Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the opportunity to read and review UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE by Nigar Alam as an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC). The story is set in Karachi and weaves the past after Partition with the present following the main character, Rozeena and the generational trauma that follows her.

The story flashes back to post-partition Karachi and a tragic event that changes Rozeena and her friends' lives forever. Rozeena struggles to keep the past behind her when Zara, a childhood friend’s family member joins her in present day Karachi. Zara, who is dealing with a recent trauma of her own, connects with Rozeena’s independent yet heartfelt demeanor and a friendship forms.

The past and present timeline weaves together ideas about memory, generational trauma, and consequences from choices through Rozeena and Zara’s heartfelt relationship. Rozeena and Zara’s relationship honors connection, the need for healing, and a bond possible between generations.

Although details weigh down the storyline at times, UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE is beautifully written with rich language. Nigar Alam’s rhythmic writing style and sensory language creates a rich experience. Nigar Alam’s UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE is a beautiful debut novel and set to be released August 15, 2023.

I enjoyed Under the Tamarind Tree. It covered some history I did not know and a culture I don't know well, with well fleshed out characters and a good story. Thank you for the opportunity to review.

Thank you to Net Galley and Putnam Books for the opportunity to read this ARC. Under the Tamarind Tree is set during and after the Partition and the complexities of starting a new life in a new place. Rozeena, Haaris, Aalya and Zohair are all navigating surviving and thriving in a new life and balancing what they want for themselves and their sense of duty to their family.

The writing was beautiful and lyrical and the themes of love and betrayal were well-done. I also thought most of the characters were well-fleshed out. I particularly loved the relationship between Aalya and Rozeena, as they both have complexities yet still cared deeply for each other. My criticisms of the book regard pacing and amount of characters. The pacing of this book was very slow, and at times I felt that it meandered on moments that felt unimportant to the overall story. I also think that it was somewhat hard to keep track of all of the characters and their relationships (a family tree might be helpful!) to each other. At times, I felt a little lost as to character motivations and how they related to each other. Overall, this is a very strong debut novel and I am excited to read more books by Nigar Alam!

Under the Tamarind Tree will be released on August 15th, 2023!

What a great book! I always try to broaden my horizons with different cultures in books because I feel I learn a lot without being bored by a history book or google page. This story was great! A little predictable but the end was so impactful!

There seems to be a surge in "partition fiction" lately. Having read a few of those the storyline felt a bit predictable at times but I found the overall experience enjoyable.

My review of UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE by Nigar Alam

This title came to me upon my request to read the ARC (Advance Reader's Copy) of it on NetGalley. I want to thank Penguin Random House for allowing me the opportunity to read this tale.

What a completely immersive tale it was too! I absolutely loved getting to know Rozeena and her family and friends! The pages of UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE were full of dark family secrets and enchanting views into Pakistani life. To travel back and forth in time with the intriguing Rozeena as she reconnects with her old childhood friends was a truly magical reading experience. I'm not ashamed to admit that I finished reading this tale in about six hours, nor that I lost sleep thinking about this literary masterpiece.

I highly recommend picking up UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE when it becomes available in 2023. You won't regret it if you love faraway places and literary magic.

My rating: ❤❤❤❤❤

Title: UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE

Author: Nigar Alam

Publisher: Penguin Random House / Putnam / G.P. Putnam's Sons

Published Date: Projected - August 15, 2023

Under the Tamarind Tree is a very thoughtful novel. Alam manages to weave together multiple different storylines and two distinct time periods to create a narrative that is part family saga, part mystery, and does so masterfully. In addition to creating a structurally sound narrative, Alam also provides necessary commentary on the lasting effects and consequences of Partition on those who lived through it and the generations after, and is able to critique the class system through the events of the story, rather than being too overt.

Overall, this book will make a great addition to Pakistani literature, providing a new point of view and insights. This is a book I would definitely be able to find a use for in my classroom!

Thank you @Netgalley for this copy of Under the Tamarind Tree. What a beautiful story that gave me so many emotions. This was such an original book and I appreciated learning more about this time and place in history. I love that I felt a different perspective that I hadn't before reading this. The jumping around of characters made it a little hard to follow at some points but not anything that made me want to stop reading. The descriptive writing was amazing and makes you feel like you are really there!

A group of friends.. a terrible tragedy.. and the promises made in the aftermath.
this was a really good book, that ending is everything, quite a punch.

Under the tamarind tree is a story of friendship and growing up in Pakistan. The burdens children of the partition carry and the impact of living lives for others. I liked the story setup and how the story moved between the past and the present. Some of status-quo in the present were explained as you read the past. It felt coherent.
I did find the story to drag on. We kept going back to something happened but there was nothing happening other than a slight build up of the drama. Great book exploring Karachi and the impacts of partition

This story had a lot of potential but was ruined (at least for me) by the constant jumping back and forth in time frames and by all the characters wandering on and off this literary stage of action. It seemed that the characters merely showed up by name without any indication as to male or female, age, or relation to another character.

It would have been helpful to have had a list of characters in the front of the book with a brief description of each. Also some sort of glossary of terms unfamiliar to non-Pakistani readers.

The whole business of Haaris’ [very sullen and rude] granddaughter doing landscaping in Rozeena’s beautifully maintained garden is absurd. The child, quite obviously, knew nothing about what she was doing and yet was given no instruction nor guidance.

Also just about the time I would be beginning to put part of the story together, here would come another reference to the BIG SECRET that tore the families (or was it “friends”) apart for 54 years. Obviously, the reader was not going to find out what that was for another 300 pages. But, I guess, the editor felt it was time for another teaser.

Sadly I had to close this book just shy of 25%. I just couldn’t make heads nor tails of it.

I appreciate having received this ARC from NetGalley and from the publisher, G. P. Putnam, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. I extend my best wishes to the author and to its publication.

This is a sensual book—filled with smells, images and feelings across generations. It inspired one to understand the trauma of the Partition between Pakistan and India—an event I was not familiar with. It is a story of generational impact, female friendship, and the influence of decisions and the randomness of chance in one’s life. As the author states, “sometimes we believe things that aren’t true, Sometimes we misunderstand events, thinking we had some control over them. We don’t . . .” Well worth reading for understanding of the Partition and understanding of one’s own life.

Thanks to NetGalley and Putman’s for the Advanced Review Copy

Captivating family and friends drama set in beautiful Karachi set on the Arabian Sea. Gorgeously written with interwoven stories from the past and present. Lushly filled with friendship and love, betrayal and deception, and decades-old secrets and passions. A engaging saga worth reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the opportunity to read this excellent ARC.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of Under the Tamarind Tree.

Brief: The story of Rozeena who’s family escaped from Delhi to Karachi the night of Partition when she was 7, her life growing up and finding her way as a doctor as a young adult woman rather than marrying when most others would. In 1964 as a young adult, a tragedy would affect the lives of her and her best friends that would end in some dying and some moving away. In 2019, long after retiring, she unexpectedly reconnects with her first love and ends up meeting his granddaughter and teachers her how to live after her brother is killed in a car accident.
It was a good book, beautiful to read, however I wish the storyline(s) was developed more fully in some places. I love when a story can bring me to a different place, especially if I have never been there, and this book did that very well.

Liked the most about the book:
-The relationship 80+ year old Rozeena developed with teenage Zara, the sharing of loss of a brother and how to fit in by not trying to replace him
-Learning about life in Karachi after Partition until know, also learning more about partition in general.
-The descriptions of the people, food, gardens. I didn’t like all of the characters, but I don’t think I was supposed to (Sweetie)
-Appreciated that Rozeena made the decision to be an independent woman in those times when it was not typically accepted

Spoiler alert warning! Comments below include some specifics about the story, do not continue reading if you don't want to read spoilers.


Wasn't crazy about:
I didn’t like the flow of the story, it felt disjointed. Not the back and forth in time, but the multiple storylines seemed forced together. Some didn't add enough to the story when the current storylines could have been more completely developed. I am not sure they were all needed. For example:
-losing her brother at partition led to the neighbor taking care of them after her father died: yes;
but the fact that the were servants, that Aalaya's mother was killed with Rozees brother, no
- the addition of the adopted son seemed like an afterthought. How he came be and his role in
the story seemed unnecessary.
-I think the story of the friends Aalaya and Zohair falling in love even though they
were of different social status could have been developed better without the party and
subsequent rooftop scene.
- Rozeena and Haaris ending up apart was fine, but the connection to the welcome home party
storyline seemed too contrived to quicky impart a lot of undeveloped story information. I
think that storyline could have been better developed (edited?) better.
I didn’t like the ending. It felt unfinished, like a page and/or epilogue was missing before the author went into acknowledgements.

Set against the background of the Partition with the interwoven complexities of restarting a life in a new country with new neighbors who carry their own secrets, this book will captivate readers and make you want more of Rozeena, Haaris, Aalya, and Zohair as they navigate their love and dreams for each other.

In her retirement, Rozeena is asked to look over her old friend Haaris’s granddaughter from the States who is visiting India with her parents.

Zara brings renewed connection between Haaris and Rozeena as Rozeena remembers what caused their physical and emotional distance decades ago.

In the flashbacks the reader spends about two weeks with Rozeena and her friends before learning about the devastating party that caused an insurmountable rift between them. The fallout leaves the four friends with drastically different lives than any of them hoped for.

This dual-timeline story showcases the author’s ability to convince the reader to never put down this beautiful story.

4 stars!

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of Under The Tamarind Tree. This was beautifully written. It takes place during the Partition of India into Pakistan and present day. I have never read a story that takes place during this time in history, so I appreciated reading something new. It is a generational novel of secrets and how it impacts the character's lives.

This story was beautiful - heartbreaking at times and often infuriating (characters making choices we'd rather them not, and Sweetie was just maddening) but ultimately, the story of four friends in Pakistan after many of their lives were so upended after Partition was uplifting. That anyone could survive an event like that and come out with positives in their life was touching.

The past vs current time lines at time made it slightly harder to keep the characters straight, but it was so well done, it was mostly not even an issue.

I'd absolutely recommend this book, even if it's your first introduction to Partition and you consider yourself more of a "general historical fiction" fan.