very interesting stylistically, and i was thrilled that it was set in my hometown of Raleigh (which I never get to see!!) gorgeous and sad, but i couldn't keep myself hyped up enough to get through it.

Oh, this book really packs a punch. The story deals with a a lot of grief, loss and the need to be seen and understood.

This story follows Heera, an Indian American, through her life and relationship with the Grimaldi siblings, Marie and Marco. In her teens, Heera spent alot of her time with them getting up to all sorts of mischief despite her strict upbringing until one fateful night changed everything. Over night, she lost a best friend, she lost herself and she suddenly doesn’t know what to do with her life. Here’s dream to go to college doesn’t seem to matter anymore. As Heera walked into adulthood, she keeps crossing paths with Marco which brought back her dreams and desires of when she was a teen.

As much as this story deals with loss, it also shows Heera battling with her own dreams vs her parents’ desires. She tries to rebel against her parents but at what cost? As an Asian who grew up in America, she was caught between the generation and cultural differences her parents brought her up in. On top of all this, Heera had to learn to grapple with loss. I loved how the author portrayed her grief and how it affected them in different parts of her lives.

Marco on the other hand would probably lead a different life had that night never happened. Instead, he turned into this sullen bad boy persona. I didn’t particularly enjoy the romance between these two maybe because Heera had the ‘I can change him’ attitude in mind. I wished there were more focus on Heera and her parents’ relationship and her friendship with Marco in a platonic sense.

What I did love was how Heera eventually took control of her life and live the life she wanted without having to worry too much about what others think of her.

Thank you Netgalley and Mariner Books for the arc.

Devi Laskar has quickly become one of my favorite writers. Her lyrical and poetic style make her books so compulsive to read. I always find myself wishing there were more and more to read. Circa certainly lived up to all of my expectations. Heera, Marco and Marie were incredibly likable characters whose lived I was immediately invested in. All of the supporting characters, like Heera's parents, Neel, Neel's parents, the Grimaldis and Katrina felt like incredibly real, fleshed out characters despite the focus not being on them. I really enjoyed feeling as though I knew everyone incredibly well.

The ending was beautiful even though I wished I could have kept reading about what happens next. Overall, I enjoyed this the whole way through and can't wait to read what Devi writes next.

Circa had the potential of being an immersive and compelling read. Sadly, the structure and length of the narrative do the story no favors, as the final product ultimately struck me as formulaic in a-MFA-program type of way. Sure, Devi S. Laskar quite effectively utilizes a 2nd pov, which is no easy feat. Beyond this stylistic choice, the novel doesn’t have a lot to offer. This is the kind of narrative that strikes me as being more interested in presenting its readers with a certain evocative style than introducing us to dimensional characters. The structure of the novel struck me as somewhat inconsistent. At first, it brought to mind books like All the Water I’ve Seen Is Running, Friends & Dark Shapes, and Another Brooklyn, in that it honed in on specific moments of Heera's youth, but as the story progresses the narrative loses its atmosphere as it switches to a telling mode where it covers large swathes of time with little fanfare so that I felt at a remove by what Heera had experienced.

Circa is centred on Heera, ‘you’, an Indian American teenager who is coming of age in Raleigh, North Carolina during the late 80s. Heera hangs out a lot with siblings Marie and Marco, often in secrecy as her parents do not approve of her friendship with the Grimaldi children. Together they rebel the way some teenagers do, disobeying their parents, and sneaking behind their parents’ backs. Sometimes they steal from their parents or strangers, other times they do edgy eff society type of graffiti. Anyway, Heera is smitten with Marco, kind of. Eventually, something bad happens that changes their dynamic, and Marco reinvents himself as Crash, while Heera finds herself having to grapple between her sense of self-fulfilment and her parents' desires. Should she go to college? Marry? Can she or does she want to do both? The author does highlight the limited possibilities available to a woman, specifically a woc, at the time, juxtaposing her path to Crash’s one. Sure, the author does provide an all too relevant commentary on the American Dream, stressing its elusiveness, and a poignant enough portrait of a family caught between generational and cultural differences, however, the whole Crash/Heera dynamic really was deeply underwhelming. Marie is very much a plot device, someone who is used as a source of trauma for Heera and Crash, someone who is supposedly meant to make their bond all the more complex…but she was so one-dimensional and served such a disposable function in the story that I really felt like she wasn’t a character, let alone a rounded person. Crash seemed the male version of a pixie girl, not quite as extra ‘that’s literary me’ type of guy (who is thinks he is the narrator from fight club or the joker), more of a vanilla sad-meets-bad boi. Heera in many ways is rather a passive presence, and I was unable to understand her obsession with Crash, let alone believe that the two shared an intimate bond. I think the story is at its best when it hones in on domestic moments, in particular in Heera’s interactions with her parents or when exploring the tension between her family and the Grimaldi. I think I would have liked this story to have solely focused on familial and platonic relationships, rather than going for this wattpad type of romance (‘i can fix him’...come no). The latter half of the novel strays into melodrama, with quite a few characters disappearing because of actual reasons and or no reasons. A whole portion of Heera’s story is delivered in such a rushed and dispassionate way that it really pulled me out of her story.

Given the premise, I was hoping for something with more oomph. The ‘crucial’ event isn’t all that important in the end, as the distance between Crash and Heera could have easily happened without that having to occur. The ‘betrayals’ mentioned in the summary lead me to believe in a story with more conflict, whereas here the will-they-won’t-they relationship between Crash and Heera brought to mind the milquetoast straights-miscommunicating-or-having-0-communication that dominated in much of Normal People. I think it would have been more effective if the author had either opted for a longer and slower-paced storyline (which would have allowed her to expand certain scenes, rather than just relating important moments in a couple of sentences, and made the characters more rounded) or if she had fully committed to a snappier snapshot-like narrative (a la What We Lose or Ghost Forest). I mean, this wasn't a bad read but it is the type of book I will forget about in a few weeks or so.

If this book is on your radar I suggest you check out more positive reviews out.

Oof, this book had a lot of emotions. Really at the core of it, it was a book about grief, loss, and the need to be understood. This book follows Heera/Dia through her life as teenager/early adult and her relationship to the Grimaldi siblings, Marie and Marco/Crash. It was interesting seeing their interactions and how she was able to be her true and authentic self, and how her parents interpreted that relationship, especially as she got older and her relationship with Marco/Crash changed and flowed over time.

There was a lot of cultural context that I won’t ever understand from the Indian/Indian-American standpoint, but could definitely understand from the child of immigrants standpoint. For example, Heera did have an arranged marriage and since I’ve personally heard both the pros and cons of this, it didn’t really impact my view of the story. What I did find incredibly fascinating was how relationships had changed with her parents as she now had to abide by the rules of her in-laws who were very concerned about outside perceptions. It was beautiful to see Heera eventually take her life into her own hands, with her parents eventual support, and live her life how she wanted to with the people she wanted to.

I’m not a fan of second person perspective writing so I will admit that at some points, it took me a bit out of the story, but it never really took away from the story. It was a super easy read and easy to get lost in.

Book review: 'Circa' is a fierce, poignant coming-of-age novel
By ASHLEY RIGGLESON FOR THE FREE LANCE–STAR May 21, 2022

I loved Devi S. Laskar’s début novel, “The Atlas of Reds and Blues.” So, when I saw her new novel, “Circa,” was available for review, I jumped at the chance. I was not disappointed. Laskar’s achingly exquisite new novel touched my heart.

Written distinctly in second person, “Circa” is a coming-of-age novel about a young woman called Heera. As the novel opens, Heera, strains against the conservative upbringing of her Indian parents. Though they often clash, Heera’s friend, Marie, seems able to bridge the divide.

What begins as a story about an idyllic friendship, however, changes suddenly when Marie is killed in a tragic accident. The novel spins out from there, exploring how a single traumatic event impacts Heera’s life moving forward. And while there are other important plot points in this text, her marriage among them, Heera always circles around to that moment and her enormous sense of loss.

My first impression of “Circa” was that it seemed less angry than Laskar’s début. I was wrong about that. By the end of the text, “Circa” remains fierce and furious. What sets Laskar’s latest apart, however, is its more elegiac tone. Though Laskar remains highly critical of patriarchal norms and other forms of systemic oppression, Laskar focuses more on family and friendship dynamics.

Her characters also seem to be better developed. Although this novel is not plot focused, I read it in great gulps, breathless, allowing Laskar’s beautiful prose and Heera’s story to carry me forward.

“Circa” is short, and Laskar covers years of Heera’s life. In less confident hands, I do not think this novel would have worked for me. But in this, as with all the book, Laskar shows immense talent. The story never feels rushed, and she includes all the right details, making for a powerful and poignant whole.

I remember saying in my review of “Atlas” that Laskar’s novel reminded me of Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen,” but “Circa” reminds me more of Virginia Woolf. This formally innovative look at family and cultural dynamics, and her quiet but purposeful critique of entrenched power structures, makes Laskar’s latest feel grounded in tradition as well as fresh and new. This emotionally resonant and whip-smart novel will stay with me for a long time.

Ashley Riggleson is a freelance reviewer from Rappahannock County.

Ashley Riggleson is a freelance reviewer from Rappahannock County.

More Information
CIRCA

By Devi S. Laskar

(Mariner Books, $27.99, 182 pages)

Published: May 3, 2022

This review was originally published in The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, VA.

An Intimate Study of Friendship and Grief

The year is 1987. High school senior Heera Sanyal lives in a Raleigh-adjacent town in North Carolina in Devi S. Laskar’s second novel, Circa, published May 3 by Mariner.

Devi has dreams, many dreams: wearing blue jeans, kissing her best friend’s brother, freely unbraiding her long, wavy hair, applying mascara. And not being “Heera Sanyal with a multitude of prefixes and hyphens and expectations in the shape and weight of a shifting subcontinent thousands of miles away.”

The Perfect Bengali Daughter

At home, Heera suffers her traditional Bengali parents’ expectations to be the perfect Indian daughter she certainly would be had they not immigrated to America. In the present, she is never enough for them as they hold the past too closely for Heera’s comfort. Nevertheless, she and her vivacious best friend, Marie Grimaldi, and Marie’s brainy brother, Marco, are a tight-knit group with whom she lives a separate existence. Together, they secretly engage in delinquent-worthy activities for the thrills. Pickpocketing, something for which Heera has developed talent, fuels the trio’s ultimate desire to leave Raleigh and live in New York City.

The night before Heera’s eighteenth birthday and four days before Marie’s, a drunk driver ends Marie’s life as the three walk home from a carnival. In that instant, as Marie draws seventeen shallows breaths, Heera’s and Marco’s lives change forever.

Unbearable Grief

At the hospital, Heera’s grief begins in full force. “…it’s one minute past midnight when they officially declare Marie dead. Your birthday. October 31. She is 17 years and 362 days old at the time of her death.”

Heera’s bottomless sorrow is expressed by seeing, feeling, thinking about Marie often and when she least expects it. She turns to her schoolwork to quell her emotions with an eye to her coming graduation and going away to college. Marco, however, reemerges with a new name—Crash—and drowns his grief in alcohol and girls.

Meanwhile, Heera’s mother is diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, and her treatments deplete Heera’s college fund. Defeated, Heera agrees to an arranged marriage because it means she will live in New York City and be allowed to attend university. Despite ticking two of her desired boxes, the marriage is not the relief she needs.

Arranged Marriage

As she waits for the wedding to begin, Heera thinks, “You hold your breath, hear the second hand tick on the wall clock above the door frame, and begin calculating the number of steps you will need to take to leave the hotel, hail a taxi, and run away.”

I am not a fan of novels written in the second person present point of view, which Laskar uses to tell Heera’s story. However, the last time I appreciated it was Veera Hiranandani’s recent How to Find What You’re Not Looking For in which the twelve-year-old narrator navigates her life as it falls apart around her. Similarly, Laskar’s usage allows Heera to freely reexamine and analyze her life, her grief, her yearning to be with Crash in this haunting coming-of-age tale.

As with her debut novel, The Atlas of Reds and Blues, Laskar’s writing is without pretension, favoring poeticism and pinpointing the heart of the matter.

“Your breath flies out of your body as they lower the coffin,” Laskar writes of Marie’s funeral.

The intimacy of Heera’s personal tug-of-war—grief and loneliness, desires and restraints, her present versus her parents’ past—is presented not only in the second person present but also in short chapters. It elicits the sense that the reader is joining Heera as she looks through a photo album chronicling her life. It is as if Heera gently runs her fingers over the faces of those people who populated her life, some lovingly, others with a sharp fingernail.

Circa is a unique study of friendships and relationships and bonds that never loosen despite loss, grief, and separation. In less than 200 pages, Laskar offers readers myriad opportunities not only for discussion but also introspection and healing in our own lives.

When tragedy strikes a family reacts, and their lives will never be the same.

This book was so poetic and engrossing. I devoured every word. The prose was stunning, the characters deep and rich, and the story heartbreaking and hopeful. Set in Raleigh and NYC in the late 90s and early 2000s, this is a coming of age story of love, loss, expectations, dreams, and family.

I was so deeply invested in the storyline that I finished in 2 days. The audio was done incredibly, and this is one you could absolutely finish in one sitting.

I cannot wait to read more from this author!

Highly recommend for fans of A Woman Is No Man.

Tragedy looms over this short novel. The lives of Heera and Marco are changed forever from happy go lucky to despair when Marco's sister Marie is killed by a drunk driver. Marco changes his name to Crash and loses focus while Heera maintains her grades all with the goal of moving to NY. Then her mother becomes ill and needs the college fund. It's an interesting look at compromise and coping. Know that it's written in the second person (which can become annoying after a while). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

I love when an author chooses to write in an interesting style that kind of “throws” you a bit when reading - the writing is gorgeous as is the technique to draw the reader in the world of trying to honor a familial culture while also adapting to one’s surroundings. This is a quick read - learned things and loved being within a culture I’m not in while reading this book. Thanks to Mariner for the advanced copy!

Loved it! Fast read that explored the nuances of a first gen Indian American teenage girl growing up in North Carolina under strict, traditional parents. A tragedy alters the course of her life forever, and she is forced to come to terms with it while navigating her life- torn between reckless American teen and obedient daughter. I loved the second person writing, it almost reads like poetry!

This was a stunning story with elements of friendship, rebellion, and heartbreak. It was an emotional read and one that I will remember for a long time.
Many thanks to Mariner Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Lana Del Rey-esque Americana intros us to this prose novel. Colorful and sweet as a blue honeysuckle this teenage longing for triviality vs Hindi tradition. As smart and kind as her American friends/crush is, they are grafittists, thieves of everything from tourist wallets to designer heels. All towards saving to rub away to NY.

When tragedy tears the friends and their lives apart, I’ve never heard grief so uniquely and perfectly described. Simple poetry in the Eastern style. Even in all the pulling sadness, there’s such a coziness, a realness to how parents seem so steeped in themselves and uncompromising as a teenager.

Not a perfect score because things can get a tad confusing with the abundance of relatives and quickened timelines. I was excited to read this is set in the 90s but thre are barely no references to such except huge TV shows like The Brady Bunch that could be referenced as much now; this story could be set anywhere though obviously very much an Indian immigrant family story.

The middle of this book definitely drags as we go through the monotony of growing up: people going to school, getting depressed and/or married, family parties and forced gatherings. The characters become subtlety unlikable: words always biting, demanding, unnatural if not literally grief-crazy.

Thankfully, things soon kick into high-gear: affairs, fights, big-life events, mysteries about such mixed up with the first World Trade Center Attack. Interesting!

The boy she secretly loves is so cringey in a wannabe rockstar but actually bum-adjacent way, I root the whole time she’ll get a cute date w/ him and then come to her senses that an art school fantasy doesn’t age well beyond a month. In the end, lots of perfect parallels. The two are still childish but not terribly so—though the continued upsetting and neglect of their sick parents is baffling, obviously unpleasant.

The end is not bad but could have been more impactful if there was more conversation and deeper moments at the beginning of the book, a better sprinkled theme of the love for photography, to bring everything together, more circularly.

I relate to these characters growing up in a close community longing to grow up and grow out. The story here is engaging while reading, but not one that will stick with me.

Heera, Marco, and Marie are best friends growing up together in NC. They spend time perfecting their pickpocket skills and dreaming of running away to NY. Heera's parents are typically strict Indian parents and don't approve of the friendship. Their lives are never the same after tragedy strikes. Over the course of several years, the friends paths cross many times. Life goes on and yet the past is always there.

This book is a journey through Heera's life. While I wasn't a big fan of the writing style, I still found the story to be well written and full of emotion. Rebellion, obedience, heartache, acceptance, these are some of the themes in this story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Mariner Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I would like to thank the publishers and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, this is not normally a genre or style of book that I would read and I am very glad that I explored this story. It was one emotional, moving, raw rollercoaster of a read that packs in a punch in the short 194 pages that it holds. The journey that Laskar takes you on, through Heera and Crash, is one that took me completely by surprise at how poignant and confronting it is. I feel this book speaks strongly to Desi women around the world who grapple with familial and societal expectations that often view their dreams and aspirations as null and void. Throughout the book you see Heera (and Crash) facing the echoes of consequences from one mistake that occurs as a spark of rebellion. As a reader I often found myself feeling frustrated at the choices Heera is forced to make as a result of her error and how little time she is given to come to terms with her life, emotionally particularly, after this incident. I would like to applaud Laskar for not shying away from portraying a starkly grim reality of the battle many South Asian women face in their daily lives from those who are supposed to provide them with comfort, belief and a sense of empowerment. Whilst this was at times a difficult read to process, I found that it made me think, it made me question and it made me understand in ways that I might not have otherwise. Look out for this wonderful book releasing 3 May 2022!