This book has its heart in the right place, and there is a great novel in there somewhere. Unfortunately, all the blueprints are too clearly visible - plot devices a, b, and c are put in just so, and "here the reader is to feel emotion x, and here emotion z". There was a sense of incompleteness, as if I was reading a rough draft that would go back to the author for further shaping and moulding. I did like the way Sunjeev Sahota writes. There were beautiful moments in this book - there just wasn't enough of them. ( )

'Not all Prisons have bars. And not all love is a Prison.'

TW: Child Abuse, Purdah, Domestic Violence, Drug Abuse, Marital Rape, Rape, Oppression.

China room is a book that came off as a pleasant surprise to me. Though confusing in the beginning, once all the characters were introduced and the scene was set, I started enjoying the narration while also being positively intrigued as to what would happen next.

It runs in two timelines. The story of Meher, a victim of child marriage, and the current life of her great-grandson, a victim of drug abuse.

It took me a while to put two and two together and understand what was happening. Meher, along with two other women is married to three brothers and she tries her best to find out which of them is hers.

While her great-grandson arrives at his uncle's to get out of drug addiction and makes a decision to go live in their old family home. Here, he is bombarded with bits and pieces of gossip about Meher and how she was locked in a room for straying from her marriage.

While Meher is stuck between the brother she's married to and the brother she was supposed to be married to, the family politics, the 'ego' between the brothers, and the pressure to give them a child while her great-grandson is re-painting and bringing their ancestral home back to life while falling in love with the doctor.

The story had high potential and it does deliver to some extent with the exploration of all the traumas and how they affect lives.

Ultimately, there is an ending to both stories. I'm not exactly in content with them but I am glad we were not left hanging with a vague conclusion.

Spoiler alert and TW: Mai, Meher's dominant mother-in-law summons the women to a 'dark room' when their husbands request for them. Apparently, being the youngest of the three, Meher was betrothed to Suraj, the youngest of the brothers but after having a look at the three of them before the wedding, Jeet, the oldest brother marries her instead.

What happens next is very confusing to me because it seemed as though Meher was warming up to her husband and Suraj, who finds out about how she was supposed to be his wife, out of spite for his older brothers' power over him, persuades her to believe that he is the husband and 'makes love'. This obviously is sexual assault.

Now, I cannot seem to understand why even after learning about the deception, she continues to indulge in her love for him when she had initially warmed up to her husband. Then again, she was a 15-year-old.

Anyway, I can see why this was longlisted for the booker prize. ( )

More in-depth thoughts to follow on https://thereadersroom.org/ where I am serving as a member of a panel (to analyze the Booker Prize).

However in a nutshell, I really loved reading this book. I'm not sure if it is original enough to win a big prize like the Booker, but I love books set in India ([b:A Fine Balance|5211|A Fine Balance|Rohinton Mistry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551173390l/5211._SY75_.jpg|865827], [b:Shantaram|33600|Shantaram|Gregory David Roberts|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1333482282l/33600._SY75_.jpg|3174890], [b:The White Tiger|1768603|The White Tiger|Aravind Adiga|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347754998l/1768603._SY75_.jpg|1766737] to name a few). This is a quieter, character-driven book, focused on emotions, specifically yearning . . .and books like that are my favorite. The writing reminded me a bit of [a:Khaled Hosseini|569|Khaled Hosseini|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1359753468p2/569.jpg].

From the readersroom.org:

Is this book truly “Booker material”? Probably not, but I absolutely loved reading it. Two parallel tales of unrequited love, set in India (my personal favorite setting), just made me yearn for this book to be longer. The story that is set in the past is the more developed and interesting of the two. Three young women are married off to the three sons of a very shrewish, conniving mother-in-law, and none of them are quite sure which husband is theirs. This set up is a prescription for disaster . . .the kind where you can’t look away. So readable, but with wonderful cultural details. Where I think the book falls short is it lacks thematic punch. Great storytelling without the big ideas that a Booker prize winner usually delivers.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 15/20 ( )

Interesting novel but I’m not sure why it didn’t grip me. I don’t feel that I got to know any of the characters very well even with such a heartbreaking story ( )

Liked the writing. Two stories, lightly interwoven, about a woman in India and her college-aged great-grandson who leaves England to live in her village for a while. She’s already dead, they never meet. I didn’t understand some, and other parts I figured out slowly, but really liked the stories and the people. ( )