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I found the book a little bit long and convoluted and the various stories and tales interweaved throughout the main plot made me lose interest quickly. I will try picking up this book again and re-reading it later and seeing whether it picks up my interest again - maybe I'm not in the right mindset for a book like this at this time.

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Janavi and Sagar are both from the town of Varanasi, India, close to the Ganges River. Janavi is an independent woman dedicated to helping children. Sagar is a hydraulic engineer who has been fascinated by rivers since childhood. After Sagar is hired to work on a dam removal on the Cotton River in Montana, he marries Janavi, honoring family duties, even though they'd never met before. The couple, who barely speak to one another, make the journey to America. Sagar develops friendships with a few colleagues, including Renny, who is a member of the local Native American tribe. Janavi and Sagar's struggle to adjust to their new life takes a turn when a death occurs in the river, leading to a murder mystery. Threaded throughout the novel are historical tales about the colonization of India and the American West. Set along the rivers, these allegories highlight the struggles of women. 

Shobha Rao's Indian Country is a deeply touching, beautifully written work of literary fiction. While it deals with the tough themes of colonization, racism, and violence against women, the book is a hopeful one. If you are looking to be swept away by a book as deep as the rivers, I highly recommend this one. 

4.5 stars.

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immersive, well done book with some very effective povs. the protagonists work really well even when they're quite at odds with each other. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

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This was my favorite literary fiction of the month; the love built and the sadness of moving to another country were irreplaceable. Janavi and Sagar are two boldly constructed characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

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Janavi and Sagar move from India to Montana for love--but not for the love of each other. Sagar loves rivers, including the Ganges, after which Janavi is named. He's just been hired to lead a controversial dam removal project in a small Montana town. Janavi loves her job helping the street children of Varanasi, but not more than she loves her sister, who was supposed to marry Sagar. When her sister begs her to marry Sagar in her place, Janavi reluctantly agrees and, months later, she's in an unfamiliar country with an unfamiliar man. But, when Sagar's only Native colleague drowns near the dam, Sagar and Janavi must work together to dredge the secrets of Montana's past from wherever they have been sunk.

This novel is brutal, moving, tender, and so well-executed. Interwoven with Janavi and Sagar's story are vignettes about rivers, and the lives of those who live near them. Many of these stories relate to overarching themes of the novel: the violence women--especially women of marginalized identities--experience at the hand of men; and the violence of colonization. Though not directly related to the action of the novel, they help to contextualize so much of the story. Both the vignettes and the main narrative are so vivid, so alive, and so well-described. I had a sense of place for all the locations, none of which I'd ever been to.

My only critique is that I would have liked to learn more about Renny and the other MMIW--who were they before they were murdered? Renny is a private person, but we learn a bit about her posthumously from members of her tribe. I felt that, though I can see why Janavi and Sagar want to find the truth, they almost forgot to ask about Renny as a person--why did she marry her abusive ex? How did she end up working at the excavation site next to the dam? Her death is at the heart of this story, but her humanity almost disappears into the mystery of her death. Still, this is overall a very sensitively handled novel about incredibly difficult subjects.

An interesting side note is that I finished this days after I read The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, and the two novels are set in the same area of Montana, near Miles City. I would highly recommend both!

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