Review 86: The Story Hour

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a unique book. The story was told by alternating points-of-view, with the main one being an Indian immigrant, Lakshmi, who at first is portrayed as stupid, and her command of English awful. Lakshmi's sections are then written in a way that is difficult to read, using words like "leaf" instead of "leave" and other odd words or phrasing. I knew this was not going to be a book I could read if the whole book was written in this manner. It wasn't and reading of that broken style did get easier. Yet...

there is something about the writing style that I did not like. It is not just this author, but many others, use an omniscient point of view with an abandon, and it diminishes a story. For example, in this book we are kept to two main characters Lakshmi and Maggie, a psychologist who helps Lakshmi. Nearly the entire book is just their perspectives, then near the end we get other character's point of view, very briefly and only once or twice. It feels a little like cheating on the author's part.

Overall the story was curious enough, there were some wild tales told by Lakshmi and she, and others, had significant changes in their character. There wasn't quite enough for Maggie's side in her growth, and for being a psychologist not enough insight. The way Maggie is portrayed in doing her psychology was completely in correct, even if she didn't blur lines. Her character is hard to believe, I know it's fiction!

The book was good enough, not spectacular, yet it had aspects that made it worth the time to read. A mild recommendation.



I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.