The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff was a book group assignment. I listened on Libby. It was just over 13 hours.
Of my goodness. This was a hard book to start.
We started this book in audio (Libby) on a one hour drive. I was driving, middle was with me. We got about 30 minutes in and paused, I was struggling.
Middle looked up the book on SuperSummary and very carefully explained the characters to me. They were all foreign names, story takes place in a village in India, which is always tough for me.
The next day, on my own, I started the book over from the beginning. Then I was fine.
I used this same technique with the first Thursday Murder Club book. I had a hard time with all the characters. I think I was 4-5 chapters into The Thursday Murder Club and started over. Then I was fine and could keep everyone straight.
I actually enjoyed this book very much after I got going the second time. I got used to the names. I was able to keep the characters straight.
I did not look up any of the India/cultural references. I did not look up any of the foreign words. I just let the story roll over me.
Going into my book group meeting, I had no idea what the others would think.
A few of us liked the book. We agreed that it got better as we read. A couple of us agreed it was a farce.
Several started the book and did not finish. Others read it, but did not like it.
It would be interesting to have someone originally from India, now living in the USA, read it.
It seemed to be deep in India culture, but was written by a girl who grew up in up in the USA and went to college in Texas. I caught USA references (like raccoons).
So it was hard to tell if her version of the India culture was correct. It would be interesting to know what her relatives from India think of her book.
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff is the only title listed under this author. It is her first book.
There is a detailed author bio, and the story behind this book, here -
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/parini-shroff/
