A Guardian and a Thief: Oprah's Book Club

We read this for my book club. Everyone loved it. Whew lord though, it’s really beautiful, but emotionally complicated and devastating. You’ll have some feels when you finish.

This author’s strength lies in her descriptive writing. I felt myself being pulled into the story every-time she described the streets of Kolkata. That being said the story itself lagged and grew repetitive in some places.In some ways I felt the emotional core of the story lacking as we moved through one disaster to another befalling the main characters. It weighed heavy and at times seemed to be building up to nothing. This could just be from the fact that the core themes of the novel are as of right depressing, but I found myself less enthralled by this story than I was by the author’s first novel despite the similar emotional strain of both plots.Moreover, the ending of this novel felt forced. The story could’ve been resolved in a multitude of ways but the chosen ending read as though the author wrote with the intent of including maximum tragedy and needed this particular end to be the final KO gut punch. I don’t regret reading of buying this novel, but i doubt it’s a novel I’ll look forward to reading again and again.

Anyone that read COLD MOUNTAIN will love the way the sentences flow in this book, so alike. I almost want to pick up the book and reread it.

Outstanding story takes place in the not so distant future when the impact of climate change makes for very difficult choices for people to make to protect those they love.

Desperately trying to survive climate crisis sometime in the near future affecting the food supply two families struggle for the basic needs with hope of escape. Boomba’s family lost their fields in the rural community outside of Calcutta and home while Ma, Dadu, the father and grandfather,and 2-year old Mishti struggle to get by with Hope to escape to America where Babu, the father is working in Michigan on mosquito borne diseases.Desperate times turns morality on end. Justification for thievery is a rolling idea when the guardians (Ma, Dadu, Boomba)of the family see a need at home must be fulfilled. The characters are quite complex. The worth of honesty taught to schoolchildren is considered a lie in these times (see rummage by Boomba on p 31). There is a wide gap between the very rich and the poor. May question what happens in society if this condition is not addressed by government policy. The whole story covers just 7 days and the loss of passports. One note is outcome is a real surprise considering everything that happens in rapid succession over this short time period but be prepared to be impacted by the conclusion emotionally.