Scan barcode
A review by princzukos
Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
“I realise I’m collecting a tribe. The people I feel safest with are those who live alone in the world...” (pg. 166)
Synopsis: After leaving America and her failing marriage, Grace has returned to India to cremate her mother. Her mother leaves her with a house on the beach, and an older sister, Lucy, who she never knew she had. Grace adjusts to her new life in India with Lucy all while finding answers to why their parents fabricated her upbringing.
Likes
Synopsis: After leaving America and her failing marriage, Grace has returned to India to cremate her mother. Her mother leaves her with a house on the beach, and an older sister, Lucy, who she never knew she had. Grace adjusts to her new life in India with Lucy all while finding answers to why their parents fabricated her upbringing.
Likes
- representation: MC is half Indian (Tamil Nadu) half Italian, side character with Down syndrome
- writing style — easy to read
- MC is an ACTUAL complex character. she is not a saint but she is not evil either
- author kept a consistent theme
- parallelism between MC's past and present life
Dislikes:
- the racial slurs in this book were in Italian... and my jaw dropped when I looked up the translations
- the dad — if he has no haters I'm dead
Comments:
this book has me thinking about what my siblings and I will inherit when we’re old af. lowkey wish I had a plot of land back home that I can retire to when I'm sick and tired of being a slave to capitalism
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Abandonment
Minor: Murder and Classism
Specific CW:
MC’s father (white Italian) calls the Indian characters racial slurs in Italian, MC beat her sister with Down syndrome and has had intrusive thoughts of putting her on potentially dangerous situations, derogatory terms used for characters with disabilities, MC’s father encouraging the sister with Down syndrome to be sent to an institution, multiple animal death throughout the story, few of the animals were intentionally murdered (via poison or burning), caste violence, MC has an estranged relationship with former partner (not officially divorced but they are seeing other people — is that infidelity?), MC’s parents had a toxic relationship while she was growing up (there was an incident of an object being thrown during an argument)