The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

I just finished reading my first "new" (new for me) Booker Prize winner this evening.  The only reason I picked up this one first was because it was what happened to be available at my local library branch when I was on my way to work on Thursday.   If I'd planned this reading challenge earlier I would have been more organized and picked up Amsterdam on my way to the Netherlands and read it there.  Never mind.

So, what can I say about this book? Truthfully, I'm glad I read The Inheritance of Loss, because now it is off my list.  Although I thought the writing was solid and most of the story was pretty interesting, it is not one of my favorites.  Overall, the world outlook is pretty bleak and one feels like the characters are doomed to their fate.   I did learn a lot of things, for instance, I didn't know about the USSR recruiting Indians to be part of their space program (which competed with the USA Apollo missions), or the details about the civil unrest in northern India in the 1980s.

After I finished reading this novel, I was curious to see what other critics thought.  Many of those reviews are mixed, too.  For example there is a lot of praise for her descriptions and in-depth characterizations. On the other hand, some people found a lot unnecessary descriptions of minor characters led to a bit of confusion.  (I personally found that just made the story drag in some parts, rather than adding confusion.)  There was also high regard for her  ability to seamlessly integrate social history--colonial, post colonial, and 1980s style American capitalism--with personal memory, racism, xenophobia, and physical and emotional abuse.  She did address these subjects realistically,  too, and she made things like personal shame of poverty and shame of one's cowardly acquiesce to an unjust status quo understandable and cringeworthy at the same time.

If you have read this book, let me know what you thought about it.