Rating: 
Summary: * I WONT BE ABLE TO DO IT JUSTICE *
Review: I am NOT a writer so bear with my lack of talent when it comes to wriiting reviews, I wont be able to do the book justice that it deserves.
Take it for granted that, if you buy this book, you should only begin it when you have an available sick day coming..... youll be up all night reading it........literally !
As the editors have accuratly stated, if you love Esquival, Tan, Hoffman, or Allende, ( etc etc) then youre going to ADORE Manicka. This is her first novel and beleive me, she ranks up there with the best.....
excellant read
*(multi generational novel that begins with a young teen being married off in Ceylon.........)
Rating: 
Summary: Amazingly well written
Review: I bought this book when I was in Mallorca on my vacation, and I must say this was one of the best purchases in my life. This book is about one family's faith through the generations. How the choices in your life can affect the outcome of not just your destiny but even your loved ones.
While reading this book you become an unseen family member of the characters, you share their happiness, pain, disappointment and so on.
The book is extraordinarily well written with sophisticated vocabulary and leaves no one untouched.
I don't want to reveal too much of the story, you just need to read the Rice mother to be able to understand what a great book this is!
I strongly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: One for the Malaysian
Review: I must admit, I read this book only because it was written by a Malaysian author. Otherwise, I wouldn't have picked it up at all. The subject-matter is new and inviting but Rani Manicka's writing methods are confusing. For a generational saga, it lacked the string that binds the characters, instead it feels like a box of scattered beads and the reader has to frantically attempt to string them. Being Malaysian myself, I applaud the writer's courage to dwell into the cruelty and sadomasochism of the Japanese during World War II. It needed to be said. I truly enjoyed the first generation "tapes" of Lakshmi the matriarch. It created a solid foundation. However, the second generation seemed to only create a setting for the third generation. It also seemed unrealistic that the great granddaughter Nisha in the beginning had no memories. The book abruptly ends with all her memories flooding back to her and she being so calm and collected about the true identity of her mother, her mother's suicide, and not to mention her father's infidelity. On the whole a good read. Malaysians would enjoy this one.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read
Review: The Mother figure is such a wonderful character, the book was a delight. Made me forget the horrible cold that I was nursing while reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Metaphor Mayhem
Review: The Rice Mother is not a book, it is an experience. Structured in a style reminiscent of Barbara Kingsolver's bestselling The Poisonwood Bible, Manicka takes the reader on a journey through times and cultures and contexts that, though foreign, become heartbreakingly familiar. The only drawback to this book is that Manicka's detailed family portrait, which begins before World War II and ends with the present, will make your own life and family insignificant for the duration of your read. Happily, no one will suffer for very long because the pace of her prose is such that pages turn quickly. When I put this book down, it was with a bittersweet sigh of sorrow over having to say goodbye to characters who will live in my head for a very long time to come.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking
Review: The Rice Mother is not a book, it is an experience. Structured in a style reminiscent of Barbara Kingsolver's bestselling The Poisonwood Bible, Manicka takes the reader on a journey through times and cultures and contexts that, though foreign, become heartbreakingly familiar. The only drawback to this book is that Manicka's detailed family portrait, which begins before World War II and ends with the present, will make your own life and family insignificant for the duration of your read. Happily, no one will suffer for very long because the pace of her prose is such that pages turn quickly. When I put this book down, it was with a bittersweet sigh of sorrow over having to say goodbye to characters who will live in my head for a very long time to come.
Rating:
Summary: Metaphor Mayhem
Review: This book has little to recommend it. The characters are cliched and Manicka lacks subtlety in the way she develops them. The story line is contrived and implausible from the beginning and doesn't improve.(Impoverished young girl tricked into marrying a supposedly wealthy man, taken far away before she realises the deception. Lucky for her though, despite her childhood poverty (oh yes, and the fact that she tells us on page 30 that she is trapped in the new marriage because she has no money of her own) she has actually secretly brought into the marriage a stash of precious gems she can sell off when things get really tough along life's pathway. This is just as well because things certainly do get tough -frequently). The devices Manicka uses are inept - eg, stories told retrospectively by different characters, some as children who amazingly remember more about the events than the adults who were actually involved - and their stories in places are boringly repetitive. The editors must have been having a holiday. The prose is saccharin and the metaphors are simply awful, so bad that I caught myself having a quiet chuckle in places that I think were meant to be quite tragic. By the half way mark I found it hard to keep ploughing through, but kept it up just to see if the next metaphor could out do the one before. I saw a review that compared this book to Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible. Lovers of that wonderful book, please don't be taken in. They are both books, and there any similarity ends.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: This book is excellent. I would re-read certain sections, not because I got "lost", but because the way she writes conveys so much meaning in a single sentance. Some of the parts are very sad, and I have been avoiding these kinds of stories lateley, but this was bearable. The following of the family really works.
Rating:
Summary: addictive family spread
Review: This book is the most addictive read i've encountered for a while. The reason it is spellbinding is Manicka's accurate potrayal of life in Malaya during the second world war. The details of a Ceylonese family's life in these times are surprisingly accurate. It makes me wonder how my own family lived through these times. Her description of the family members and details of family life is colourful and rings true. She writes of food like she has cooked them all.The disadvantages are that at times her writing style is stifling with repetitions and mixed metaphors. Also, I feel there isn't enough closure on each character. They are all so vividly developed at the beginning, then they all mysteriously get old and die or dissapear. Also what is with Nisha, how can anyone voluntarily remain amnesic for more then a decade- not knowing anything about her mother or her family?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Tale
Review: This book took me on an extraordinary journey through the minds and hearts of several characters. The author's writing was so descriptive and imaginitive that I could feel the characters' pain and feel it deeply. As I was reading the novel, and even now after just finishing, I feel deeply connected to the characters, and I loved hearing "their story." As the voice of the story changes to different family members, we get to see things from different perspectives, and hear new apects of the situation. Through every story prevades a love so heartbreaking it can't possibly be returned.
There is much sadness in this book, yet I wouldn't say it was a sad book. It reflects the realities of happiness and tragedy within a family.
I bought this book randomly and was pleasantly suprised. I wanted the book to never end! I'm truly looking forward to Rani Manicka's second novel.
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