I loved the first half of this book. The unstated romance, the beautiful, lyrical, descriptive writing was captivating as well as the unique story line and characters. Unfortunately, I couldn't get through the second half. The violence, the depravity, the scenes described were just too overwhelming for me to continue reading this book.

TLDR: I fell head over heels in love with this book.

Latitudes of Longing is a debut novel by Shubhangi Swarup that is poetic without being flowery, sophisticated without being pretentious and tender without being cutesy. The writing reminds me of The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni but the complexity is reminiscent of Love in the Time of Cholera.

This book is beautiful and the opening story of Girija Prasad and Chanda Devi paints such a warm portrait of romance and what it means to be in love and grow with another person.

The image of an old man, standing naked with an erection as he’s about to die should not be the emotional climax of a love story and it is a testament to Swarup’s ability as a writer that I was able to take that moment seriously and also be satisfied with it.

There is so much detail and poetry to chew that this a novel that I will go back to and re-read so that I can pick up on characters or side stories I might have missed. Latitudes of Longing was one of my most anticipated releases of 2020 and I highly recommend it. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ out of five

This was an intriguing read with a cast of strong characters to match the gorgeous landscapes. At times I got lost in the prose and sidetracked from the storyline. Altogether worth the read and definitely one I’d recommend.