of a wealthy business family (they sell sweets) has suffered a strke, and lies dying.  Aftertaste  is the story of how her children and her children-in-law deal with her impending death, while also fending off personal troubles of their own. In addition to metaphorical interpretations, the title also directly refers to the theme of Indian sweets that runs through the book in the form of the Todarmal's business. The one word I'd use to describe this book is "stark". Stark as in "stark realit...

Written October 5, 2015, published on Feminist Quill Title:  Cloud 9 Minus One Author:  Sangeeta Mall Year of Publication:  2009 Series:  N/A Goodreads Rating (Avg.):  2.9 Goodreads Rating (Mine):  1 !SPOILER ALERT! Plot Description:  The protagonist receives an invitation to the ten year reunion of her post-graduate batch from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and finds that she doesn’t want anything to do with it. Shruthi Narayan still carries emotional baggage from her days at IIMB, and decides to forego the invitation. Or at least, she attempts to do so, until her husband finds out about the invitation and overrules her decision. Her husband is, needless to say, one of those delightful and loving people who nonetheless appear to have great difficulty grasping the notion of respecting their spouse’s opinion regarding matters in her own life (rather than just doing whatever the hell he feels like doing). Shruthi claims her h...