Rating: 4.5/5
Favorite Quote:
"Easiest thing in the world, becoming invisible to white people, who don’t see you anyway; but the hardest thing is becoming invisible to brown people, who will see you no matter what"
I'm not quite sure how to review this book, so I'll just talk about my own experience instead of "rating this book."
The storyline and the flow make this book Unique and so it also moved me in a unique way. Aravind Adiga’s writing style in this book (this is my first time with it, as I haven't read his Booker-winning novel) is very textured, great, lyrical, a bit erratic.
Story is Told over the course of one single day, it follows an illegal immigrant living in Sydney, Australia, named Danny. I wouldn't call Amnesty suspenseful because the readers know who the killer is, but there is a strange game of cat and mouse Danny finds himself engaged in with the killer, though his primary objective is struggling with his moral code and his responsibility as a human, and losing the possibility of ever achieving legal status.
I got lost sometimes while reading. It wavered between first person and third person and here and there and then and now, all in a way that was occasionally hard to follow. But I always found my way back. The result is a book that feels very literary and cerebral (I’m not surprised to see that Adiga previously won the Booker Prize, as nominated books tend to feel that way). So, it takes a little more work, but it turned out to be worth it to me in the end.
Speaking of characters, I loved Danny as a main character. He's just so easy to root for, amidst an otherwise unlikable cast. This book is infused with all of his observations and thoughts. Mostly about immigration, being illegal, culture, and race things. I love seeing his journey. I was nervous, sympathetic, and proud for him. I didn't think I'd be emotionally invested in this book, but I was here for it. Danny's plight is honest, real and heartbreaking, a struggle you don't have to be legal or illegal to empathize with. You just have to be human.
There were some great lines in Amnesty, but one of my favorites (and I'm paraphrasing here) went something like this:
What do you do when you are unwanted in your homeland but also unwanted in another country?
The only thing I didn’t like - is that this book is not as fast-paced as I would always prefer. Reading the synopsis, at first, I expected Amnesty to be this fast-paced, action-packed thing; and upon reading it, I was surprised to see it's actually pretty slow-paced. This book is a meditation. It's a continuous back-and-forth. I don't mind a slow-paced book, but this one bordered on repetitive at times. Due to some odd circumstances, a situation presents the heart-wrenching choice that Danny must make. He can jeopardize his precarious life, or he can follow his conscious. I just wanted Danny to make his damn decision already! The will-he-won't-he is the literary equivalent of blue balls.
But when all's said and done, this book isn't about "what decision will he make?", is it?
What is an illegal but honest human to do?
"A man without rights in this world is not freed from his responsibilities."
And if you asked me how to enjoy this book, I'd say: Read it slowly and savor it. Think about what certain passages are saying about the characters. I feel as I lost a friend Danny when the book ended, I wanted to just sit with it for a while.
"A man must keep Reading if he must keep thinking"
Shi'tare
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