The Henna Artist needed more Henna

“The Henna Artist,” by Alka Joshi is about a woman named Lakshmi who has made a comfortable life for herself in the city of Jaipur India after fleeing an abusive marriage when she was fifteen. Now Lakshmi is 30 and her husband tracks her down and so does her 13 year old sister that she knew nothing about. The writing was descriptive and I could picture everything as if I’ve been in India before. Sadly though while the book had potential it fell flat for me.

Pros

The writing is descriptive and its so descriptive that it felt as though I could picture everything as though I’ve been in India. Reading about the caste system and the different hindu gods were interesting. I like the little Muslim servant Malik who helps Lakshmi in anyway he can.

Cons

I felt that Lakshmi and the other characters didn’t really stand out as interesting. Lakshmi seemed a bit cold and that’s about it. I wasn’t too crazy about Lakshmi also being involved in being an abortion provider. Theres also a part in the book where a character miscarries. If you are not comfortable reading about such sensitive topics then I wouldn’t suggest this one.

Overall

Overall this book was another dud for me which stinks because I love reading about other cultures and different time periods. Something was missing from this book. I think if that something that was missing was in “The Henna Artist,” maybe this book would have been a hit.