{"id":45841,"date":"2019-09-23T11:12:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T15:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=45841"},"modified":"2019-09-13T12:37:20","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T16:37:20","slug":"the-far-field-by-vijay-madhuri-in-library-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-far-field-by-vijay-madhuri-in-library-journal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Far Field by Vijay Madhuri [in Library Journal]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Sometimes, pushing “stop” before a book’s end might be the best course of action. Seasoned reader Sneha Mathan provides her usual nuanced, affecting narration throughout the 14 hours here, yet even her resonating performance can’t prevent the frustration of a stupendous story that veers fatally toward abject disappointment.<\/p>\n

Still living at home in Bangalore, India, with her widowed father, 30-year-old Shalini remains unmoored, unable to recover from her capricious mother’s suicide. After being fired from her job, she heads to Kashmir \u2013 India’s most politically unstable region \u2013 in search of a traveling salesman who used to visit her mother during her childhood; only with this man did her mother ever seem to be truly engaged and joyous. Despite having only the slightest details about Bashir, Shalini miraculously finds his family in a remote Himalayan village and is welcomed by the charming daughter-in-law, who offers Shalini her first experience of true friendship.<\/p>\n

Vijay’s debut is initially \u2013 mostly \u2013 a gorgeous narrative of love and loss, hope and betrayal, intertwined with a hauntingly insightful introduction to a population constantly under threat. That breathtaking story \u2013 even enhanced by Mathan’s empathic reading \u2013 turns sucker-punch when Shalini’s na\u00efve entitlement and blinding privilege lead the story into devastating predictability.<\/p>\n

Review<\/strong>: “Audio,” Library Journal<\/em>, April 1, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, pushing “stop” before a book’s end might be the best course of action. Seasoned reader Sneha Mathan provides her usual nuanced, affecting narration throughout the 14 hours here, yet even her resonating performance can’t prevent the frustration of a stupendous story that veers fatally…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,81,6,52,53,6535,17,18],"tags":[84,6608,75,10,8631,70,13,8632,129,39,837,195],"class_list":["post-45841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-audio","category-fiction","category-indian","category-indian-american","category-repost","category-south-asian","category-south-asian-american","tag-betrayal","tag-bookdragon","tag-death","tag-family","tag-far-field","tag-library-journal","tag-love","tag-madhuri-vijay","tag-mother-daughter-relationship","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-sneha-mathan","tag-suicide"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Far Field by Vijay Madhuri [in Library Journal] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-far-field-by-vijay-madhuri-in-library-journal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Far Field by Vijay Madhuri [in Library Journal] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes, pushing “stop” before a book’s end might be the best course of action. Seasoned reader Sneha Mathan provides her usual nuanced, affecting narration throughout the 14 hours here, yet even her resonating performance can’t prevent the frustration of a stupendous story that veers fatally...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-far-field-by-vijay-madhuri-in-library-journal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-23T15:12:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-13T16:37:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/09\/Far-Field-Madhuri-Vijay-BookDragon.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Far Field by Vijay Madhuri [in Library Journal] - BookDragon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-far-field-by-vijay-madhuri-in-library-journal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Far Field by Vijay Madhuri [in Library Journal] - BookDragon","og_description":"Sometimes, pushing “stop” before a book’s end might be the best course of action. 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