Circa: A Novel
4.5/5
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About this ebook
For fans of The Burning Girl by Claire Messud and Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi, a stunning, gut-punch of a novel that follows a young Indian American woman who, in the wake of tragedy, must navigate her family's expectations as she grapples with a complicated love and loss.
On the cusp of her eighteenth birthday, Heera and her best friends, siblings Marie and Marco, tease the fun out of life in Raleigh, North Carolina, with acts of rebellion and delinquency. They paint the town’s water towers with red anarchy symbols and hang out at the local bus station to pickpocket money for their Great Escape to New York. But no matter how much Heera defies her strict upbringing, she’s always avoided any real danger—until one devastating night changes everything.
In its wake, Marco reinvents himself as Crash and spends his days womanizing and burning through a string of jobs. Meanwhile, Heera’s dream to go to college in New York is suddenly upended. Over the years, Heera’s and Crash’s paths cross and recross on a journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, and betrayals.
Heart-wrenching, darkly funny, and buoyed by gorgeous prose, Circa is at once an irresistible love story and a portrait of a young woman torn between duty and her own survival, between obligation and freedom.
Devi S. Laskar
DEVI S. LASKAR is the author of The Atlas of Reds and Blues, which won the Asian/Pacific American Award and the Crook’s Corner Book Prize, and was named a finalist for the Northern California Book Awards. She is an alumna of the OpEd Project and VONA and holds an MFA from Columbia University. Originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Reviews for Circa
4 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5"Your story does not begin with you; It inevitably begins with your parents. And their story does not begin with them..."Happy paperback release day to this absolute gem of a book Circa by Devi S. Laskar! Thanks to @marinerbooks for the gifted copy.I don't know what made me pick up this book knowing it was going to be a sad book. After reading this one and seeing Marco (Crash) and Heera's emotional journey through grief, I know that it was just what I needed to be reading while still navigating my own grief about losing one of my best friends recently. He was like a brother to me and I totally related to how Heera was so stuck in her grief when Marie died. Reading this one gave me permission and validation and grieve in my own way and to move forward at my own pace.Grief shows up in so many ways. Laskar's multiple POV's helps the reader see grief in several forms: leaving your home country, losing a loved one, losing a child, losing your health, and unaccomplished goals. The author's writing was so gorgeous & poetic that it managed to convey so much beauty despite the pain. I loved that she showed how grief can manifest as disobedience, risk taking, disassociate and juvenile delinquency. Grief can also sometimes cause survivors to stay stuck in that moment when their loved one died. Moving through grief can be messy and from the outside looking in can appear more dangerous than painful. Sometimes decisions made while going through grief aren't always the best but patience and understanding go a long way in helping someone grieving come out on the other side ready to continue life. That's one of the biggest takeaways I got from this one.I loved Heera's character because I could relate to her struggles of being raised in between two worlds, two nations and two lifestyles. Her parent's trauma about having to leave their country played out in their hypervigilance and worry about her losing her traditions. I also really enjoyed how they showed the healing power of art & how instrumental art is for identity & self expression. If you love emotional, coming of age stories that tackle the complexities of being a child of Asian immigrants, read this one.