Smashbomb

'Impression of A Dillemma' at first glance, looks as if it's going to be a crime based novel. However, it's much more than that.

This is a book which revolves around several diverse, quirky, but believable characters and their take on the same, shocking event. This book really gets into the minds of these characters and is very well written. I liked the almost poetic flow of the writing and the gentle humour.

In some novels which have multiple characters, in the end, they all become indistinguishable. However with this novel, everyone is completely different.

There was one character in particular, who at first, took some time for me to connect with. In reflection, I think this was good, because not many books include characters with such a quirky way of expressing themselves. So for this reason, I wouldn't say that this was a negative, but a change from having 'conventional' characters.

The pace of the novel was very good, at no point did it drag, I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

In fact, when I reached the end of the book, although I felt that it's ending was satisfactory, I couldn't help feeling like I wanted to know more about what the characters were going to do next. I'm not sure whether there will be any more books containing these characters or whether it's a stand alone novel, but I would be quite happy to read more about them, because they are so diverse and interesting.

I would definitely recommend this novel, if you like something quirky.

Kudos

ClareR (5726 KP) rated Home Fire in Books

Nov 15, 2017

Home Fire

Kamila Shamsie | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry

9.0

(4 Ratings)

Book Rating

An interesting view of Islamophobia and muslims living in the UK.

The story of a Muslim family living in London, persecuted by the ghost of their jihadi father. Narrated by five protagonists, who express five different views on today's attitudes of being Muslim in a western country: (non) respect towards religions, the traditional vs modern, what it means to be a Muslim in today's world, and in particular, it's the story of stigmatisation. An interesting, topical story that shows our diverse world, and how we MUST look at what is causing radicalisation.
One of my books of the year.