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Jul 21, 2020TheBorgQueen rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi, is a thrilling and exciting story about a 12 year old girl named Aru Shah. The story starts in Atlanta Georgia in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, where Aru and her mom live. Aru loves the museum, and she knows stories about all the artifacts there. However, there is one artifact that her mother refuses to allow Aru to touch- the cursed lamp. Even with her mother’s rule about the lamp, in order to impress her classmates, Aru lit up the lamp, which ended up releasing an entity that threatened the safety of the entire world. This launches Aru into a quest to save the world and her mother. Along the way, stories and concepts from Hinduism and India are seen, from the appearance of the Monkey God Hanuman to the story of the Pandava brothers. As I read this book, I feel very connected to the stories and characters that Chokshi uses. As a Hindu and an Indian-American, I always found it difficult to find figures in literature and media that represented my religion and cultural values. While reading the story, I was amazed every time I saw a story I was taught come to life and interact with the main characters. This book even gave me new facts and questions about my own religion, which is not something that can be said about most books. Chokshi creates an incredible balance between references to American culture and Indian culture, something that is rare in American literature. From the cultural references to the amazing facts about hinduism, I would highly recommend this book to everyone! It can teach you many things about hinduism- from the idea of incarnation to customs and values.