Release: May 5th 2020
Format: Ebook
Publisher: One World
Source: Amazon
Find it at: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N
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A sweeping, lyrical debut about the love and longing between humanity and the earth itself, by a major new literary talent from India
A spellbinding work of literature, Latitudes of Longing follows the interconnected lives of characters searching for true intimacy. The novel sweeps across India, from an island, to a valley, a city, and a snow desert to tell a love story of epic proportions. We follow a scientist who studies trees and a fortune teller who speaks to them. Also a geologist working to end futile wars over a glacier. We come across octogenarian lovers. a mother struggling to free her revolutionary son. And a yeti who seeks human companionship. There is also a turtle who transforms first into a boat and then a woman. And finally there is the ghost of an evaporated ocean as restless as the continents. Binding them all together is a vision of life as vast as the universe itself.
A young writer awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in India for this novel, Shubhangi Swarup is a storyteller of extraordinary talent and insight. Richly imaginative and wryly perceptive, Latitudes of Longing offers a soaring view of humanity. Our beauty and ugliness, our capacity to harm and love each other, and our mysterious and sacred relationship with nature.
About the Author:
Shubhangi Swarup is a writer and educator. Latitudes of Longing, her debut novel, was a bestseller soon after its release in India. Besides, it won the Tata Literature Live Award for debut fiction. Also it was on the shortlist for the JCB Prize for Indian Literature, and on the longlist for the International Dublin Literary Award 2020 and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.
She got the Charles Pick Fellowship award for creative writing at the University of East Anglia, and has also won awards for gender sensitivity in feature writing. She lives in Mumbai..
Latitudes of Longing Review:
You know how there are books that you hear rave reviews about and are dying to read it? But when you get to read it, invariably, there is some disappointment. “Latitudes of Longing” seems to be one of those books.
Don’t get me wrong; I enjoyed the first half of this book a lot when it revolved around Girija Prasad and Chanda Devi. The story also progressed well as Devi grew up and Girija Prasad contemplates his life. The story yet continues nicely with Mary, Plato, and Thapa. However, post that part, I felt the story was all over the place. While I appreciate what the author was trying to portray, I thought she was trying to cover a lot. As they say, sometimes less is more. There are very few instances where I lose track of what is happening in the story, especially towards the end, but that is what I thought of the book.
Nevertheless, I do feel that this is an impressive debut. The author has a beautiful style of writing, where the characters contemplate their existence and actions as the story progresses. She has a beautiful writing style, which borders on lyrical with her exquisite methods of using symbolism and metaphors. The characters are also charming, and I loved some of them, like Mary and Girija Prasad. There were also difficult moments to read, like the miscarriage and how it affected the couple’s lives. Had the story stayed consistent with a good plot, I think this would have been a fantastic book to read.
Overall, I would recommend “Latitudes of Longing” if you are solely looking for a beautifully written story that makes you ponder, irrespective of the plot. However, this book turned out to be an average read for me.
