A review by zoeelizabethk
Kantika by Elizabeth Graver

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If you liked Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, you need to try Kantika! Kantika was an incredible reading experience. I was sucked into this multigenerational story that follows a Sephardic Jewish family from Turkey to Spain to America and beyond. Graver has a mesmerizingly poetic, quite personal way of writing her characters, and I felt everything with them. Kantika explores Jewishness, the reality of being strangers in a foreign land, what women must sacrifice and might gain through that sacrifice, life lost and love found, wounds inflicted and healed.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Gail Shalan, and it was an ideal way to read Kantika. Gail did a superb job with the narration.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for an audioARC in exchange for an honest review.