The Halfways

The Halfways by Nilopar Uddin

Reviewed by Linda
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Many thanks to @hqstories for this copy!

The premise of this book definitely got me interested. In a multigenerational novel, with multiple character POVs, a British-Bangladeshi family uncovers a shocking secret after the patriarch's death and many revelations in between.

We meet two sisters Nasrin and Sabrina whose world is torn apart by the sudden death of their father, Shamsur. Both lead successful lives in New York and London, a far cry from the Brecon Beacons where they grew up with their parents running the only South Asian restaurant in the area.
The best parts of this novel were set in Wales around the family home and it was great to read about Sylheti culture too and some Sylheti words peppered throughout the novel. Following Shamsur's death, the mother's grief was palpable and her character was a complex and well-written one.

The author chooses to focus on the sisters' relationship with one another, their different motivations for leaving home highlighting their cultural identities and internal conflicts that they both have for being British, Bengali, Muslim, and brown.
As a result, I felt that some of these themes were overdone. One sister is married to a white man and is confused whilst the other sister goes to every extreme to dissociate with any heritage link, which became quite tiring and chaotic to read. On the whole, I found both sisters annoying and lacking in depth which made it hard for me to root for either of them.
It is true that no family is without its drama, but the ending in this book is something out of a Bollywood film that I didn't find necessary following the multiple heavy themes which the reader has already had to endure. To achieve maximum effect, I wished the author toned it down a little and spent time on a few key themes and events rather than everything all at once.

Ps. How stunning is this cover?😍