Akiva Reads

by Nidhi Chanani

I liked the elements, but Pashmina doesn't quite manage to hang together, for me. The plot keeps darting in different directions, each of which could be the basis for an entire book (the ill-advised prayer which might have come true? mysterious family stuff? the difference between how you imagine a place and reality? straight up magic?), and then doesn't have time to resolve any of them satisfyingly. (A god shows up and tells you it's OK, the baby is going to be fine. You solved half the mysterious family stuff, but what is up with your aunt and uncle's relationship? The scarf is powerful because it shows women their options, and that's the thing that matters most!/Except how you imagine things is always different from how they are, and understanding the difference between fantasy and reality is what matters most! Yup straight up magic and ghosts all of a sudden at the end.)

The strongest thread is the one about the twin experiences of being an immigrant and being a child of the diaspora: colorful dreams that reality can't quite live up to, while also trying to distance yourself from the thing that wants to define you. That thread is enough to carry the book, you just have to live with the loose ends.