Mona Arshi
Author of Somebody Loves You
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Somebody Loves You by Mona Arshi
A poetic novel in short chapters which I remember very little about! I know I enjoyed it and should also note it has a very nice cover, but the details of it didn't stick with me.
½In a Nutshell: I tried my best to like this book but it just wasn’t the right fit for me. (Partly because I went for the audiobook. More on this below.)
Story: (I have no idea how to summarise this plot! There is no plot progression!)
The book is written in Ruby’s first person perspective, so it’s kind of ironic that she’s speaking to the reader without speaking to anyone around her. It makes you feel like you are reading the innermost thoughts of a young girl who is misunderstood by all around her.
This is supposed to be a work of literary fiction so I was kind of prepared for the slower pace and character-oriented narrative. Both of which are dominant factors in this novel. But what I didn’t expect was the plot to be randomly structured with short chapters in the form of reminiscences and opinions rather than a linear narrative. This would have worked fabulously had I read it. But when you hear the content, the plot doesn’t make much sense and it takes a while, if at all, to get into it. I still trudged through somehow to the end, hoping for a satisfactory ending if not a happy one. But even that was denied me.
I can make out the quality of the writing. The author has a fair grip on where she wants the story to go, even if it is not directly evident to us. The language is very poetic and the emotions, hard-hitting. There are many complicated themes such as racial diversity, immigrant issues and parent expectations highlighted in the tale. But all these points are moot if the narration doesn’t help you get into the story. The audiobook is read by the author herself, and I’m very sorry to say this, but while she has a clear reading voice, it isn’t exactly conducive to an audiobook. Her tone is slightly hushed and lulling, not exactly the kind to keep you hooked onto a narration of a literary book. I kept tuning out and this 4 hour audiobook took me much longer to complete.
Basically, all my complaints stem from the fact that the audiobook doesn’t really work for this story. It might be a power-packed emotional experience but none of it was apparent in the audio form.
Recommended only if you want to READ a somewhat depressing literary fiction.
My thanks to Saga Egmont Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Somebody Loves You”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook. Sorry this didn't work out better for me.
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Join me on the Facebook group, Readers Forever!, for more reviews, book-related discussions and fun.
… (more)
Story: (I have no idea how to summarise this plot! There is no plot progression!)
Ruby has given up talking. Her elder sister, more outgoing and bombastic in her nature, does more than her fair share of it. And even her busy parents talk enough. You see, Ruby defines everyone around her in terms of their quantum of verbosity. And she has decided that she needn’t add more talk to this world. But how does this stance impact those around her?
That’s all I can say. There’s really nothing more to it. The narrative contains Ruby’s interactions with her kith and kin, and her personal thoughts on various topics.
The book is written in Ruby’s first person perspective, so it’s kind of ironic that she’s speaking to the reader without speaking to anyone around her. It makes you feel like you are reading the innermost thoughts of a young girl who is misunderstood by all around her.
This is supposed to be a work of literary fiction so I was kind of prepared for the slower pace and character-oriented narrative. Both of which are dominant factors in this novel. But what I didn’t expect was the plot to be randomly structured with short chapters in the form of reminiscences and opinions rather than a linear narrative. This would have worked fabulously had I read it. But when you hear the content, the plot doesn’t make much sense and it takes a while, if at all, to get into it. I still trudged through somehow to the end, hoping for a satisfactory ending if not a happy one. But even that was denied me.
I can make out the quality of the writing. The author has a fair grip on where she wants the story to go, even if it is not directly evident to us. The language is very poetic and the emotions, hard-hitting. There are many complicated themes such as racial diversity, immigrant issues and parent expectations highlighted in the tale. But all these points are moot if the narration doesn’t help you get into the story. The audiobook is read by the author herself, and I’m very sorry to say this, but while she has a clear reading voice, it isn’t exactly conducive to an audiobook. Her tone is slightly hushed and lulling, not exactly the kind to keep you hooked onto a narration of a literary book. I kept tuning out and this 4 hour audiobook took me much longer to complete.
Basically, all my complaints stem from the fact that the audiobook doesn’t really work for this story. It might be a power-packed emotional experience but none of it was apparent in the audio form.
Recommended only if you want to READ a somewhat depressing literary fiction.
My thanks to Saga Egmont Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Somebody Loves You”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook. Sorry this didn't work out better for me.
***********************
Join me on the Facebook group, Readers Forever!, for more reviews, book-related discussions and fun.
… (more)
“Artful Scenes from a Troubled Childhood” would be the too on-the-nose title for this episodic and poetic work, and I wouldn’t recommend the change. It would however at least have the merit of describing the dichotomy between the lovely style and the disquieting subject matter of Mona Arshi’s debut novel, now longlisted for the 2022 best UK/Irish small press award, given by the Republic of Consciousness.
Ruby, growing up in London with parents who immigrated from India, does not speak. The novel’s opening prose-poem both informs the reader of this fact and brings us right into its style: “a blue bird escapes from her mouth. Then another and another, until the room is filled with their iridescent turquoise feathers and clamour of yellow-black beaks. A few settle on her head, others perch on her shoulders, but then after a few minutes and for no discernible reason they quickly flit back inside – a hymn of bodies returning as they enter back through her parted lips. Several fly into and penetrate her torso. When the last bird has gone, she closes her mouth and leaves the room.”
“No discernible reason” may put the cause of Ruby’s silence a bit strongly. There is racism from adults and children both, dehumanizing its target. Probably even more damaging in her youngest years is the fact that her mother suffers from mental illness and depression. Frequently hospitalized, and not a reliable source of comfort when not, her mother’s absences and pained presences greatly affect Ruby.
If the use of language offers no comfort, there is the more primal sense of touch, and Ruby does lean on this. For one episode of time as a child she writes words on her skin, and has her friend David write her words for her: “I would stretch the skin on my torso taut as canvas on a frame and he would feed the tip of the pen and copy the patterns and the curlicued script and when his mouth was very near my navel I would touch the top of his hair lightly with my hand.” As a teenager, she seeks communication with another friend this way as well: “I move carefully towards her and lay myself down on her still body and she strokes my hair and we stay like this for a long time. I couldn’t conceive of anything better in the universe than lying on her lovely body like this her heart fluttering underneath mine our fingers threaded together, our breath as fast as kittens.”
The novel offers no resolution or solution. The episodes, up to last (“They had taken her out of bed, and she was waiting for us patiently, her elbows scrubbed but dry with a bubbly texture. I reached over and touched one with my fingertips”), continue the general state of affairs until simply stopping to be told. If this were a plot-driven novel that might be a problem, but then, it’s not. It’s a poem-driven novel, with a voiceless notable voice.… (more)
Ruby, growing up in London with parents who immigrated from India, does not speak. The novel’s opening prose-poem both informs the reader of this fact and brings us right into its style: “a blue bird escapes from her mouth. Then another and another, until the room is filled with their iridescent turquoise feathers and clamour of yellow-black beaks. A few settle on her head, others perch on her shoulders, but then after a few minutes and for no discernible reason they quickly flit back inside – a hymn of bodies returning as they enter back through her parted lips. Several fly into and penetrate her torso. When the last bird has gone, she closes her mouth and leaves the room.”
“No discernible reason” may put the cause of Ruby’s silence a bit strongly. There is racism from adults and children both, dehumanizing its target. Probably even more damaging in her youngest years is the fact that her mother suffers from mental illness and depression. Frequently hospitalized, and not a reliable source of comfort when not, her mother’s absences and pained presences greatly affect Ruby.
When I first heard the word agony from the mouth of my mother I was halfway up the stairs and it had escaped from underneath my parents’ bedroom door. It was as if some unknown force had passed me on the staircase; I felt winded and had to quickly grab hold of the bannister to steady myself.
Of all the ‘a’ words, agony is the worst. I wouldn’t wish that word on my greatest enemy. I wasn’t even that sure what the word meant but it was clear to me there was a sliver of glass in the middle of the brittle ‘o’. Agony was the point of no return, no greater anguish could befall you when reached it, and there was no coming back from the edge of its abyss – which was another ‘a’ word.
If the use of language offers no comfort, there is the more primal sense of touch, and Ruby does lean on this. For one episode of time as a child she writes words on her skin, and has her friend David write her words for her: “I would stretch the skin on my torso taut as canvas on a frame and he would feed the tip of the pen and copy the patterns and the curlicued script and when his mouth was very near my navel I would touch the top of his hair lightly with my hand.” As a teenager, she seeks communication with another friend this way as well: “I move carefully towards her and lay myself down on her still body and she strokes my hair and we stay like this for a long time. I couldn’t conceive of anything better in the universe than lying on her lovely body like this her heart fluttering underneath mine our fingers threaded together, our breath as fast as kittens.”
The novel offers no resolution or solution. The episodes, up to last (“They had taken her out of bed, and she was waiting for us patiently, her elbows scrubbed but dry with a bubbly texture. I reached over and touched one with my fingertips”), continue the general state of affairs until simply stopping to be told. If this were a plot-driven novel that might be a problem, but then, it’s not. It’s a poem-driven novel, with a voiceless notable voice.… (more)
Protagonist Ruby is born to a mother with mental illness. The storyline follows Ruby’s life with her family, especially her relationship with her two sisters. Ruby does not speak. It is a lyrically written novella. It felt a bit rushed, and there are few explanations for the characters’ motivations, so some of their actions are puzzling. I liked it enough to read another book by this author.
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