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leahfigiel's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
snoakes7001's review
5.0
The Handsworth Times is the highly evocative story of an Indian family in Handsworth, Birmingham in the early eighties. At the time the factories were closing, unemployment was high and civil unrest was brewing. Racism was institutional - the sus law meant that nearly every other black and Asian youth had been stopped and searched for no reason. The National Front were marching and riots were inevitable. This is the backdrop to the Agarwal's life.
If that all sounds a bit bleak and depressing, think again. There is still humour to be had in this tale of working class life. Yes, it's about grief and conflict, but it's also about family and friendship - and a strong multicultural sense of community.
The characters are well-drawn and thoroughly believable - particularly the three sisters. I imagine that much of their dialogue is drawn from real life. The differences between the generations are especially realistic.
A totally enjoyable and interesting read from a talented new author.
If that all sounds a bit bleak and depressing, think again. There is still humour to be had in this tale of working class life. Yes, it's about grief and conflict, but it's also about family and friendship - and a strong multicultural sense of community.
The characters are well-drawn and thoroughly believable - particularly the three sisters. I imagine that much of their dialogue is drawn from real life. The differences between the generations are especially realistic.
A totally enjoyable and interesting read from a talented new author.
chiaraco79's review
3.0
The book follows the story of an Indian family in the early 80s in Handsworth, Birmingham, through riots, unemployment, general dissatisfaction and lack of prospects... The first half of the book was quite slow to read, I had to make an effort to go on. However, things start to improve in the second half, for the main characters, but also in the style... many scenes are written like a theatre play, with Usha cleaning the kitchen and the various family members entering the room and having a short conversation with her. This scheme repeats itself several times, with slight differences that follow the evolution of their mood and lead to the resolution of the story. I really liked this idea. Overall an interesting read, and interesting topic nowadays.
vcmc's review
3.0
The theme of the novel is extremely interesting and relevant now. I appreciated the author's intention to shine a light on life in Birmingham in the early 80s and to witness the successes, troubles and tensions of an Asian family.
kay_ampersand's review
3.0
3.5 There were some great moments in this book, but some characters were better than others. Great description of what it meant to be Indian in Birmingham in 1981.
charlottejones952's review
5.0
I heard about this book a few years ago when Mercedes read it and have been wanting to own a copy since. I finally read it for the Asian Readathon this month and am so happy to have gotten to it. From the very first page I was invested in the Agarwal family; each family member had distinct personalities and roles to play in the story and through them I learnt about the experience of Indian families in Birmingham in the 1980s.
I grew up in a working class area of Manchester in the early 1990s and there were aspects of my childhood surroundings in this story, giving me a strange sense of nostalgia despite having such vastly different experiences to everyone in the book.
Each characters' story line is heartbreaking but throughout the book I was heartened to see that they were slowly helping to mend each other, slowly revealing each others' secrets and getting to know each other better through their shared tragedy.
5 out of 5 stars!
I grew up in a working class area of Manchester in the early 1990s and there were aspects of my childhood surroundings in this story, giving me a strange sense of nostalgia despite having such vastly different experiences to everyone in the book.
Each characters' story line is heartbreaking but throughout the book I was heartened to see that they were slowly helping to mend each other, slowly revealing each others' secrets and getting to know each other better through their shared tragedy.
5 out of 5 stars!
treegirl22's review
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
The setting is really well done. I went to school in Handsworth so it was interesting to read about it in the 80s. It is more observation fly on the wall which for me made it feel like we never got in depth understandings of characters. It is not the style I prefer but others may like the sparse 'things that cannot be said' style. There are a lot of complex serious issues in the book but a lot of them feel only briefly dealt with. Usha's continuous cleaning is just brushed under the carpet as are a lot of the children's issues. I also found it hard to empathise with Mukesh as he is physically abusive to the children and financially abusive. He is obviously suffering through a lot (as they all are) but just leaves Usha to get on with things and I felt the book didn't comment enough on this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Islamophobia, and Police brutality
Minor: Fatphobia
petekeeley's review
5.0
Absolutely loved this book and breezed through it in a day and a half, completely engrossed in it the whole time. Set in Birmingham in 1981, during Thatcher's reign of evil, with inner city riots and NF marches going on. It is the story of a working class Indian family, beset by an awful tragedy, and of how they cope (or don't cope), with loss, trauma, unemployment, racism, class and ultimately it is a story about community. The characters are just wonderful, and all totally believable and real. The writing is sublime, and written with such a deftness of touch, and such sympathy for the characters. There are a lot of parallels with what was happening in 1981 in this book, and with what is happening in society today. Another absolute winner from Bluemoose Publishing, who just never let me down. Am looking forward to the author's next book excitedly (out in a couple of months).