Book Review: The Bridge Of Little Jeremy by Indrajit Garai

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to another little book review! I seem to have so many of these at the moment, I think I've just been reading a lot and therefore have so many reviews too! I want to start by apologising because I received this book a while back and just had so much on and never got around to reading it, however I finally did and I have quite a few thoughts to share! Anyway, here is my review of The Bridge Of Little Jeremy by Indrajit Garai.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author's assistant for free in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis (From Goodreads):

Jeremy’s mother is about to go to prison for their debt to the State. He is trying everything within his means to save her, but his options are running out fast.

Then Jeremy discovers a treasure under Paris.

This discovery may save his mother, but it doesn’t come for free. And he has to ride over several obstacles for his plan to work.

Meanwhile, something else is limiting his time...

My Review:

The first thing that attracted me to this story was the setting. Being half French, the fact it is set in Paris really appealed to me. I loved the descriptions of the city and the way that Jeremy's life is so intertwined with it. 

I appreciated many parts of Jeremy's character, but his voice felt a little forced and unlike a child of his age. I didn't really get on with the writing style generally, which was a shame, but the plot did keep me hooked for the most part.

Some of the language I didn't really appreciate, and the pacing was off in places. I found it difficult to finish, which is so sad because I thought I would like this one, and was so excited when it was sent to me. I do have some positives though, as the ending just broke my heart and the whole thing definitely had me invested emotionally. I loved the secondary character Paolo, and I thought there were many parts of this book that were well laid-out and plotted. 

I do have a critique of the dog, though (don't come at me please!). I didn't particularly like the way that the dog was treated as being so human, and so was the painting, which is perhaps what made it most unbelievable. Maybe this was supposed to be a part of the boy's innocent voice or something? But then how could he restore an ancient painting? I don't know, but this did really influence my reading experience.

I thought that the way the book talked about art was amazing, and I loved thinking about the history of Paris and the bridges which form such an important part of the book. 

I would have liked to see more of his relationship with his mother, and I did really like the way her character was done. I liked the whole social network petition, although inheritance tax seemed like a bit of a weird issue for him to become so obsessed with. I'm not really sure about the message that the author was trying to convey, but it did give me a new perspective on inheritance tax! 

The main character, Jeremy, seemed very removed from normal society, but I found him likeable overall. I think there is something to be said for just appreciating a character's personality traits, and Jeremy definitely always meant well. 

I am still thinking about the ending of this book now, and as I said above, I definitely cared about the characters, especially Jeremy and Paolo, and although it is not going to be one I return to, I did enjoy certain aspects and recommend for a sweet read from Paris! 

About The Author:

Indrajit Garai, an American citizen now, was born in India in 1965. After his Bachelors degree from Indian Institute of Technology and Masters from Harvard, he worked as a corporate strategy consultant and as an investment banker in America, Spain, and England, while studying parallelly Ayurveda (ancient medicine of India) for stress management. In 2001, after the birth of his daughter, he moved to Paris, opened his private practice of stress management, and then authored six books in this field (five in French and one in English).

Authoring these books on stress management gave him a deep love for writing. Since 2015, he has devoted himself full-time to creating literature.

I would like to thank the author's assistant for reaching out and sending me a copy of The Bridge Of Little Jeremy, as well as the author for allowing this to happen. Thank you so much for joining me this week, and I'll be back next week with a new post. Let me know in the comments what you're reading at the moment, what you've been reading and what you've been up to, I would love to know! 

Have you read this book? Do you want to? What have you been reading recently? Any recommendations for me? What's your casual magic of the day?

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p.s. casual magic of the day:

(If you are new here and have no idea what I'm on about, click here to find out more)

I had a day at home because the teachers are on strike, and after pretty much procrastinating most of the school work, doing a bit and just getting frustrated and fed up with it, I sat down and my sister convinced me to watch Young Royals, one of my favourite TV shows. I was very much in the "I really need to work" mindset, but honestly I think that watching Young Royals was the best thing for me to do in that moment. My mum made me hot chocolate and it was in my AMAZING new mug which a wonderful friend of mine got for me, which is in the style of the penguin books mugs, but says "Go AWAY I'm reading" on it!! I love it so much and having my first hot chocolate in that mug, after a bit of a rubbish day, and watching one of my favourite TV shows, was truly casual magic!! Also, I completed the Yoga With Adriene 30 Day Yoga Challenge which is just SO REWARDING!!