Book 74 - A Quiet Dissonance by Poornima Manco

Reading date - April 2021

I try and read books by authors from a similar background as myself as I feel there is a massive gap in the market for this.  This book is written by a brown woman about a brown woman who is the same age as me but this lady (Anu) has a husband and a child.

The book focuses on Anu and her life in England, where she tries to balance fitting in with the mums at the school where her daughter Neha goes, her mum, her overbearing cousin and her relationship with her husband.  

I really liked this book, it is split into three parts and follows Anu going through her day to day life, coping with a mother who was always distant, a daughter in primary school and having to negotiate her friendship groups.

I have been reading a lot of thrillers recently and kept expecting a twist but once I got it into my head that this book would not have a twist, it was a very enjoyable read.  

The characters are well written, I like the additions of Punjabi/Hindi works in the book and how it welded the western aspect of life with the eastern aspect of life that brown people have to weld together.

I also liked how Anu questioned herself on certain things that the women at school did, wondering if she had missed things because she was not familiar with this culture or because the women were just being bitches.  We have all been in places where we are made to feel as if we are not good enough for certain things and these encounters have left us wondering what is wrong with us.

At times, I found myself not liking Anu's husband but as the story progressed, I could see why he was behaving the way he was.

This book resonates with me a lot in certain parts.  I did find one mistake in it, though...at the end of one of the chapters, I believe it is Chapter 14 (the last chapter in Part 2), the author confuses Anu and Neha and the text states that Neha was doing X when it should say that Anu was doing X.

My second minor complaint about it is the incorrect usage of places.  I feel that if you are using an actual place then you should get the geography correct, as otherwise, you could just make it up.  The author refers to Southall but also calls a road "King's Street" when it is actually "King Street". 

I would definitely recommend this book, I enjoyed reading it.