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A Thousand Times Before
A Thousand Times Before: A Novel | Asha Thanki
2 posts | 1 read | 3 to read
A heartrending family saga following three generations of women connected by a fantastic tapestry through which they inherit the experiences of those that lived before them, sweeping readers from Partition-era India to modern day New York. Ayukta is finally sitting down with her wife Nadya to respond to a question shes long avoided: Should they have a child? The decision is complicated by a secret her family has kept for centuries, one that Ayukta will be the first to share with someone outside their bloodline: the women in her family inherit a mysterious tapestry, through which each generation can experience the memories of those who came before her. Ayukta invites Nadya into this lineage, carrying her through its past. She relives her grandmother Amlas life: Once a happy child in Karachi, Amla migrates to Gujarat during Partition, witnessing violence and loss that forever shape her approach to marriage and motherhood. Amlas daughter, Arni, bears this weight in her own blood in 1974, when gender equity and urban class distinctions divide the community as a bold student movement takes hold. As Ayukta unspools these generations of womenwhole decades of love, loss, heartbreak, and revivalshe reveals the tapestrys second gift: the ability for each of these women to dramatically reshape their own worlds. Like all power, both fantastic and societal, this inheritance is more treacherous than it seems. What would it mean, to impart an impossible burden? To withhold these incredible gifts? Sweeping, deeply felt and intergenerational, A Thousand Times Before is a debut as poetic as it is propulsive, as healing as it is heartbreaking, as it examines what it means to carry our past with us and to pass it on. Rooted in a tender love story, and spun with a tremendous amount of care, this book is a rare, remarkable feat from an incredible new literary talent.
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marleed
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Slow pick. I liked every element of this book - it‘s beautifully written, the India setting, its history, the characters, the tapestry in which the magical realism (MR) aspect was captured and told. My problem was combining MR with this difficult history. I love a touch of MR added to an otherwise real world scenario but have come to realize I enjoy it more in a whimsical setting. Does that make sense?

AnnCrystal That makes perfect sense. it seems it's just easier, for many, to appreciate and believe in magical realism when the setting is light and whimsical.

I prefer almost any story with magic mixed in (I'm just wacky that way 😉).
5mo
Aimeesue Makes sense to me. Magical realism tends to feel whimsical and joyful to me and that doesn‘t usually match well with emotionally difficult stories, imo. 5mo
marleed @Aimeesue I think that‘s it. But @AnnCrystal you‘ve inspired in me a new challenge - I‘m going to make a concentrated effort to appreciate Magical realism when it‘s entwined in a story of serious subject matter. 5mo
AnnCrystal @marleed 💝💝💝. I'm so happy that you're going to give this a try. 💫😉👍💝. 5mo
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Kitta
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#BOTM July picks!

A Thousand Times Before sounds so good - intergenerational novel about three Indian women, set in India then Brooklyn. Apparently some lgbt themes so take note for #lgbt2024!

I love short stories so added Volume 0 as well.

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