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jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
A purple lotus is a symbol of rebirth and this novel lives up to that name. It is the story of a rebirth of an Indian woman who battles through cultural expectations to become her own person. Tara grew up in India and was often left alone. Her parents moved to Dubai when she was young and left her with an uncle who had issues. She ended up turning to books for emotional support. As an adult, Tara is betrothed to an Indian-American who after marrying her returns to the States leaving her behind in India for 3 years alone. Once he finally has her move to America she finds her self still emotionally alone. Her husband, Sanjay, doesn't express any affection for her and often leaves her alone while he stays late at work. Tara starts making some friends and earning her own money and find out more about herself. She suffers from emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her husband. Her family pressures her to stay but Tara feels like she should follow her own heart & spirit.
This was story about Tara overcoming her family's expectations that she be a submissive wife to her husband and just go with things. They are seemingly more concerned about reputation than they are about their daughter's happiness and well-being. This was a tough read at times but Tara was a great protagonist who carved her own path. I enjoyed this read and look forward to more from the author.
What to listen to while reading...
Me and My Husband by Mitski
Home Alone by Hanita Bhambri
Mundane by Mali
I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
It's Not Worth It by Ramya Pothuri
Rebirth by Komorebi
Love (alap) by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
This was story about Tara overcoming her family's expectations that she be a submissive wife to her husband and just go with things. They are seemingly more concerned about reputation than they are about their daughter's happiness and well-being. This was a tough read at times but Tara was a great protagonist who carved her own path. I enjoyed this read and look forward to more from the author.
What to listen to while reading...
Me and My Husband by Mitski
Home Alone by Hanita Bhambri
Mundane by Mali
I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
It's Not Worth It by Ramya Pothuri
Rebirth by Komorebi
Love (alap) by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
nishath's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence
cassiesnextchapter's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 Stars! {Thanks to She Writes Press for the advanced copy of this beautiful book in exchange for an honest review.}
Elegant, thoughtful, and pulsing with a driving force, Purple Lotus is simply gorgeous. Rao’s debut literary novel (that she spent 10 (TEN!) years writing) is a family drama that highlights the cultural stigmas that accompany the decisions and obligations many Indian women face to please their communities and family.
Purple Lotus explores the strength it takes for a woman to overcome societal norms, personal fears of rejection and abandonment, and an abusive spouse in order to find personal freedom.
This book is an anthem to all neglected, abused, and otherwise oppressed women. It carries so much strength of character, while at the same time holding a place for tenderness, vulnerability, and mistakes.
Purple Lotus is one of those books that is relatively unheard of now, but I have no doubt will become a favorite in many hearts. Wonderful for fans of A Woman Is No Man and A Place For Us.
Elegant, thoughtful, and pulsing with a driving force, Purple Lotus is simply gorgeous. Rao’s debut literary novel (that she spent 10 (TEN!) years writing) is a family drama that highlights the cultural stigmas that accompany the decisions and obligations many Indian women face to please their communities and family.
Purple Lotus explores the strength it takes for a woman to overcome societal norms, personal fears of rejection and abandonment, and an abusive spouse in order to find personal freedom.
This book is an anthem to all neglected, abused, and otherwise oppressed women. It carries so much strength of character, while at the same time holding a place for tenderness, vulnerability, and mistakes.
Purple Lotus is one of those books that is relatively unheard of now, but I have no doubt will become a favorite in many hearts. Wonderful for fans of A Woman Is No Man and A Place For Us.
logikitty's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
rebdhar's review against another edition
5.0
Veena Rao has written a beautiful and inspiring book. She does an excellent job of illustrating the pressure put on the main character, Tara, by her Indian family. Through Rao's careful depiction, the reader understands not only the demands put upon Tara, but also the way that Tara internalizes those views. It is all the more inspiring then, when Rao reveals how Tara can slowly come to understand her own worth, and eventually act upon it.
In addition, I'd like to note the very believable effects on Tara of the fact that her parents basically abandoned her to the care of her grandparents for several years. My mother had this happen to her, too, and the experience can seriously hinder a person's ability to believe in herself. I was so happy to see Tara finally overcome this.
In addition, I'd like to note the very believable effects on Tara of the fact that her parents basically abandoned her to the care of her grandparents for several years. My mother had this happen to her, too, and the experience can seriously hinder a person's ability to believe in herself. I was so happy to see Tara finally overcome this.
kellyhitchcock's review
4.0
My Tiktok review: https://www.tiktok.com/@kellyhitchcockpairings/video/7165174460918582570
agarje1's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Stars
There were some pacing issues with this book towards the beginning and perhaps it tried to take on too many themes at once. But I think the ending solidified this book as an inspirational account of a woman's journey to accept herself and her love and fight back against the patriarchal mores that grip Indian society.
There were some pacing issues with this book towards the beginning and perhaps it tried to take on too many themes at once. But I think the ending solidified this book as an inspirational account of a woman's journey to accept herself and her love and fight back against the patriarchal mores that grip Indian society.
showthisbooksomelove's review against another edition
3.0
Rao's debut novel, Purple Lotus, has a lot of good story in it. Unfortunately for me, the execution did not meet the high bar raised by the plot. Purple Lotus is about recovery from abuse, about Indian family values, about how we project our past experiences over how we think others will respond to our actions.
Rao really does a fantastic job of writing what it is like to be living in a situation of emotional abuse. Throughout the first half of the book, I felt like I was there with Tara, feeling my options becoming more and more limited. I was worrying about what to cook my no-good husband for dinner when he was around. I was worrying about what my family would think of our relationship and how they would get along with him. I was worrying about his reaction to me buying thrift store coats.
But then halfway through the story, there is a shift. Tara leaves her husband to become more independent and regain her feelings of self worth. Unfortunately, this is when the writing shifts and I felt I was no longer in the story. Now I'm an observer, a fly on the wall, watching this story as though it is a time lapse through the rest of her life. The story never lingers for long in one place, instead moving forward at irregular intervals, but also never skipping over much. Instead huge swaths of time are condensed into one or two paragraphs, which left the story feeling like a very different book than the one I had started. Suddenly, I looked up from my reading and realized I didn't like any of the characters anymore.
What Rao is trying to do at this point is a very difficult thing to do, which is to unpack the emotional abuse and trauma with her characters. She had been showing us the effects up until this point, now she was attempting to help them recover while they were still experiencing the after-effects. In attempting to convey the experience of trauma, there were often over-explained/over-exaggerating sections about emotions. This over-exaggeration in turn made the characters seem a bit childish, in a way that threw me off from the rest of the story. Now I found myself no longer reading for the journey, but reading just to see the outcome in the end.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rao really does a fantastic job of writing what it is like to be living in a situation of emotional abuse. Throughout the first half of the book, I felt like I was there with Tara, feeling my options becoming more and more limited. I was worrying about what to cook my no-good husband for dinner when he was around. I was worrying about what my family would think of our relationship and how they would get along with him. I was worrying about his reaction to me buying thrift store coats.
But then halfway through the story, there is a shift. Tara leaves her husband to become more independent and regain her feelings of self worth. Unfortunately, this is when the writing shifts and I felt I was no longer in the story. Now I'm an observer, a fly on the wall, watching this story as though it is a time lapse through the rest of her life. The story never lingers for long in one place, instead moving forward at irregular intervals, but also never skipping over much. Instead huge swaths of time are condensed into one or two paragraphs, which left the story feeling like a very different book than the one I had started. Suddenly, I looked up from my reading and realized I didn't like any of the characters anymore.
What Rao is trying to do at this point is a very difficult thing to do, which is to unpack the emotional abuse and trauma with her characters. She had been showing us the effects up until this point, now she was attempting to help them recover while they were still experiencing the after-effects. In attempting to convey the experience of trauma, there were often over-explained/over-exaggerating sections about emotions. This over-exaggeration in turn made the characters seem a bit childish, in a way that threw me off from the rest of the story. Now I found myself no longer reading for the journey, but reading just to see the outcome in the end.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
hawkette's review against another edition
4.0
What a fantastic book for women who have been or are repressed by the men in their lives. This book hit home more than it should have for a much younger me, and was a great reminder of how strong our minds can be. It was a story of resilience- which isn’t always an immediate result during hard times, but the long term effect of having gone through them and surviving. It was a story about finding oneself and finding happiness and then building the skills necessary to recognize hard times in the future and bracing ourselves to be strong and happy regardless. 4 out of 5 stars just because it started off slow-paced and took awhile to get into for me.