The Year of the Runaways: A novel | 
so-soThe novel tells the everyday life of four Indian immigrants in Sheffield. It also deals with number of issues, such as contemporary India, Sikh community, modern day global migrations and exploatation of illegal workers. Even though I think these topics are highly interesting, there's something missing. The novel is too long, too confusing, lacking emotions...
pickThis was an excellent read but a difficult one. You‘ll have to be patient with the Indian names and the constant use of Hindi throughout. However the story of these illegal immigrants is tragically engrossing. A 2015 Booker Prize Longlisted book deserves your reading time.
#RedRoseSeptember Still highlighting books from my TBR. I own this book, although it‘s currently on loan to a friend so google image. A story about young men living in a house in Northern England , each in flight from India and in desperate search of a new life. Each hold their own stories and secrets they‘re trying to leave behind and carrying hopes & dreams for a new and brighter future. #HitTheNorth
Not feeling very #PsychoKiller today (you‘ll be glad to know!), so thought I‘d go lyrics instead.
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run awaaaay...
Looking forward to this. One day!
#marchintothe70s
so-soThis is an important book and I‘m glad to have read it and to have broadened my understanding of the situations in which folks like these characters end up. Immigrants in the UK face a lot of hardship and hatred, simply for trying to find a better life for themselves and their families back home. However it did get fairly monotonous, and many characters were pretty shitty people. Kinda wish it had just been about Randeep and Narinder. 3/5 ⭐️
She loved the view from here, especially at this time of day, when the evening-red sun dipped behind the temple and the lake became a wet pasture of liquid gold, and the whole world seemed but a reflection of His glory.
This is the last of the 10 books I had in the #makemereadit stack! This poor book didn‘t get a single vote, which I admit makes me a tiny bit worried, but it does have very strong recommendations from a couple booktubers I like, so I‘m gonna go into it with an open mind ☺️ #nowreading
Today's book haul from the Dollar store! 📚💜 Has anyone read any of these?
Jo, thank you. 💕Such a lovely present and card. This has been on my tbr forever. I'll write back soon. Hope you're doing well and the transition back to work is being gentle on you. x
@Itchyfeetreader
This is the haul from my afternoon adventure. 🙂🙃🙂
#bookhaul
I‘m loving the diversity in these, which include immigrant stories (one memoir, one fiction), a YA novel following a blind narrator, another YA from the POV of a bipolar girl, Tayari Jones‘ first novel, light & frothy women‘s fiction, the new Sheila Heti, and July‘s Indie Next pick.
Very determined to get to this book sometime this year... whenever it is that I feel ready to tackle a harrowing chunkster about 3 Indians who get a #tickettoride to England, however illegally, and the struggles they encounter as immigrants in a new country. #heyjune
Plus: Boo makes a last minute appearance 😻
so-soI couldn‘t fully get into this story or the characters. I finished a week ago and had to peek at reviews as I‘d forgotten so much about it. Maybe it was just bad timing on my part.
Next up. Opinions anyone?
pickThis novel of Indian immigrants in the UK, most of them undocumented, and the young Indo-British woman so busy trying to help she risks losing her self and forging another—well, it all just ripped my heart out. With as much emotional power and rich characterization as Rohinton Mistry‘s A Fine Balance, this is a tale of faith, home, love, and friendship—and what if anything remains when all that gets stripped away. Stunning.
These are sewer cleaners. If this passage ain‘t vivid enough for you, why not google the meaning of ‘fatberg‘？
#QuoteOfTheDay
If this looong quote sparks your imagination like it did mine, why don‘t you google some images and/or videos of the Gurdwara Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, the principal Sikh temple in Punjab, and then re-read it. Doing that just blew me away.
#QuoteOfTheDay
bailedToo depressing. India is cruel; England is cruel. Being an undocumented immigrant is beyond words. Couldn't finish.
pickThe book takes its time revealing its characters, but the wait is worth it! Faith (in love, in God, in job prospects) guides each Britain-bound runaway, but a yearning for the ideal often leads to disillusionment. You never feel part of a world until you have a job, says Narinder. "Runaways" also suggests that you'll never feel truly at home until you find the kind of love you dream about--a target that, by its nature, is always just out of reach.
so-soI was a bit disappointed by this one. All this misery, the poverty, the lack of hope. I liked some of the storylines but not as much as I expected from the reviews. I kept hoping for some light in the darkness of those Indian people, trying their best in the UK, and sometimes, well....
Still I feel rather depressed after finishing it. #booker #manbooker
#immigrantgsong #rockinmay
I loved this story of three men and a woman struggling to make a life in Sheffield from India. Brilliantly written and eye opening.
Just finished All the Ugly and Wonderful Things and loved it. Moving on to The Year of the the Runaways. Couldn't decide what to read and landed on this one. Part of my NY reading resolution to read what I own!
pickCould have used some structural editing but overall, an important look at the desperation and loneliness of illegal immigration.
Full review over on Goodreads.
Getting to book club early so I can read and drink by myself? Best idea ever.
This has floated in and out of my awareness and library holds list. This time when I picked it up, I'm actually going to read it.
bailedI couldn't finish this book. I hate not to finish a book, but it was becoming a torture for me, and not a pleasure at all. Reading must be a pleasure. Some readings are sad, uncomfortable, but still brings something to the reader that makes the journey worth something. Here I read around 150 pages, but I just couldn't enter the story...
pickRead this for a new local book club I have joined.
It grew on me and by the end I was captivated by the stories of the gritty tough lives these immigrants experienced. Eye opening .
pickStayed up late to finish this. Slowly I was drawn into it, the routine of looking for work wearing at first but I became so invested in the characters - all so real & human - that I had to know what happened to them. Nicely unpredictable, beautifully written, & sheds light on a world in London & how precarious it can be for those trying to improve dire lives. A great book. 👏🏼
"On the night of Diwali, Narinder covered their dining table with a hundred and one tiny clay dia lamps."
A fitting Diwali read! Very good so far...
Starting this tonight. On a runaway theme after The Underground Railroad ...
I don't have many shelves in the new house, but I'm filling the ones I do have with excellent books.
#HelloOctober I'm so glad you are here. Starting my day with this beautiful book.
This book reminds me of my first book about India and it's people & history, A Fine Balance.
So after a surprisingly emotional & totally draining book club discussion on this one, I took a full week off from reading. Our group ended up challenging some folks' blind spots & we all ended up learning something from the (exhausting) experience. Litsy folks already know this, but I'm putting it out there anyway-engaging respectfully with diverse readers will change the way you see & experience the world.
(reposted after accidental deletion)
bailed169 pages later (I could have been much further considering when I started it) but I'm just not into it. I hate bailing out on books. It's only something recently I'm allowing myself to do so that I can move on to find a better read.
pickSO SO SO SO GOOD! Best book I've read in a long time. I just got completely lost in the characters' stories. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The next book from what I borrowed from the library.
