Clear Light of Day

Rating:
Summary: Patience Pays Off
Review: I think Ms. Desai would capture the heart of any woman of Indian origin. The book does start of very slowly but nevertheless beckons your patience. Bimla, Tara, Raj and Mira Masi are not the most admirable characters, yet they touch you so. Despite the underlying depression, I could not help but smile!

Rating:
Summary: Patience Pays Off
Review: I think Ms. Desai would capture the heart of any woman of Indian origin. The book does start of very slowly but nevertheless beckons your patience. Bimla, Tara, Raj and Mira Masi are not the most admirable characters, yet they touch you so. Despite the underlying depression, I could not help but smile!

Rating:
Summary: Read it Today!
Review: I've read this book three times, and every time I wept for the astounding truth it forced me to face. Bim's stubborn acknowledgement is one we all must someday make; even though we should never have to. Families are the most difficult part of life, and they are the most rewarding. No other book that I have read expresses this better than Clear Light of Day (with the exception of Anna Karenina).

Rating:
Summary: The story line is slow very slow
Review: The main character is a manic depressive woman who is very annoyed with life because it is unfair, and she ended up in the wrong side of the table. So she resents everyone that happened to be lucky enough to avoid life traps and despises those who fell on them. Eventhough the book is beautifully written, the dark mood that the author impress on its main character, permeates to the reader and you become up caught in an atmosphere whereby reading is an effort, so each page develops slow, very slow.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling
Review: This was a book that kept my interest from the beginning, in large part because of the expert characterization of the central characters. It is both depressing and optimistic; the characters mostly are constrained by their personality and history, yet at the end are able to transcend themselves. It seems that in returning to what they are attempting to escape from - the family - they are finally able to become whole. Their flashes of insight and the author's analysis may seem contrived at times, but it's difficult to imagine how it could be expressed better.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling
Review: This was a book that kept my interest from the beginning, in large part because of the expert characterization of the central characters. It is both depressing and optimistic; the characters mostly are constrained by their personality and history, yet at the end are able to transcend themselves. It seems that in returning to what they are attempting to escape from - the family - they are finally able to become whole. Their flashes of insight and the author's analysis may seem contrived at times, but it's difficult to imagine how it could be expressed better.