Free reviews of free books 4: The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti and The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan
book reviews
I have a feeling that these are some of the last of the good books in my haul from ALA, but I plan to dig through the pile once more and survey the wreckage.
The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
This is a young adult novel being marketed as adult fiction, but that’s no complaint. It’s a hugely fun book and I’m glad I read it. I’m sure the film rights have been snapped up already.
Kids rarely want to read about other kids their own age (most “teen” books are read by precocious 10-12 year-olds). In this case, the main character is twelve but much of the plot might be lost on children younger than that, so I’m not sure what age I’d recommend it for. Probably I am being a stuffy grownup; my favorite book when I was 12 was 1984.
Anyway, most stuffy grownups with affection towards adventure stories will enjoy this too. It’s well-written with memorable characters and a satisfying fable-like ending.
The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan
It takes a certain dedication to read a 600-page historical novel about India from a first author with no reviews or even a back-cover blurb as a guide, but I have that moral fortitude. Also if I hadn’t liked it after 20-some pages I would’ve given up. I liked it, so I finished it.
The inter-generational story is sprawling, slow at times, and messy — all in an appealing way. It opens in 1896 and marches on through the years. Without a synopsis I didn’t know how far into the future it would progress, which lent a nice tension. Although there are characters who strive for modernity — especially those appearing after the 1930s — none felt anachronistic. In fact, I spent a lot of time wanting to slap some sense into these people. But when it was over I was sad to leave them behind.