Friday 9 September 2011

Review - The Obscure Logic of the Heart by Priya Basil

I was delighted to be given the opportunity of reading this book for the Transworld Book Group Reading challenge.


‘I’m part of the Transworld Book Group!’




My rating: 2 of 5 stars
jaffa's rating 2paws - he gave up long before I did and fell asleep !



Whilst studying in London, Anil and Lina meet and fall in love. Yet they come from very different backgrounds; Anil is a non-practising Sikh from a wealth Kenyan family, and Lina is a devout Muslim from a middle class family in Birmingham. Lina’s parents want her to marry a Muslim man of their choosing and as a result Anil and Lina are destined to keep their love secret, as predictably fate conspires against them. Theoretically good, the novel encompasses a whole range of conflict, not just the frustrations encountered by the star crossed lovers, but also the effect that post 9/11 had on the world’s larger arena.


The book’s stunning cover and the promise of a 21st century Romeo and Juliet sold the story to me. I so wanted to love this book, but struggled with it from the beginning, and whilst acknowledging the writer’s talent I have to say that I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I expected. I found the narrative cumbersome and quite confusing in places, and by the end of the story didn’t engage with either Anil or Lina enough to care what happened to them.


I hate being disappointed by a book, and it just proves you should never judge a book by its cover.





2 comments:

  1. Whoops, I think I chose this as one of my Transworld books and the first two were such great reads. Will compare notes when/if I get it! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi treez - I think I am in the minority not liking this one - I'll will be interested to see what you think...x

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment - Jaffareadstoo appreciates your interest.