Book Review: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
October 23, 2025
This is a large book, but with writing like Desai’s, it only intensifies the complete immersion that pulls you under like a spell.
Marija describes her reading tendencies as nomadic. She moves from periods of fiction (classics, historical fiction and mysteries), to non-fiction (history, ecology, cooking, a smattering of nutrition), and back again. Always very happy to offer recommendations, exchange tips, and assist with finding the next best read.
This is a large book, but with writing like Desai’s, it only intensifies the complete immersion that pulls you under like a spell.
I love authors who write like this, a collection of small moments that lead to an ending that leaves you off-kilter and slightly dazed.
This book reads like a dystopian novel, filled with out-of-control egos and a manipulative, self-serving leadership whose only goal is more.
Eng is a mesmerizing writer – his graceful, atmospheric prose weaving characters, storylines, times, and places with aching poignancy.
The recipes all work and the vignettes are joyful and serve as a wonderful entrée to the recipes themselves.
McCann’s writing veers off in different directions, gathering glimpses of our world standing on the knife edge of thriving & falling apart.
I shall never look at another work of art (or the quiet, self-effacing museum and gallery guards) with quite the same eyes.
The writing style makes this book – it is direct, while veering off into all sorts of unexpected directions.
Despite the mouth-watering recipes, ironically the main feeling following the characters is one of hunger – for connection, trust, and acceptance.
Together with the seamless weaving of historical facts throughout, I felt that I learnt as much as I took pleasure in reading this book.
Puhak is a very skilled writer, and sets the stage marvellously. The story reads as a fast-paced novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
Eng is a mesmerizing writer – his graceful, atmospheric prose weaving characters, storylines, times, and places with aching poignancy.
The story is told through the eyes of two female protagonists on the opposite spectrum of society, and as I read their stories, I found myself engaging with each one.
Set in Oxford during WWI, a book binding company finds that most young men’s jobs are now given to the women who stayed behind.
Towles weaves themes of coming of age, morality, responsibility, friendship and, of course, love, without dropping a single strand.