The Inheritance of Loss

The Inheritance of Loss
by Kiran Desai

The Inheritance of Loss
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Book Summary Information

Author: Kiran Desai
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-08-29
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Grove Press

Book Reviews of The Inheritance of Loss

Book Review: Prizes are just politics
Summary: 1 Stars

Heartbreaking. What's gone wrong? Winner, amomg others, of the Man Booker prize and the National Book Critics Circle award. What are these boys and girls reading? What criteria do they use to award prizes? Oh, I'm sorry. The authos is woman, young, and Indian (and cute), so she MUST be good. and her book is about the evils of colonialism and the sufferings of migrants, so it is good by decree. Sorry, I know I'm going to get lots of negative votes, but literary prizes nowadays are only politics. Aesthetic merit, in this case literary, is totally absent from judges' decisions. It is not how the book is written, it is who the author is and his or her politics or background. This lazy piece of politics is about a young Indian orphan who lives with her mean grandfather and the cook, right at the feet of the Himalayas. The other plot is about the experiences as illegal migrant to the US of the cook's son. According to the back cover, the sordid and commonplace adventures of this guy "Illuminate on the consequences of Colonialism". Really. Miss Novelist writes as if she were about to send a telegram, because she has little talent. The characters are shallow as shallow can be, and extremely unlikable and uninteresting. Ms. Desai is obsessed with phaeces, vomit, and other bodily fluids. I confess I couldn't finish it. I have no time for politically correct garbage when there are so mnay works of genius out there.

Summary of The Inheritance of Loss

Published to extraordinary acclaim, The Inheritance of Loss heralds Kiran Desai as one of our most insightful novelists. She illuminates the pain of exile and the ambiguities of postcolonialism with a tapestry of colorful characters: an embittered old judge; Sai, his sixteen-year-old orphaned granddaughter; a chatty cook; and the cook?s son, Biju, who is hopscotching from one miserable New York restaurant to another, trying to stay a step ahead of the INS. When a Nepalese insurgency in the mountains threatens Sai?s new-sprung romance with her handsome tutor, their lives descend into chaos. The cook witnesses India?s hierarchy being overturned and discarded. The judge revisits his past and his role in Sai and Biju?s intertwining lives. A story of depth and emotion, hilarity and imagination, The Inheritance of Loss tells a story of love, family, and loss.

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