What readers think of This Is Where the Serpent Lives, plus links to write your own review.

Striving vs coasting on privilege of money, aristocratic history, caste. What is the purpose of education? How does a young man achieve his potential …handed to him or dug out of the ground? What is the code to follow?

The strength of this book is that each character could be the protagonist of their own individual story. I wanted more of each’s life. Faulkner and Chekhov come to mind. Additionally the writing is honed and beautiful. The scene on the Himalayan glacier in classic and unforgettable — could be a one act stage play. Small request would be a more in depth ending.

This is simply brilliant! I don't know what I expected when I read this but as the story went on, I was so locked into the characters it was difficult to put the book down. And, the writing is beautiful and stirring. First, the pacing and structure of this book is excellent. I particularly liked how the author told the interconnected stories of two different set of castes - the servant and the master. Starting with ambitious Yazid and ending with Saqib, the gardener's son turned outlaw and the with the obnoxious Atar family in between. Like bookends, this story is written to show how the caste system in feudal contemporary Pakistan works - the have-nots always being crushed by the haves. But this happens on all countries making this a universal story.

The tile's clever reference to "serpent" plays out as the author shows that there is always someone bringing spite into one's life. In particular the upper caste's disdain for their servants (never paying them well) but their expectations of loyalty is so distorted: the servant is there for one purpose only and the servant must never forget that. So the serpent must be wary. The ending to the book is stunning. As always the upper caste can be disdainful of their decisions but the lower caste must never forget their place.

I really enjoyed this novel. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Knopf, for allowing me to read this ARC.

Highly recommend.