Comments on: A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar | Review

By: Christie Kline

Christie Kline — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 00:23:12 +0000

I loved this. So unusual and I thoroughly enjoyed the chapters being numbered and out of order. Probably the best and certainly the most interesting book I’ve read this year. I love a book that can take everything unfamiliar (small town, desert setting, low-income, untethered, lack of power) and combine it with emotions with which we are all familiar so that empathy is right there and inevitable. This is one of those books that makes me say, “THIS, right here, is why I read!” Thanks for your review. I don’t think I would have come across it otherwise.

By: Susie

Susie — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 04:47:05 +0000

In reply to Maureen. You are so sweet! I'm so happy to hear both A Prayer for Travelers and We Came Here to Forget are working for you. (Put a hold on The Dearly Beloved. It's amazing!)

By: Maureen

Maureen — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 12:19:22 +0000

In reply to Susie.

I am really enjoying the book (all your recommendations are usually spot on). It is really good! I love how you include good audiobooks too. I am listening to We Came Here to Forget as an audiobook since you recommended that one too. It is so great!

Your blog is wonderful and I always look forward to see what books get a high grade from you as I then either buy it or request it from the library 🙂

Thank you!

By: Susie

Susie — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 00:56:41 +0000

In reply to Maureen. Thank YOU, Maureen for your kind words. I'm so happy to hear that my reviews help you to find great books. I have another really wonderful book coming up on Tuesday, so stay tuned. How'd you feel about A prayer for Travelers as you got further along?

By: Maureen

Maureen — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 15:52:31 +0000

I could not understand the reason for the numbers on each chapter since they went out of order. I am a quarter of the way through and had to come back to your blog to read why they were labeled this way. I will only read the books you give an A- or higher. Your recommendations are always great. I enjoy this blog very much…thank you!

By: Susie

Susie — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 00:34:04 +0000

No, I don’t think there would be any reason to reread, but I liked that she numbered them as she did. I did use the numbers to go back a few times.

By: Susie

Susie — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 00:33:12 +0000

In reply to susan. I thought the numbering of the chapters was brilliant. Had you read them in order of the numbers, it still would have been an interesting story, just linear, so less of a mystery. Toward the end I was going back and looking at the preceding chapters by their numbers to recall exactly what had just happened. Glad you enjoyed it.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 23:43:33 +0000

Beautiful review, Susie! I’ve already admitted that I had no idea the chapters were out of order, but I realized I just ignored the numbers. So many authors these days don’t use a linear timeline, that I read the story as is. Which is to say- I don’t feel like I need to re-read the novel because I missed something! And I, too, am anxious to see what she does next.

By: susan

susan — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 21:19:47 +0000

I think I read this one because of your initial post. I like desert settings! For the most part, I enjoyed it and I’m pretty much a sucker for coming-of-age tales & friendship stories. I just wrote my review — my only quibbles about it were about the ending and numbering the chapters out of order, otherwise I found it a pretty solid debut.

By: Susie

Susie — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 05:13:23 +0000

In reply to RK. Thanks, RK. This one is every bit as good as Sweetbitter, but also very different.