Dec 17

Dec 17 Western Lane

About the book

Author: Chetna Maroo
Publisher: FSG

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

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Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

I read Western Lane because it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and I enjoyed it. It’s a very quiet, interior novel that packs a punch much bigger than its slim size might suggest. At first glance, this is a coming of age novel about a girl named Gopi who plays squash, but really, it’s much more about a family dealing with grief as told through that girl’s eyes.

The emotional power of the book comes not from what is said by the characters, but by their silences, their unfinished sentences. On the one hand, I found this to be really impressive (and effective) from a craft perspective; on the other, I thought Gopi’s powers of observation made her feel much older than she was supposed to be (eleven years old). Sure, she was only noticing limited interactions, but her gaze was also focused enough that it led the audience to understand a great deal. In the end, though, this was a minor complaint; there’s no denying that Maroo is an ultra-talented writer and I’ll be interested to see what she does next.