Inheritance

Rating:
Summary: Disappointingly unrealistic!
Review: Forget the syntactical eccentricities that remain such even if the aim was to come over as original rather than merely ungrammatical. What is irritating to folks like me who actually grew up in India, is to know just how far removed this book is from any realistic evocation of the country. Why doesn't the author write of a place she has actually experienced, not wishes she had? I look forward to mature fiction written about what Ganesan really knows, not adolescent stuff about what she imagines she does. The book is disappointing for its outright mistakes too: For example, was Indonesia ever French? Or did she mean Indochina?

Rating:
Summary: Not that much good
Review: I feel the author doesn't know what she is talking about.A fifteen year old girl will date an American and every afternoon she will hang out in the cafe..She will talk about the books and american culture..I don't know any girl in India will be like that...especially in island...Of all these she will drink wine and beer...common give me a break!

Rating:
Summary: Overall, I praise her efforts. . .
Review: Inheritence Indira Ganesan Indira's narrative has noticeable similarities with Arundhati Roy, Ghita Mehta, etc., namely, the smells of the country which she evokes, the magical way she portrays Sonil's mother and great-uncle (it reminded me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and 100 Years of Solitude). Her frankness and accessibility to this whirlwind of an island called Pi is exceptional. "Things should be made simple, but not simpler." or so says Einstein. Ganesan employs this tactic with her alluring and inquisitive narrative voice. Her freedom of movement within the text is very pleasing as well. The events seem to take a very natural course in the story without being too predictable. The one thing that really bothered me was when Jani ended up marrying the weirdo religious guy who smokes weed and never bathes. He seemed too kooky to ever shack up with Jani, who seemed to me a very intelligent and spiritual young woman. Overall, I praise her efforts and long to smell the sweetness of jasmine, the mangoes ripe on the trees, and the aroma of spices flooding out of the kitchen. -brian morris

Rating:
Summary: Why is Ms. Ganesan so hell bent on destroying innocence?
Review: The book did not leave me asking for more. I was happy to put it down and not worry about it again. The book does not appear to be a commentary on life or society. The author's capacity to tell a story is nice and I found the book to be an easy read. I would have loved it, if the girl, Sonil, inspite of all her serious mistakes, turned out to be a wonderful Zoologist. If not any thing, that would have been a culmination of a wonderful dream of an innocent girl. Write so that I can dream about some thing wonderful. Don't tell me how screwed up we can make our lives. We have Jerry Springer for that.

Rating:
Summary: Not that much good
Review: The book, Inheritance by Indira Ganesan is a fiction novel. Sonil finds the perfect escape from her mother's lack of affection and passion, by involving herself in a scenario that is almost identical to her mother's ill-fated affair with her English father. Her affair provides Sonil with an opportunity for self-discovery and she is able to understand and eventually forgive her mother. The plot is predictable, much like a soap-opera. The author portrays India as a non-forgiving society. The impressions of India are much too negative, especially considering the author spent very little of her life there. The island, which is a haven for Sonil, provides a direct contrast to the harsh India. The title refers to her inheritance, which is actually the repetition of history throughout her life. The book is entertaining but without depth. I give it two stars.

Rating:
Summary: Inheritance
Review: The book, Inheritance by Indira Ganesan is a fiction novel. Sonil finds the perfect escape from her mother's lack of affection and passion, by involving herself in a scenario that is almost identical to her mother's ill-fated affair with her English father. Her affair provides Sonil with an opportunity for self-discovery and she is able to understand and eventually forgive her mother. The plot is predictable, much like a soap-opera. The author portrays India as a non-forgiving society. The impressions of India are much too negative, especially considering the author spent very little of her life there. The island, which is a haven for Sonil, provides a direct contrast to the harsh India. The title refers to her inheritance, which is actually the repetition of history throughout her life. The book is entertaining but without depth. I give it two stars.

Rating:
Summary: beautiful though not perfect
Review: This book has to be the worst ya fiction ever. Unrealistic. Had to give it one star because you require it.

Rating:
Summary: inheritance
Review: This book has to be the worst ya fiction ever. Unrealistic. Had to give it one star because you require it.

Rating:
Summary: Best Thing Since Vikram Chandra
Review: This book quite simply blew me away. Not only does it attest to the loss of a girl's innocence (only to be redeemed by worldly experience) but it opens the imagination to new zones untrammeled by post-colonial melancholia. What we get instead is a tour de force rite du passage that should be part of every bookshelf or classroom serious about taking Said's Orientalism to comic task.

Rating:
Summary: The cover is better than the book
Review: This story is told from the perspective of a 15-year-old Indian girl -- but it lacks the meaning and perspective a writer should bestow to make it a novel, not just a a series of events. Unlike the rich and colorful cover, the writing style is flat and trite, at times reading like the writer's journals and therapy notes, sometimes pedantic lecturing on Indian views. I didn't care about the characters, who remained flat and lifeless to me.