Saturday, February 5, 2022

Book Review - Dava Shastri's Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti

 


Dava Shastri is one of the world's wealthiest woman and she is well known for her sterling reputation. At the age of seventy, she was diagnosis with brain cancer. The news causes Dava's entire world to be turned upside down. Dava decides to take control of her death just like everything else in her life.

She decides to plan a trip with her four adult children to her private island to disclose the truth. She plans to tell them about her medical diagnosis along with arranging for the news of her death to break early so, she can read what people said about her.

Dava has dedicated her life to philanthropy and to helping others especially, to the arts and the empowerment of women. Dava was expecting to be praised on her philanthropic work. Instead, the news of her death reveals two secrets that Dava thought she buried forever. Not only is the truth exposed but, the entire world including her children know the truth.

As Dava tries to connect with her family with the limited time she has, she will also need  to come to terms with the decisions she has made while making peace with her family. Will Dava be able to connect and fix the frays with her family before it's too late?

I thought the novel had an interesting premise and it was as a heart warming read. At times, I felt like the book did drag on. I had a hard time connecting with some of the characters and including, Dava. I felt like she was very much focused on what she wanted to do that sometimes. I felt like she took her children for granted and want they needed from her. I also found it weird that she wanted to take care of all her children except for one child who seemed the most like her. I thought that the author had way too many characters in the beginning and at one point, it seems that she herself got two names mixed up. I was also confused why the author picked to write this story in the future as there wasn't many futuristic elements except the time Dava went to space. Overall, the novel was a good attempt at a debut and has some thought-provoking moments.

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