This book was so captivating I read it in one day! It was like reading a season of Love Island but slightly more dystopian. Despite never having actually watched love island, it was interesting seeing the lengths the characters would go to to win meaningless things, but it felt like a good reflection on our consumption driven society.
The length of this book had it sitting on my shelves for most of the year, but as I've hit my book goal for the year, I thought I would give it a shot. There is a lot of history, characters, plots, and sub-plots, and the author does a good job tying it all together at the end, however, I do feel this book could have been shorter. I really loved the intertwining history and how it impacted the characters lives and this book gave me more insight into how different events in India shaped people's lives at the time. Some people find this novel somewhat romanticises child marriage and Christianity, which I somewhat agree with, but also I think there is definitely some counter whakaaro throughout, especially towards Christianity. I do agree there is a bit of a white saviourism vibe at times. All in all, it was an enjoyable book and I really liked it. The lack of real emotional reaction to sad scenes and length is what stopped this being a 5 ⭐ for me.