DNF - Though this book had the makings of a good story (& I really appreciate the cover art), it ultimately didn't work for me. I couldn't get into the flow of the story's presentation & feel it would be better appreciated by another type of reader.

A lovely, gentle book about friendship, and food, for the full review go to https://www.tumblr.com/joebloggshere/737901246790467584/minor-disturbances-at-grand-life-apartments-by

Loved this!!! I am so glad I read it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review.

This debut is a microscopic gaze into the heart of London where lives unveil in a complex maze. Stories entwine as the owner of an apartment building is pressured to bend and each chapter unfolds struggles and identities of many characters living in it. From a god-fearing dentist learning of her daughter's secret to an attorney neighbour who entertains her. From an engineer exhausted by her mother's wish for her to be married to a chef who stalks his ex-girlfriend on the Internet. Within the apartment walls, dreams rearrange and destiny moulds in a metaphorical commentary on the thought of belonging.

Grand Life Apartments are a set of apartments in Chennai where the residents all live their own lives, not too involved with one another. When there's a planning application to build over their beloved shared garden however, the residents come together to fight for what they believe to be right. A sweet tale of neighbours and friendships, and fighting against corporations.

For some reason, I unfortunately, couldn’t get into this book.
I didn’t connect with the characters. I felt the storyline was very ‘slow’ and didn’t want to finish it.

"Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments" by Hema Sukumar is a poignant collection of stories that offer glimpses into the lives of the apartment residents. Sukumar's storytelling is emotionally charged, her characters diverse and relatable. These tales of ordinary people facing extraordinary moments are compelling and thought-provoking.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This book is an absolute joy and was delightful to read. It was as though I was living in the world of the Grand Life Apartments and was in awe of the joys that Chennai has to offer. I can't wait to read more from the author as time goes on.

I do, however, have to knock a star off for one of the characters being a bit homophobic towards their own child. Sorry.

The content of this book was quite unexpected. The story is of a converted bungalow which now has a few apartments. Since the number of apartments is minimal, so are the characters that make up the ensemble. I usually enjoy an eclectic mix of characters, and this was no exception. We have a mother who is feeling a little lonely after her daughter has moved abroad to study. She is the most orthodox of the lot, and the bombshell her daughter throws at the beginning of the narrative is very realistically handled. There is a friend who does not live in the building but plays an important role overall.
Another person is a working woman who is facing pressure from her mother to marry soon, and finally, we have a foreigner who decided to run away from his personal problems to this unexpected city and has his own share of issues. Although the owner of the building is a prominent person in the story, we do not get to hear his thoughts on things, which eliminated him from my above list.
Hearing three different voices with their own set of issues should have been chaotic, but it works with the overall theme of the book. As with most people who live in close proximity, time and circumstances make people work together in unexpected circumstances.
I spent a significant chunk of my life in Chennai, but I do not really qualify as a resident because I never stepped out of my circle of comfort. It was school and home, and on a few rare occasions, a few bus stops away to the library followed by a mall stop. I did not explore, nor was I ever comfortable enough to give suggestions to people. Despite that, I have known the people, and I think the author has done a decent job of bringing very real people onto the page. The people and their behaviour are quite feasible given the situations they find themselves in, and this in itself made my reading experience a good one.
There is no exact plot in the book, with each person finding themselves and their own aspirations. It may also work well as a starting place for a series if the author so chooses. I would not mind revisiting the characters and seeing how far they have come from where they began.
I would recommend this book as a glimpse into a slice of India, especially over a few others I may have come across earlier.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Beautifully written with a heartwarming story line and characters that I absolutely loved. I want to go to the Grand Life Apartments

This is one of those books I couldn’t help but get sucked into, and I found myself flying through. It's not much of a story, it takes time for these characters and their circumstances to be understood by the reader, and does a very good job providing an overview of what they are going through every day. The descriptions were so vivid that I felt like I was there too. All the sights and smells described add to the atmosphere, and the characters are much more than stereotypical cardboard cutouts.

Such a beautiful, charming feel good book.
All the characters are unique, likeable and relatable in their own ways, navigating their own lives and issues, but they all are often lonely until they join forces.
The descriptions in this book really make it, the settings, the gardens, landscape and even the smells and mention of food and cooking really bring you into the story.
A well written enjoyable, heartwarming feel good read, Chennai is now on my destination bucket list.

Grand Life Apartments is a middle class apartment block in a coastal town in India.
All the residents have their own unique stories and loved reading about their journeys.
What they do have in common is their love of where they live, so when a developer threatens to demolish the apartments they all pull together to fight for their beautiful apartment block.
A charming read, gently paced and well observed.
Thanks @hemasukumarwrites @hodderbooks @netgalley for the eARC

What a beautiful book. I felt lost in Chennai and the characters that Hema created. I didn’t want the book to end.

This is another Red Magazine recommendation – and I was lucky enough to be granted an ARC by Net Galley. Here’s the blurb:

“Grand Life Apartments is a middle-class apartment block surrounded by lush gardens in the coastal city of Chennai, India. It is the home of Kamala, a pious, soon-to-be retired dentist who spends her days counting down to the annual visits from her daughter who is studying in the UK. Her neighbour, Revathi, is a thirty-two-year-old engineer who is frequently reminded by her mother that she has reached her expiry date in the arranged marriage market. Jason, a British chef, has impulsively moved to India to escape his recent heartbreak in London.
The residents have their own complicated lives to navigate, but what they all have in common is their love of where they live, so when a developer threatens to demolish the apartments and build over the gardens, the community of Grand Life Apartments is brought even closer together to fight for their beautiful home…”

This is such a lovely summer read. There’s no sex, drugs or rock and roll in it – it’s a comfortable, safe, pleasant book – but I found it really informative about the city of Chennai and Indian food, culture and lifestyle.

You get to know each of the residents and their back stories as the book develops – and threaded through it all is the fact that Mani, the owner of the block, is being threatened by property developers who are desperate to knock down the apartments so they can develop a new property – as they have done at the sites either side.

Seeing India through Jason’s British eyes, is cleverly mirrored by seeing the UK through Kamala’s eyes when she goes on a trip to London and Oxford to see her daughter.

The respect shown by the younger residents to the older is lovely to see – and the fact that they call everyone Auntie or Uncle when they aren’t even related (I have seen this with friends of Indian heritage too, and in fact there are still people I call Auntie and Uncle as a 49 year old who aren’t relatives, but it’s less common in the UK now!)

It’s an escapist book – transporting you to Chennai from your sunlounger (or wherever you’re reading it from!) I can see it being turned into a perfect Sunday night escapist drama in the future.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC, it was released in July 2023, so you can buy it today.

This book is charming and entertaining. A group of diverse characters who are connected only by living at the Grand Life Apartments. This is on the face of it a straightforward feel good tale, but there are subtle depths and intelligence to the writing, which in the end leave you enriched. An excellent debut, and an author I will look out for in the future.

While Sukumar captures the sticky heat of the Calcutta summer, this book left me questioning whether I was its intended audience. It seems to be speaking to someone unfamiliar to this world; cracking open a window but never really opening the door. The characters are interesting enough yet their relationships to each other were not novel enough to be intriguing. There was an attention paid to everything in this world equally, overall feeling slightly flat.

3.5 stars

Pleasant, feel-good read set in India. Told from the viewpoints of three tenants in an apartment building, the story follows the ‘minor disturbances’ (e.g., career, family problems) each character’s life and their stories come together around saving the building from being torn down by an unscrupulous construction company. This is a character-driven, slow burn story that is easy to read and that has lots of descriptions of Indian culture and food. I did find that there could have been more to the plot to have better engaged me in the story.

Thanks to @hodderbooks and @netgalley for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Reva, Kamela, Jason and Mani all live in the Grand Life Apartments in Chennai. Some of them have lived there a very long time and others only a short time, but they all like where they live.
When constructors try to bully Mani into selling to them, even reverting to producing fraudulent documents, they don't expect him to stand his ground and take it to court.
A nice tale of interwoven stories all with the common ground of the Grand Life Apartments.
I loved reading this with it's descriptions, not only of the city and it's weather, but the food!

A heartwarming and uplifting novel about the everyday life of the residents of an apartment house. Each of them lives a life quite lonely till they join forces to save their home from speculation
Live the stiry, the characters and the storytelling
Recommended
Many thanks to the publisher, all opinions are mine