A Light and Engaging Read - East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

I thought that beginning a blog about the books I’ve read was a great way for me to keep track of what I’ve read, as well as sharing my reading disasters and joys with others.

So with that in mind, here’s my first entry.  I just finished reading East of the Sun by Julia Gregson.  On the whole, this book was entertaining and easy to read (a pleasure as I’d just made my way through a much denser text).  It tells the story of three girls who are headed to India for varying reasons.  Their friendship grows on the cruise and blossoms further while they are in Bombay.  The writer uses a familiar technique to relay the story, using the voices of multiple characters.  On the whole, this strategy works quite well and really helped me to see how the characters evolved throughout the book.  In particular, I found one character (Tor) to be quite abominable for the first third of the book, but as you watched her evolve, she became much more likeable and was arguably my favorite character by the time the book ended.  It also enables readers to explore in depth the girls’ differing experiences, to see how acculturating to India depends on your status and reason for being there in the first place.  The plot was quite predictable, but this didn’t really matter as long as you simply immersed yourself in the girls’ new lives.  If you’re heading out on vacation and need something quite easy to read, consider picking this one up—I'm sure it will engage you.

3/5 Stars