I loved this book! LOVED LOVED LOVED it. The writing was immensely
beautiful. I won't use this space to describe the plot, I will just use
it to list the quotes that melted my heart. If you could see my book, I
have little napkin pieces marking my favorite pages throughout the
book. It looks like my book had a cold with as many tissues and napkins
sticking out of its openings.
"She was different from all the
women Lalit knew. She cast her eyes down like a timid girl, but when he
met her gaze for the first time, those same eyes gave him a shock.
There was a glow in them, and a hissing, like drops of water falling
into fire." pg. 14
"She cast her eyes down so as not to scorch her patient listener with the fire in them, and began her story." pg. 20
"He slept a refreshing, light, and dreamless sleep -- a sleep as blue as air."
"'He
doesn't look at all like a hero,' said the young women, pulling their
scarves over their faces when the stranger rode by. Not to protect
themselves from the dust, and not to hide their beauty. Farhad knew
they were hiding behind veils to preserve the illusion of beauty. The
newcomer, who hadn't seen all those hooked noses and crooked teeth,
could imagine them as perfect. He knew all about the tricks women
played." pg. 94
"The day was blue. As blue as melancholy. A vague sadness weighed down on it, and fell on Raka's slender shoulders." pg. 156
"The
first drops were joined by countless others, and, seconds later, water
was cascading from the clouds as if someone had turned the ocean upside
down and emptied it over the earth." pg. 171
"Farhad made himself
go slowly through the water. If he tried to run, he'd scare the water,
as Nitish would put it, and the talkative water would tell everyone he
was running away." pg. 207
"The cows of India are sacred, but
that doesn't mean that anyone feeds them. They wander city streets,
live on garbage, and after a while they starve to death in a very sacred
way." pg. 212
"The fire was spreading and, to the tiger's
horror, it was growing. It was here, there, and everywhere. He tried
to tread on it, but it bit his paw. He withdrew the paw and licked it
in confusion." pg. 289-290
"Her lips were not like rose petals,
not like silk and velvet, not like the tender colors of dawn over the
desert, or like the breath of the evening wind.
"Her lips were as rough as her hands, rough from the desert sand.
"Lips
like the storm that blinds you among the dunes, like the desert's
unbearable heat, like the trunks of palm trees in the oases, like the
blazing sun at noon, like the sky just before it darkens with the rain
that so seldom comes.
"Raka did not withdraw.
"Lalit tasted all the colors of India in her mouth." pg. 302
"He
put out the fire on his head, but the next moment he saw the fire climb
down the shed. Now it began eating its way forward across the field
like a greedy caterpillar." pg. 318
"'I'm not just any old
tiger,' he replied. 'I'm a sacred tiger. The gods made me to run races
with the wind. And you found me because it was my fate to carry you.
Are you trying to tell me there's such a thing as coincidence in the
world?'" pg. 357
"He took Farhad's shirt in his teeth, hauled him
to his feet, and the storm attacked them again with all its might. But
now they had a purpose. And even in a sandstorm, it's difficult to
stop someone with a purpose." pg. 382
"Lalit and Lagan
Indian love is always taboo,
and smells of cardamom.
It tastes of chili, of spices, too.
Come, it says softly, come.
Indian love is red as rage
and deep, deep blue as sorrow.
It is not easy, it is not kind,
it may not see tomorrow.
In Indian gardens, Indian love
rustles like leaves in the wind.
And should two lovers in that grove
be both of the same mind,
the wind will have this tale to tell
of longing, grief, and death;
They loved not wisely but too well
they loved to their last breath." pg. 412
"She slipped out of Lalit's embrace like a fish." pg. 415
"As
usual, everyone else was stronger than him. He had learned to serve,
to obey, to avoid trouble, and no one had ever taught him to rebel.
because there was no point in it, he told himself. Because rebels
always lost out in the end." pg. 416
"'She is beautiful,' he
whispered. 'Much more beautiful than in the picture in your amulet. But
there's nothing soft and yielding about her beauty. She is wild as the
desert, brave as a tiger, lonely as the sun, and timorous as the
rain.'" pg. 423
"Lagan opened the door to the garden, and Raka
went out into it one last time. the fragrance of the nocturnal flowers
mingled with the moonlight, weaving invisible fabric to clothe her naked
body." pg. 440
There are still so many more beautiful passages
to quote. It is really a very well-written lovely book. It is perfect
in its imperfection. This isn't a book that follows a formula to be
sure.
"And so this story ends as it began.
"In chaos.
"In India." pg. 438
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