Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Book Review - The Folded Earth - Anuradha Roy

The Folded Earth: A Novel
Title:    The Folded Earth

Author:  Anuradha Roy

Review: This book started out with a good flow but about the half-way point it slowed down.  I had to push through the pages to pick the story up again and with that the flow increased.  The lives of the people living in this remote area of India were interesting and diverse.  The sadness and loss I felt in the beginning returned at the end.  Such heartbreak and despair for one person seems unbearable. 

The relationships Maya experienced in this book were varied and yet each left its mark on her personality and life.  Friends, lovers, family, all of them made life difficult yet worth living.  I could feel Maya’s pain and loss.  She is a character I may keep around awhile.  The ending hit me hard and I have to say that I do not entirely disagree with Maya’s decision.  She had been wronged in so many ways by someone she thought loved her, one more wrong may just make a right.  I wish the book had given me a better idea of where Maya went and how her life turned out.

I enjoyed this book more than I did this authors first work, An Atlas of Impossible Longing.  If you enjoy stories of life, loss, love and finding peace, I think you will like this book.  If you enjoyed her first book then this is a must-read for you.

Publisher:  Published April 24th 2012 by FreePress

Copyright: 2012

Pages:  288

ISBN:    9781451633337

Quick Review: 3 1/2 Stars out of 5. 

Where Did I Read the Book:  Sent by the publisher for review.

Synopsis:   LONGLISTED FOR THE 2011 MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE HINDU LITERARY PRIZE FOR BEST FICTION 2011 WITH HER DEBUT NOVEL, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, Anuradha Roy’s exquisite storytelling instantly won readers’ hearts around the world, and the novel was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post and The Seattle Times. Now, Roy has returned with another masterpiece that is already earning international prize attention, an evocative and deeply moving tale of a young woman making a new life for herself amid the foothills of the Himalaya. Desperate to leave a private tragedy behind, Maya abandons herself to the rhythms of the little village, where people coexist peacefully with nature. But all is not as it seems, and she soon learns that no refuge is remote enough to keep out the modern world. When power-hungry politicians threaten her beloved mountain community, Maya finds herself caught between the life she left behind and the new home she is determined to protect. Elegiac, witty, and profound by turns, and with a tender love story at its core, The Folded Earth brims with the same genius and love of language that made An Atlas of Impossible Longing an international success and confirms Anuradha Roy as a major new literary talent.
Author Biography: Anuradha Roy was educated in Hyderabad, Calcutta and Cambridge (UK). She is an editor at Permanent Black, an independent press publishing in South Asian history, politics and culture. She lives mainly in Ranikhet, India, with her husband Rukun Advani and their dog, Biscoot.

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