What do readers think of Evening Is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan? Write your own review.

I couldn't put this book down, which is saying a lot. The detail was amazing, the characters so well drawn. I only wish there had been some bit of joy, some hope; a multi-layered, beautifully done tragedy.

Evening is the Whole Day is a beautifully written novel about a wealthy Indian family in Malaysia. Everything is not as it seems in this epic family saga and Samarasan utilizes rich prose and well-developed characters in unveiling the many layers of the families dark secrets. The story is told from various points of view in a seamless and unconfusing way. A wonderful book!

I am enjoying the book very much.

Set in Malaysia, the novel revolves around one immigrant Indian family and yet includes so much more--history, politics, race, class, and gender issues. Samarasan's creative imagery paints vivid pictures. In the scene where Amma discovers her suitor is missing the sense of smell because he is blithely unaware of the horrendous odor permeating the dining room, Samarasan writes "In the heavens a chorus of angels with clothes pegs on their ethereal noses began to sing..." Telling the story "in reverse" is akin to visiting a psychiatrist, as we begin to see how and why things are the way they are. Containing a touch of magical realism, this book is a wonderful, fascinating read.

Preeta Samarasan's debut book is an energizing and colorful painting of a family's complex web of lies and secrets. Personally, the reason I read fiction is to escape and become a part of someone else's reality. Here I found myself so taken in by Malaysia, the place, the people and utterly caught in the "high drama" of the family history of the Rajasekharan's. Her story comes to life in each of the characters with a refreshing sense of humor. I couldn't wait to read each page!

Preeta Samarasan weaves language, time and characters in such a way as to carry the reader into a different culture and history. She creates an even web, teaching and enchanting even as each event and person come to life, showing that what one sees at a given moment in time is really a layered reality that can never be known without all the normally imperceptible small daily realities. Malaysia, its turbulent history and peoples, comes alive in minuscule happenings as they unfold in Samarasan’s impeccable arrangement of time and people. Her people live and breathe, carrying us into their tumultuous yet somnolent life in a spellbinding story that one hates to finish.

Evening is The Whole Day takes place almost entirely inside of one house, and yet it feels like it contains a whole world. As the story begins, the household is in turmoil. We know something terrible has happened, but exactly what took place is unclear. Samarasan takes us deep inside of many characters, and back in time, until we can see the whole, inevitable conclusion. Although the setting was far away and long ago - Malaysia in the 1970's - the family dramas, the generational conflicts, the societal differences, felt universal. Absorbing and compelling, the language was so vivid, so sharp, that I didn't mind the slow pace of the action. A masterful first novel.

Just a few paragraphs into Preeta Samarasan's novel I knew this was an author that would be one to watch. Her prose takes us deep into the the very nuance of each and every player surrounding a fateful day in a young girls life. The author has that rare talent to take us to another country during it's political upheaval and teach us it's rich history and traditions while maintaining a grip on the passions and feelings of the people involved. Powerfully packed sentences that tell a story in each one.