Book Review: Demi Gods by Eliza Robertson

By -
Let's get straight to the point. According to Wikipedia, The term demigod or demi-god can refer to a minor deity, a mortal or immortal who is the offspring of a god and a human being, or a figure who has attained divine status after death. To be honest, I still have no idea how is the title related to the book in any way. Though I do should commend on the beautiful cover of the book which takes us back to the era of 80s and 90s.

Blurb:
A bold debut novel reminiscent of Emma Cline's The Girls; a story of love, lust and the spaces in between, from a 'captivating' (New York Times) new voice in fiction It is 1950, and Willa's mother has a new beau. The arrival of his blue-eyed, sun-kissed sons at Willa's summer home signals the end of her safe childhood. As her entrancing older sister Joan pairs off with Kenneth, nine-year-old Willa is drawn to his strange and solitary younger brother, Patrick. Left to their own devices, Willa is swept up in Patrick's wicked games. As they grow up, their encounters become increasingly charged with sexuality and degradation. But when Willa finally tries to reverse the trajectory of their relationship, an act of desperation has devastating results. Unfolding between the wild freedoms of British Columbia and the glittering beaches of California, Demi-Gods explores a girl's attempt to forge a path of her own choosing in a world where female independence is suspect. Sensitive, playful and entirely original, Eliza Robertson is one of the most exciting new voices in contemporary literature.

What's good in the book:
  • The author aptly describes the culture and the way of living in US during the late 80s and early 90s.
  • The central character is quite well developed and the entire story which is written in first person perspective brings out quite a feel on what the character is going through
What's wrong with the book:
  • I'm still unable to comprehend what the author is trying to say with this book. The weird part is I'm unable to even fix a genre for this book.
  • Apart from the central character, none of the other characters have a character development of their own. In the initial 50 pages, it was quite confusing to place the characters and how they are related to each other.
  • The book for no reason brings any kind of closure to the characters. The characters just exist and one feels no emotional connect to any of the characters.
My take on the book:
It was quite difficult to complete the book as the book seemed to drag in the initial pages. Though the book did pick up its pace around the middle, the roller coaster ended with a drag as the reader reached the end of the book. To be honest, it wasn't the kind of story that I would go back to once again.

My Rating: 🌟🌟 1/2 out of 5

Book in Three Words: Nostalgic. Baseless. Dragging.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review : From Quetta to Delhi - A Partition Story by Reema Nanda

By Murtaza Kuwarawala -
Image
Never Judge a book by its cover nor by the name it possesses. The same case happened with me when I read the title of the name 'From Quetta to Delhi'. To be honest, I didn't take any pains to read the blurb because a story on partition is something I always wanted to read an action packed story on Partition. Sadly, the book wasn't what I had expected. So, what was the book about? What did made me read the book? Read further to know about it. Blurb: The invisible cost of the Partition of the Punjab in 1947 - besides the violence, loss of life and property - was that it destroyed the psychic equilibrium of the displaced population. This is the story of one such woman, Shakunt, who rebuilt her life but could never get over the trauma of losing her homes in Quetta and Jhang - not just the loss of a physical space but of the language, culture and ethos that it had embodied. A syncretic culture of multilingualism - Urdu, Persian and Punjabi - and of multiple identities o...
Read more

Travel : Trip of a Lifetime - II

By -
Image
The cruise.... Too excited to go on a cruise, we three musketeers reached the spot 4 hours before the departure time. Unfortunately, even the cruise was late that  night. Whatever might be the case, it was worth the wait. It was the first time in our life, we had dined, partied and slept (of course individually) on a ship. 24 hours later, we were heading towards the train station to our very next destination, “The Eternal City”, Rome. Roaming in Rome... Adventures started as soon as we reach Rome. We forgot to validate our ticket and were dead scared that we might get caught by the officials. Getting down at the railway station, we helped an old lady who was struggling to come out of the train. It took us 2 hours to reach our hotel even though we were roaming on the same street and finally arriving at a disastrous room. I regret not checking the reviews for this one. Of all the places, Rome turned out to be the cheapest and our little stint at Rome and Vatican took ...
Read more

Thoughts : Love Thy Neighbour

By -
Image
Ahhhh... Love Thy Neighbor .. Years back when I was doing my schooling, an extract of the classic novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was taught to us in our English Literature class. The extract was aptly titled "Love thy Neighbor  as it portrayed the way how Uncle Tom, the central character, lived his life spreading love everywhere. So, why am I talking about this subject right now? I believe that today technology has crippled us so much that we have forgotten what it means to be with real people than being virtual. In fact, the same even applies to me as I was unaware of my juniors living in the adjacent room of mine. A few weeks back, when I was returning back via Bangalore airport, I took some time to notice people around me. People were busy with themselves either working on their laptops or talking on phone, but there was this one small incident that caught my eye. A family of 3, father, mother and their son who must be of around 6 or 7, dining together. I...
Read more