It’s a queer novel indeed when you get wealth and extravagance painted as idiotic waste. When you read about a protagonist who falls into a world where the very toilets have seats made of precious stone, you want to laugh. Talk about streets being paved with gold!
Poor people yearn for wealth or at least abundance—don’t they? It’s bliss not to feel your stomach bloat and cramp with hunger, to wear proper clothing for any weather instead of shivering in winter and sweating in summer, to have a proper roof over your head, learn topics that enliven your mind and enrich your thoughts, gain a livelihood based on something you love rather than a dreary way to eke out money and pay the bills, et al. This novel reverses such longing, presenting us with the seething Aina who is desperate to return to the filthy, crumbling, dangerous, poverty-stricken world from which she was unceremoniously thrust by a fleeting act of kindness. (No good deed goes unpunished, it seems.)
The ascension to a luxury-filled world separated Aina from her mother. Even if the woman was hateful, filled with anger, violence, spite and cruel words, Aina loves her with the ferocity of an only child for their parent. But how can she darken her soul enough with foul deeds when everybody in this new world is so gosh darned determined to give her anything she lays her eye on and displays mercy for any misdeed she attempts?
So, yes, this novel has an oddball premise and a twisted heroine with seemingly bizarre notions. I found myself chuckling and alternately scratching my head. This book is supposed to be based on Indian philosophy but I don’t know enough about it for it to make sense. This makes it fantasy rather than spiritual matter. But it’s corking good reading nonetheless and I’m already on fire to learn more about these mystical worlds and their fickle gateways.
Poor people yearn for wealth or at least abundance—don’t they? It’s bliss not to feel your stomach bloat and cramp with hunger, to wear proper clothing for any weather instead of shivering in winter and sweating in summer, to have a proper roof over your head, learn topics that enliven your mind and enrich your thoughts, gain a livelihood based on something you love rather than a dreary way to eke out money and pay the bills, et al. This novel reverses such longing, presenting us with the seething Aina who is desperate to return to the filthy, crumbling, dangerous, poverty-stricken world from which she was unceremoniously thrust by a fleeting act of kindness. (No good deed goes unpunished, it seems.)
The ascension to a luxury-filled world separated Aina from her mother. Even if the woman was hateful, filled with anger, violence, spite and cruel words, Aina loves her with the ferocity of an only child for their parent. But how can she darken her soul enough with foul deeds when everybody in this new world is so gosh darned determined to give her anything she lays her eye on and displays mercy for any misdeed she attempts?
So, yes, this novel has an oddball premise and a twisted heroine with seemingly bizarre notions. I found myself chuckling and alternately scratching my head. This book is supposed to be based on Indian philosophy but I don’t know enough about it for it to make sense. This makes it fantasy rather than spiritual matter. But it’s corking good reading nonetheless and I’m already on fire to learn more about these mystical worlds and their fickle gateways.