The following reviews were posted as book evaluations at AMAZON and can be reread on that site anytime: (copyright amazon sarl)
Entrancing self-discovery story - romantic, sad, sexy, and very emotional,
12th December 2007
by Adrian
In (extremely short) summary, "Karan" deals with the energetic British-Indian Dev, who meets shy Karan in London and falls in love with him after having spent a night together (and vice-versa, of course!). They decide to become friends, since Dev is married and he and Karan will work together at the theatre belonging to Karan’s father. However, Dev has imagined this to be far easier than it turns out to actually be, because he cannot detach himself from his feelings for Karan, whereas also fighting against all the minor and major blows of everyday life, so that his life becomes anything but boring during the next few years.
My first impression after having finished this book (I admit that I was pretty much in tears) was that "Karan" is the most realistic and, simultaneously, the most unrealistic book I have laid my hands on in a very long time.
I find it realistic, because I could recognize so many attributes and characteristics of the described persons, which I can see in people surrounding me in real life as well. The “recognition factor” in many of the fictitious situations is tremendous. All the characters in "Karan", even the most insignificant ones, are lovingly given a unique personality, have rough edges, and do right as well as wrong things without becoming dislikeable or even boring. In fact, they are simply just real human beings. It was kind of funny when I read certain sections, because I tended to think, when Dev or Karan or Tara or Amarkant, or one of the others were wide off the mark again, that yes, but this IS exactly like it is when you are in a difficult situation - and a lack of difficult situations is nothing the protagonists in this novel have to worry about, really.
Unrealistic I thought, because sometimes I could hardly believe that there are supposed to be people who try so hard to make another person happy or take so much trouble just to understand him. And all this, although the other person is absolutely different and therefore can be incomprehensible and maybe even offending. But the thought is so wonderful that the reader simply wants to believe it and is finally led to by the way the story is written. I don’t know how she has achieved it, but the author of "Karan" conveys these deep feelings in such an incredibly clever and casual manner that you can sympathise with everything throughout. Certainly every reader will have his favourite character, with whom he or she can identify more than with the others, but this is almost the most important point for me – no behaviour is judged.
Sonju DiCarmen allows the reader to believe in this wonderful "for a whole life". Also, if you cannot or don’t want to believe in such a deep love – simply the delight in reading about its possibility makes reading Karan worthwhile five times.
On the last pages of the book you can read that 50 cent of each sold copy will be donated to the aid organisation Aids-Hilfe, which is a remarkable gesture as it is. Moreover it says, however, what the book itself is intended to be:
Karan is not a book to be placed in the niche category of homosexuality. It is a story about self-discovery, a story about love, a story about two people, who are so different from each other that the struggle of getting close is nearly as hard as the torture of being without the other one."
And that, above all, the story pleads for tolerance, for love and for the strength to stand by oneself, which is something that affects every human being. As a matter of fact this summarises the message of this novel beautifully. And, taking this into account, the book is not so unrealistic after all...
I love this novel very much and can only recommend it for everybody who for a few hours would like to bask in the feelings of a great love and follow how short-tempered Dev struggles through his inner and outer turmoil. "Karan" is a wonderfully romantic, funny, sexy, sad, and lively written story about unconditional friendship and tolerance, which tend to be forgotten much too often when confronted with someone who is different from oneself. Regarding this, the novel succeeds amazingly simply and without being overly educational in providing a small but important "lesson".
In any case, “Karan" is the perfect book for long cosy evenings of reading, offering much English flair and a touch of Indian exoticism and two unbelievably lovable protagonists, who lingered on in my thoughts for quite some time. Who wants to get to know more about the story and the characters should have a look at the web site of the author (www.sonjudicarmen.de).
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Spell binding "gay" love story and appeal for tolerance at the same time,
21st December 2007
by Kasi
This novel presented (at least) three positive surprises to me.
Firstly, when reading Karan, what especially impressed me was how easily Sonju DiCarmen succeeded in maintaining the suspension over as many as almost 900 pages in such a captivating manner that the reader is not angry about the author not using less words to tell her story, but more about the day only having 24 hours and that, unfortunately, there are also other things to be done except reading. The events of and around Dev and Karan achieve to hold the difficult balance between logical succession and surprising moments throughout the story. Impressive indeed.
It is also amazing how the points of view of all characters are taken into account and presented (except for the “bad guy” maybe, but who is actually interested in his reasons?!). By including all positions the author creates a novel ambience (if such a thing exists, of course) of comprehending and tolerance. Naturally it is not a happy-go-lucky, boring world the novel describes. The characters fight heavily and misunderstand and hurt one another, intentionally and unintentionally. But the final message, which can be read between the lines very convincingly, especially in regards to the numerous realistic dialogues, is that talking is an obligatory part of any relationship to work at all.
By the way, the dialogues themselves are optically different than an avid reader is used to, for the direct speech of a person is always introduced by an abbreviation letter. By this feature the impression of theatre dialogues embedded in a novel is subtly created, which is a rather charming means considering that the background of the novel is the world of theatre. Furthermore it makes an stunningly lively read.
And in order to mention the topic of homosexuality at least once, which naturally plays a significant role in KARAN and may be an unfamiliar theme for many readers (Sonju DiCarmen describes gay love with every revealing care and love for erotic details!): after reading approximately 50 pages you simply "forget" that the couple of the novel consists of two men. This is meant definitely positive, if you consider that it underlines the unimportance of who loves whom and why and so on. It is about two people loving each other including everything good and painful connected to this great topic. And this is not the only thing that matters, this is also possibly the most important merit that can be ascribed to the book. Absolutely recommendable.
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Like hot chocolate!, 21st December 2007
by Lucy
The novel "Karan" is as wonderful as a cup of hot chocolate – it warms you down to your toes, it comforts you when you are frightened or lonely, and it is over quite too fast!
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A great challenge, 22nd December 2007
by Roland
The book Karan is a great challenge.
For me as a straight guy especially the beginning was very difficult to read. Due to the fact that the love between males was something strange to me, the book represents also a kind of “enlightenment” book for me.
The novel shows beautifully that gay persons love, hate, and suffer in exactly the same way heterosexual persons do. It encourages comprehension for people who are different from me. After reading the book, gay people are neither strange nor mysterious for me anymore. They are different from me, but at the same time not really different.
The novel presents a travel guide für India, too. Although I have been in India just in autumn 2007, I could catch a flight back immediately after reading it. You can feel the Indian culture in this book.
Karan is a book that everyone should read, because it promotes understanding and tolerance for our society. As soon as everyone in our society will have read Karan, our life will have become more beautiful and interesting.
Life is colourful.
I congratulate the author.
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Simply Ingenious, 7th January 2008
by Saaya "John"
Rarely, I have read a book, which proved to be so convincing to me as this one.
Karan shows us that homosexuality is not the lust for fast sex and tells very impressively and with care the realisation of one’s own world of love and idea of love.
I thank for the lovely hours.
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Good topic , 18th February 2008
by Blümchen -
Nowadays such topics should be dealt with more often, since, in many cases, turning to a same-gender partner causes uneasiness in the people around us and is treated with a lack of understanding, because it breaks all well-established conceptions.
Therefore such a book as Karan is a good attempt to further objectivity, respect and comprehension in our society in regards to a – to all intents and purposes – normal love.
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Brilliant, 7th May 2008
By Thorsten Duetsch (Recklinghausen)
On very rare occasions, a book has been able to fascinate me as the novel Karan written by the author Sonju di Carmen has done. To be honest, I must admit that, at the beginning, I had been a little bit anxious, holding the 860 (!!!) pages in my hands. But I had hardly opened it and read the very first lines, when I didn’t want to put it down anymore.
In this book, the author describes impressively the love between two men, Karan und Dev. A love, which isn’t supposed to be, but, nevertheless, somehow simply is. The author continuously succeeds in coming up with surprising moments, so that the story never gets boring - quite the opposite. You want to read faster and faster and get to know more of the novel’s heros. In between, there are certain points during the tale, when the reader feels that, actually, there would have to be the end, just because it feels so appropriate. But then you didn’t take Sonju di Carmen into account. She knows how to open a new thread at exactly these moments, thus making the story even more captivating.
People, who have been in one or two relationships before, will be able to relate to many scenes very well. This novel qualifies absolutely for readers, who are partial to tales of love, pain and romance. A book about real love and pure happiness. So romantically and ineffably beautiful. But beware – you are so not safe from dropping an occasional tear – even in public places. This is due to the wonderful narrative of Sonju di Carmen. She is able to make the reader forget the world around him, and get lost completely in the world of Karan. Yes, she is even able to make you wish Karan to be your own friend as well, since he is such a phantastic human being. Therefore you want the book never to end at all.
In summary, Karan is a brilliant book having bestseller quality. The story is spellbinding, and urges you to read on with curiosity, causing you to get it out of your pocket whenever there is a free second. And even if it is only for a few more lines.
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A fantastic reading experience, 31th August 2008
From Sylva (Frankfurt)
Seldomly I devoured a book as fast as Karan. For me as a hetero,
naturally, it had been a bit strange at first to read about the love
between two men, but soon that wasn't important anymore. You suffered
with these two men like I would with a female friend as well, who
experiences the same with a man. I used every opportunity to read on and
even sacrificed a whole night, only because I was so curious about how
the story would continue.
I can recommend this book very much.
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Letters to the author
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Involuntarily thrilled, 14th February 2008
by Arthur Neumann
I am male and straight (curious thing indeed that as a male person you always find yourself obliged to emphasise this fact when talking about homosexuality) and read Karan not entirely „voluntarily“. That means that it was lying on my girl-friend’s bedside table, and I ran through the pages because I was bored (the cover didn’t really give much away as far as content was concerned). But as the previous readers have remarked quite correctly, the novel is written rather captivatingly. You get hooked. Finally I finished the book within a week (usually I am more interested in historical novels), which nobody could have been more surprised about than me (not even my girl-friend).
Admittedly, I found some parts too emotional (that’s why I’d give four „stars“, I simply prefer a more matter-of-fact way of writing), but a lot more parts proved to be very comprehensible. I especially liked Tara, amazing woman.
With hindsight, I got the impression that Karan helps reducing reserves. There is much that remains on your mind, like a repercussion really. It’s not that I didn’t like gay people before, I am simply not used to have direct contact. All strange things make you frightened or, at least, create some kind of uneasiness. Now I have gained a somewhat different insight into their emotional life. The book has given me something like a reality check of a world, which isn’t so dissimilar to my own, perhaps even the same.
All in all, Karan is a surprising good read, a bit off the usual topics.
Definitely worthwhile to be read.