Scan barcode
mxmarks's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
reikista's review against another edition
4.0
Zee is a paleontologist, the daughter of the freedom fighters for Bangladesh of the Haque family (the topic of the two previous books in the trilogy), and she is engaged to her childhood friend, her mother’s best friend’s son, Rashid, when she meets Elijah Strong in Cambridge at a Shostakovich concert. She has always felt alone because she is adopted, and her search for the ancestor of the whale mirrors her search for her own origins. This book is a love letter and a farewell.
A study of family and history and origins, and how they shape us. Learn about political conditions for digs in the Middle East (Pakistan or Afghanistan), changes in religious mores in Bangladesh, working conditions of Bangladeshi ship-breakers (workers who take old ships apart on the beach), a study in social mores in Bangladeshi upper classes, the fate of poor, unwed women, and the poor in general.
A study of family and history and origins, and how they shape us. Learn about political conditions for digs in the Middle East (Pakistan or Afghanistan), changes in religious mores in Bangladesh, working conditions of Bangladeshi ship-breakers (workers who take old ships apart on the beach), a study in social mores in Bangladeshi upper classes, the fate of poor, unwed women, and the poor in general.
bhurlbut's review against another edition
4.0
I have read and enjoyed all three of Tahmima Anam’s Dhaka trilogy. This third one was the most deeply personal. It took me a long time to get started on it. I picked it up read a few pages and put it down again many times before finally engaging it fully. When I did, I found much here to love.
megatsunami's review
4.0
Beautiful novel that weaves in a diverse set of topics (paleontology, shipbreaking in Bangladesh, adoption...). There is some lovely writing and the characters are very well done. 4 stars instead of 5 because of the angsty tone which put me off a little in the first 10-15 pages and recurs occasionally. And also because, let's be real, the main character is kind of annoying at times. (But I thought she was realistic, and she is not unsympathetic.)
textpublishing's review against another edition
5.0
‘A major new talent.’
Observer
‘Anam’s prose is glowing and graceful.’
Guardian
‘Anam has a knack for making you care so desperately for her characters that you admire their failings as much as their strengths.’
Daily Mail
‘Anam deftly weaves the personal and the political, giving the terrors of war spare, powerful treatment.’
New Yorker
‘Fierce and intimate, lyrical and expansive, The Bones of Grace offers what a great novel does: symphonic movements, historical landscapes that shape our private landscapes of love and life, mysteries and enchantments, the unforgettable and the unforgotten. Tahmima Anam is a mesmerizer.’
Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
‘Expansive yet intimate, weighty yet incisively funny, The Bones of Grace is a powerful examination of what it means to live in a world of collapsing boundaries and conflicting values. Few people write about identity and culture with such elegance and intelligence as Tahmima Anam.’
Tash Aw, author of Five Star Billionaire
‘A novel of heart, brain, and muscle – the competing pulls of history and love are evoked here with a rare honesty, and great skill.’
Kamila Shamsie, author of A God in Every Stone
‘Intricately structured, [The Bones of Grace] attempts to reassemble all its floating clues and end at its starting point, with its heroine reconstructing an elliptical past and searching for an elusive future…the story is speckled with anecdotes from the history of a country both young and very old.’
Guardian
‘[Anam] weaves a wealth of curious facts into a plot that itself is mesmerising, and does so with some gorgeous descriptive prose…[Her] characters are multifaceted, all have flaws, and the reader cannot help but care about their fate…A brilliant read.’
BookMooch
‘A novel of unusual, uneven beauty, heart-wrenching sadness and rare imaginative power.’
Daily Star
‘A twisting, fantastical tale of fate, chance and opportunities missed…Anam’s chief strength as a novelist is her knack for richly detailed and peopled worlds…We are taken on a meandering carpet ride through some exotic and surprising places, and there’s much to be enjoyed in that.’
Australian
‘The Bones of Grace has at its heart not war but the shattering effects of conflicted love…Zubaida's choice between love and duty is reminiscent of Anna Karenina’ Financial Times
‘A novel of heart, brain, and muscle – the competing pulls of history and love are evoked here with a rare honesty, and great skill.’
Kamila Shamsie
‘Restrained and powerful.’
Observer
‘Seemingly disparate stories slowly coming together one by one, until the moment a last piece clicks sweetly into place to give us the revelation of a perfect, satisfying whole.’
Spectator
‘Few people write about identity and culture with such elegance and intelligence as Tahmima Anam.’
Tash Aw, author of Five Star Billionaire
‘Anam has created a novel that looks honestly at cultural history, family ties, religion, honour, and secrets, it is both intimate and expansive, achingly sad yet insightfully witty. Literature at its best opens doors and with The Bones of Grace Tahmima Anam does just that.’
Hair Past a Freckle
Observer
‘Anam’s prose is glowing and graceful.’
Guardian
‘Anam has a knack for making you care so desperately for her characters that you admire their failings as much as their strengths.’
Daily Mail
‘Anam deftly weaves the personal and the political, giving the terrors of war spare, powerful treatment.’
New Yorker
‘Fierce and intimate, lyrical and expansive, The Bones of Grace offers what a great novel does: symphonic movements, historical landscapes that shape our private landscapes of love and life, mysteries and enchantments, the unforgettable and the unforgotten. Tahmima Anam is a mesmerizer.’
Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
‘Expansive yet intimate, weighty yet incisively funny, The Bones of Grace is a powerful examination of what it means to live in a world of collapsing boundaries and conflicting values. Few people write about identity and culture with such elegance and intelligence as Tahmima Anam.’
Tash Aw, author of Five Star Billionaire
‘A novel of heart, brain, and muscle – the competing pulls of history and love are evoked here with a rare honesty, and great skill.’
Kamila Shamsie, author of A God in Every Stone
‘Intricately structured, [The Bones of Grace] attempts to reassemble all its floating clues and end at its starting point, with its heroine reconstructing an elliptical past and searching for an elusive future…the story is speckled with anecdotes from the history of a country both young and very old.’
Guardian
‘[Anam] weaves a wealth of curious facts into a plot that itself is mesmerising, and does so with some gorgeous descriptive prose…[Her] characters are multifaceted, all have flaws, and the reader cannot help but care about their fate…A brilliant read.’
BookMooch
‘A novel of unusual, uneven beauty, heart-wrenching sadness and rare imaginative power.’
Daily Star
‘A twisting, fantastical tale of fate, chance and opportunities missed…Anam’s chief strength as a novelist is her knack for richly detailed and peopled worlds…We are taken on a meandering carpet ride through some exotic and surprising places, and there’s much to be enjoyed in that.’
Australian
‘The Bones of Grace has at its heart not war but the shattering effects of conflicted love…Zubaida's choice between love and duty is reminiscent of Anna Karenina’ Financial Times
‘A novel of heart, brain, and muscle – the competing pulls of history and love are evoked here with a rare honesty, and great skill.’
Kamila Shamsie
‘Restrained and powerful.’
Observer
‘Seemingly disparate stories slowly coming together one by one, until the moment a last piece clicks sweetly into place to give us the revelation of a perfect, satisfying whole.’
Spectator
‘Few people write about identity and culture with such elegance and intelligence as Tahmima Anam.’
Tash Aw, author of Five Star Billionaire
‘Anam has created a novel that looks honestly at cultural history, family ties, religion, honour, and secrets, it is both intimate and expansive, achingly sad yet insightfully witty. Literature at its best opens doors and with The Bones of Grace Tahmima Anam does just that.’
Hair Past a Freckle
cerilouisereads's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Infidelity, Death, and Miscarriage
annaoutloud's review
4.0
I really enjoyed the story once I separated it from the first two books in the series, as the connection wasn't obvious for a while. Still a beautiful and heart wrenching story of Bangladesh and the complications of family.
cheryl1213's review
3.0
I'll start with two "points of order." First, this is the third in a series of books about different members (and different generations) of a Bangladeshi family. I did read the second, The Good Muslim, but didn't read the first and each book is fully capable of standing on its own. Reading the others might help provide insight into the family members at the edges of the subsequent novels, but it is by no means necessary. Second, like with the prior book, I received this from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.
To a large extent, this book is a letter to a lost love. Zubaida is working as a researcher in anthropology when she meets Elijah at a classical concert. They have a very intense but brief period together before she leaves for a dig in Pakistan where they are hoping to uncover the "walking whale," an important link in a very unique (and apparently quite real) evolutionary chain. The dig is halted very suddenly (I won't reveal details) and Zubaida chooses to return to Bangaldesh and marry a childhood friend rather than pursue what she knows is a truer love with Elijah. A series of events at home eventually send Zubaida to a very different world where a filmmaker is trying to tell the story of shipbreakers, men (and children) who engage in the very dangerous work of tearing apart old ships for their parts.
Honestly, there's more to the plot but I hesitate to say too much. And that also goes to the heart of my problem with this novel, it simply takes on too much. I enjoyed getting to know Zubaida and could very much feel the way she is torn between true love (and career) and her past (and culture, family, and expectation). There were moments where I loved this book and the characters in it (who are all very realistically flawed), but it also just overwhelmed me.
It all combines to a 3.5 rating. Recommended to readers interested in the pull between culture/tradition and the life one is drawn to by the heart.
cjeanne99's review against another edition
1.0
I have no idea why this book came on my radar - and I'm still not sure why. For some reason I had an expectation that the book would involve more paleontology - and more understanding of the lives of the men involved with the shipbreaking. Instead - we have Zubaida - struggling to be the good daughter - living an obedient life and marrying the son of some family friends. What Zubaida really wants is to be a paleontologist - uncovering the bones of centuries old creatures - and uncovering the story of her birth mother. All the while harboring love for a young man she met while she was at Harvard.
booknerdknits's review
3.0
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, and wasn't entirely sure what to expect. On the whole, I enjoyed the story, although I struggled at times to follow the plotline and found the writing style rambling in places (sentences of several lines long!). I would recommend this book to those who like romance and family drama, especially those set in a non-Western culture.