Thursday, June 03, 2010

Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai

This month's Book Club is a little different: we picked a random name and had to get that person a book that we thought they'd like without asking them (and hopefully one they've never read). I got Kiran Desai's Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (and gave Mags Wide Sargasso Sea).

Shipps did a great job picking a book for me. Desai's writing style is easy to get into, without being simple, and is full of characters that are mysterious. What I like best were the distinct voices each had and so the seamless transition from one character to another was actually kinda cool, because you could actually tell whose POV is taking over at any given point. Also, her description of things were so ... heady! It made me hungry just reading it. I really miss ripe guavas.

I can't say there was a real "plot" to the whole book. I mean, its title is exactly what it's all about - a hullabaloo in a guava orchard. But since there really wasn't a plot, it was all up to the characters to keep me interested, and they really did. I really wanted to know what would happen to them next. Without a plot, the book did seem a bit like someone had just ripped a bit of time out and splayed it for us to see. The end had to be one of the greatest un-endings ever.

I read this in really one sitting on a plane from St. John's to Toronto. if you have a three hour commute somewhere, this is nice diversion.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

It's the day before Book Club and I'm only 1/2 way through the book ... mind you, if I try really hard, I could finish reading it tonight and I will indeed try, and not because I'm enjoying it. Unfortunately, I'm not. It's boring. It feels like a Grade 9 English book and I'm very much traumatized by Highschool English books *shudderGREATEXPECTATIONSshudder*

See you then!

~M

Malecasta said...

Oh NOES! Even though it's one of my FAVE books, I encourage you to exercise your third inalienable right as a reader to not have to finsih a book... Poor Jean Rhys... compared to a windbag like Dickens and a VICTORIAN one at that... the irony is endless.