I enjoyed the characters immensely and I found the story, while centered around Dava's self-absorption, to be thought provoking and fun. The family dynamic was honest and realistic. I enjoyed this one.


I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

4.5 stars.

This was an absolutely pleasant surprise. A well-written contemporary debut that nearly knocked my socks off. The writing is beautiful and has a lovely flow in a way somewhat reminiscent of Taylor Jenkins Reid. The characters were well-crafted with good thought to histories and individual personalities. The result was a balanced family that felt realistic and true to ages, genders, and birth orders.

Dava is a protagonist who becomes increasingly unlikable as the plot progresses and truths are revealed. This was an interesting approach and will likely divide readers. I don't necessarily need to like my protagonist to like the story as a whole, but some will be turned off by Dava's worldview and her tendency toward egocentricity.

The story itself is poignant and thoughtful. There is a lot of consideration of death and legacy, of what should be left behind when someone dies. The book also addresses (in a sideways glance) how life should be lived and what things are really important to being a "good person". Dava herself has a complex character, but there is a lot of selfishness to her that she thought was altruism. Perspective is important. Though she was doing things to benefit the less fortunate, she did so at the expense of healthy relationships with her family. Her legacy will be one thing to the public and quite another to her children. This made for a good thought piece.

The narrative is a bit languid and the pacing could cause problems for some readers. It reads a bit like a mix of contemporary and literary fiction, so there is a lot of slow introspection that could create a bit of a slog for those focused on plot rather than character development. For me, however, I found that this was meticulously crafted and I really enjoyed learning the bits of history and the tangled webs of interaction and destruction Dava had left behind her. She "had it all", but really she was just like everyone else deep down...making mistakes and poor choices, struggling to do things the right way.

I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. I felt like there was a lot of emotional content that caused me to evaluate my own life and the importance of staying focused on the most important things throughout your life...and the understanding that those "important things" may not be the same for each person. An incredibly thought-provoking narrative that will stick with me and a very impressive debut novel.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

I was very intrigued by the premise of Dava Shastri's Last Day: upon learning that she is terminally ill, matriarch and wealthy philanthropist Dava Shastri gathers her family together before she completes medically assisted suicide. She fakes her death to the public so that she can see how she will be remembered while she is still alive. Her hopes and expectations for her legacy do not go according to plan: two secrets from her life take over the narrative. I found this element most compelling: how our actions will be interpreted is out of our hands once we've made our choices.

However, I found myself largely baffled by this book. Other reviewers have commented on struggling to like Dava and her children. While I agree, I also acknowledge that a protagonist need not be relatable or even likeable. Instead, I struggled to understand Dava, despite spending nearly 400 pages with her. Part of my trouble certainly stems from how remote the problems of these incredibly privileged, obscenely wealthy characters feel. Perhaps I was hoping for more of a soap opera from these characters. Despite the tediousness of the characters' emotional lives, I found this book fairly readable.

Do you like messy family dynamics and drama? Ever think that the deceased would care to know what is said about them after they die? Dava Shastri’s Last Day is for you!

Dava is the matriarch of her family as well as CEO of her multiple philanthropic organizations. As one of the most famous people on the planet, she is too curious to read about her own obituary before she dies from terminal brain cancer. Dava is so obsessed with her legacy after she passes that she has her death announced to the media a few days before her actual death from physician-assisted suicide (which is legal in this reality). She then spends the next few days trying to bond with her children and grandchildren in her secluded winter lodge, but what she really does is assign them unwanted projects for them to continue her philanthropist legacy after she dies.

We get to explore Dava and her children’s backstories through a series of flashbacks during Dava’s final days on Earth. Since the media is more interested in Dava’s relationship scandals and possible secret love-child over her philanthropic legacy, her family naturally wants answers, much to Dava’s chagrin. She laments that “no matter what a woman achieves, she is always reduced to her sex life,” (my favorite line from the book!).

The book takes place over the course of a few days, starting from when the family arrives at their vacation home to Dava’s death. Every member of the Shastri-Persson family is incredibly flawed. I would never choose to be friends with any of them, but that’s what makes the book so interesting to read. If you are looking for a book with non-linear character development, Dava could be for you!

Dava’s four children are surprisingly resentful of their mother, but we come to understand their perspectives as well. My favorite character was Dava, because even though she has selfish and obsessive tendencies, starting with her preoccupation regarding her legacy, she definitely cares about empowering women and raising a happy family. Dava’s children on the other hand, who are half-Indian and half-Swedish, are woefully unaware of their privilege

One of the reasons I couldn’t give this book a higher rating was all the 70s and 80s pop song references throughout the book. I guess I am out of the loop on the popularity and importance of some of these songs. I also got a little bored without a change in scenery. Dava and her kids have many flashbacks as they reflect on Dava’s life, but the entirety of the story takes place over a week at the house. Despite all the scene changes, the book still has a slow pace.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and Kirthana Ramisetti for a gifted ARC and eARC in exchange for an honest review. As an Indian-American, I really enjoyed reading my first piece of “literary” fiction by a South Asian woman!

This is a very beautifully written and thought provoking book about family, life, and love. I love books that tackle people, their flaws, and forgiveness, and this was a lovely meditation on those topics.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Dava Shastri's Last Day started strong for me but I found the background of all the surrounding characters to lack depth. I was more interested in Dava rather than her children's backstories.
I had high hopes and ended up disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! I actually was given access to this read after it had already been published. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As a South Indian - American reader, so much of this book spoke to me. Every single mention of rasam, one of my comfort foods, made me so happy, and it was wonderful to see the four children refer to their mother as "Amma", the same way I do. Beyond this, I thought the diversity was overall great, as so many different identities were represented through this story. I also thought the premise was rather original -- somewhat like a future version of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but completely different at the same time.

That being said, I felt that the book generally was a bit too slow-paced for my liking. The premise was interesting and I love a multiple POV character-driven story as much as the next person, but it definitely dragged throughout and took me way longer than I would've liked to finish. I also felt that there was more room for development for some of the characters. I'd give this somewhere from 3-3.5 stars overall!

Oh, SmartGirls! I have just finished reading the most wonderful book! Dava Shastri's Last Day by Krithana Ramisetti is absolutely fantastic. Dava Shastri is a wealthy philanthropist whose life's purpose has been to make her own name synonymous with giving and making the world a better place. When the time comes for the end of her life, she gathers her family around her and reflects on whether or not she has been successful. Her four children, their spouses, and their children are all together on the family island in the year 2044. There is love, there is disagreement, there is grief.

These are the most wonderfully written characters. They are all beautifully flawed and all trying to live up to the extremely high expectations of Dava, herself included. Told in memories and flashbacks to the early twenty-first century that feel more like current events, the reader is pulled into an easily imaginable world that hasn't quite happened yet. This book is beautiful and thought-provoking, and it had me wondering what my own "going away party" might be like if I were given the opportunity to plan it someday.

I know we are only midway through February, but this could easily be the best book I read all year. My only regret is that I didn't save this for a book club selection. The discussion among friends would be magnificent.

I love this book and I hope you will, too.

Dava is a self made billionaire who learns she has terminal cancer. She leaks the news of her death to see what everyone thinks of her before she dies. The answer is not what she and her four children expect. Secrets are exposed . She is a women who has devoted her life to empowering women.. She and her family must come to terms with her prior decision. This is a thought provoking novel. about love, family, career decisions, and legacy.

It is an epic family saga - a take on an unapologetic woman who has focused on her career in her life. Some of the characters did not feel fully fleshed out, a lot of them seemed one-dimensional. I wish that for the length it was it had more about the characters other than Daya.

I really enjoyed this book! I think my favorite aspect would be the complexity of Dava’s character. She is the antithesis of a philanthropic narcissist. It was interesting to delve into such a flawed characters way of thinking.

This book dealt with a lot; trauma, secrets and familial dramas. My only wish is the other characters would have been more thoroughly developed, but Dava’s character made up for this shortcoming.

How best to describe Dava Shastri? Perhaps as a highly egocentric individual with a compulsive need to control her very surroundings up to and including planning her own death and how she wants to be remembered. It should be said that she married and very much loved her husband but didn’t want to be known as his “better half”-always wanting to be mentioned first. She wanted a family but didn’t really want to be a mommy-she wanted them more to carry on her legacy. She was an extremely wealthy woman whose philanthropy through a foundation she started in her name was well known.
Knowing that she was dying of cancer she arranged for all her children to come to her palatial estate to be with her. She wanted to see what would be said about her so she had her death leaked prematurely so she could enjoy the accolades she thought she so richly deserved only to find her deepest secret came to light to paint her in an unfavorable light-be careful what you wish for Dava.
In essence the only warmth I saw in her was at the very end-when she seemed a little more tender with her grandchildren and exhorted her children to continue with her foundation and her good works. I would give this book 3-1/2 stars. It is a great effort by the author to humanize a cold and very unlikeable woman.

I didn’t fall head over heels for this book, but it was consistently enjoyable. For some reason, I couldn’t make myself love Deva. She had incredible complexity and the author developed her beautifully. She just wasn’t the mother figure I think I forced myself to expect. I loved how the ending gave a glimpse into what the children said at the funeral before explaining how their lives played out. I wish we would have gotten a glimpse into how Deva’s first child’s life ended up and possibly gotten to read about her and the letter.

This book was good. Not spectacular but not a chore to read either. I think I was expecting a more Evelyn Hugo type of juicy post-death reveal but instead this is more of a gentle domestic fiction. Which is totally fine. It just wasn't what I went into it expecting to read. I enjoyed the pacing and the writing as well as the family interactions. All in all it was well done and I think our patrons will enjoy it even if it wasn't a complete hit for me.

I have started this and stopped this so much over the last few months. A chapter here and a chapter there. Putting it all the way down and restarting it. Nothing about this grabbed my attention, unfortunately. Cool plot idea, but something was off for me.

At the base of this original story is the complexity of family relationships, between parents and children, and siblings. Dava is an Indian American billionaire widow who has dedicated herself to charitable causes. When she finds out she has terminal brain cancer, she gathers her four children and their spouses and families on a remote island off of the Hamptons. Dava is determined to gather her family as she chooses to undergo medically induced suicide, so as not to prolong suffering.
Arvie is the oldest, married to Vincent and with two daughters, facing resentment of his mother, feeling her need for notoriety is what inspired her good works. Sita is seen by the family as Dava Jr., working for the foundation and with her husband, has two sons. Kali is troubled in many ways, with a big heart, while Rev, the youngest, brings his pregnant fiancée.
I loved the scenes between Dava and her grandchildren.
I liked the book more and more as I continued reading, and recommend this very unique novel. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Dava was so interesting. I am nosy so I think I too would like to know what people thought of me when I was gone. I enjoyed learning her history, how she grew her name, empire, family; her many loves. I didn't always care about her kids but it was important since her loss is so large to them. I think losing my in law earlier this year made that part more impactful for me. Dava was a strong woman who knew who she was and took what she wanted. this was a great book

I loved reading this book! It’s an emotional read, the main character has terminal cancer and has chosen to end her own life ( unbeknownst to her children and grandchildren). Her family is joined her at their family home for Christmas and find out her plan when her obituary is published on social media ( which she plans so that she can see what her impact on the world has been) . Secrets are exposed and the family comes to grips with her imminent death.
Again, very emotional. I highly recommend listening to the song “Holes” by Mercury Rev, when Dava does.

The premise of this book sounded interesting. A colored author's debut novel? I was so in for that. However, this fell flat for me. I was disappointed by how flat the characters were - there was no growth, no development, no depth. From the cover to the story to the writing itself, it felt very "Bollywood"-esque to me - glossy, superficial, underdeveloped. It may make an interesting movie, and perhaps that was the intentions. But as a novel, I was let down by this debut.

Dava Shastri isn't an easy character to like - she's a self made billionaire and she uses her money to support any number of noble causes, but it seems that her image and legacy is foremost in her mind, so much so that she decides to leak news of her death a day early so she can see what the world says about her. Her complicated relationships with her children and her realizations of how she fell short as a mother are what make this book interesting, and highlight how something always has to give. An engaging story.