Amnesty by Aravind Adiga

“Premise of the plot was good but it didn’t work for me. Didn’t like the writing style – can’t say it was bad, but it didn’t connect with me. Very disjointed (which may be a deliberate reflection of the confused state of mind of the character but somehow it didn’t work). I expected to feel the tension build, and to be drawn in to the moral dilemma faced by Danny but I wasn’t. I didn’t believe the characters of Radha & Prakash and their relationship with Danny. I did enjoy the descriptions of Sydney though. “

” Thought this was a good idea for a story, but a lot of the details were annoying. Style of writing didn’t really suit me. Flashbacks not always obvious. The more anxious he got the less coherent the book was.Didn’t feel the other characters had much depth to them – they felt like cut-outs.”

” It was incredibly disjointed, and the opposite of a page-turner for me. For a short book it dragged on which is a shame as it was a good idea.”

“Found it a bit turgid. Didn’t really see why the timeline was just a few hours. Might have built the tension and sense of jeopardy more if it had been over a longer period. 

“I didn’t like the style and the disjointedness, but perhaps that was the point – the scrambled thoughts, panic, confusion and the moral dilemma. No sense of suspense for me and I didn’t warm to the style.”

 ” For a short book it took a long time to read. I found it a struggle. I found it slow and disjointed and I didn’t enjoy it.”

Overall: 2.3

Range: 2 – 3