Customer Reviews

The Wonder House

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Ms. Hardy's previous non-fiction books are the reason I purchased The Wonder House. Although the characters are depicted accurately, the book jumps around too much and the reason for one character's deafness is unclear until the very end of the book. I'd like to see more non-fiction from Ms. Hardy rather than another novel.

More vivid, and yet more true to life than any non-fiction account of the war torn mountain paradise of Kashmir this extraordinary book brings the place alive in all its beauty and horror. You get a visceral sense of the gorgeousness of Kashmir: the mountain light on the lakes, the scent of the pine forests, the handsomeness and humor of the people. But it also takes you deep into a brutal counter-insurgency war in a way that is fair to all sides but brings home the human cost of violence. Indeed there are times in 'the Wonder House' when it's all but impossible not to cry. This is one of the most important and powerful novels written about South Asia in many years.

My eyes happened to caught the cover of The Wonder House as I made my way out of the bookstore. I was elated to discovery that the story took place in my homeland- Kashmir. However, I was throughly disappointed after finishing the book at the complete lack of historic accuracy and the biased against the Indian army. Besides the factual portion of the novel, I wasn't impressed by the writing style- at certain times extremely noncongruent, choppy sentences. The jumping around of different viewpoints made the novel diffiult to follow.

Also I wish the author had concluded the novel with a little more death. The murder of the main character was left completely unresolved.