A lady cyclist's guide to Kashgar
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
1923: Evangeline English and sister Lizzie head for China's ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar. Lizzie is on fire with her religious calling, but Eva has her green bicycle and a commission to write a lady cyclist's guide. Present-day London: A young woman finds a man sleeping outside her door and gives him a blanket and pillow. And when she inherits the contents of an unknown woman's apartment, the two embark on an unexpected journey together.
Reviews with the most likes.
I really, really wanted to like this book, so I kept reading past where I probably would have given up normally. Unfortunately, the last few chapters that tied up both storylines actually made it even more disappointing.
I found Tayeb a fascinating character and really wanted more details about his past in Yemen and his experiences in England. I found him a more sympathetic (and interesting) character than Freida.
As for the 1923 timeline... I don't know why I found it boring, since I'm pretty interested in Central Asian history. Usually I like the whole epistological conceit, but I think in this case seeing everything only through Eva's eyes made the focus too small. Now I want to find a good history of the area to find out what exactly was going on and why.
I also have a lot of thoughts about the portrayal of queer characters in the book, but I'm finding it too hard to organize them enough to be coherent. Basically, just a mishmash of negative stereotypes employed that left me coming away from the book feeling slightly greasy.
The writing itself was beautiful and I think it was very well researched, so I hope other people enjoyed it more than I did!
