Genre Fiction
![Kirthana Ramisetti - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_kirthana_ramisetti.jpg)
Dava Shastri's Last Day
In this novel "full of music, magnetism, and familial obligation" (Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here) a dying billionaire matriarch leaks news of her death early so she can examine her legacy-a decision that horrifies her children and inadvertently exposes secrets she has spent a lifetime keeping.
Dava Shastri, one of the world's wealthiest women, has always lived with her sterling reputation in mind. A brain cancer diagnosis at the age of seventy, however, changes everything, and Dava decides to take her death-like all matters of her life-into her own hands.
Summoning her four adult children to her private island, she discloses shocking news: in addition to having a terminal illness, she has arranged for the news of her death to break early, so she can read her obituaries.
As someone who dedicated her life to the arts and the empowerment of women, Dava expects to read articles lauding her philanthropic work. Instead, her "death" reveals two devastating secrets, truths she thought she had buried forever.
And now the whole world knows, including her children.
In the time she has left, Dava must come to terms with the decisions that have led to this moment-and make peace with those closest to her before it's too late. Compassionately written and chock-full of humor and heart, this powerful novel examines public versus private legacy, the complexities of love, and the never-ending joys-and frustrations-of family.
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
A Good Morning America and Lilly Singh's Lilly Library Book Club pick
Most anticipated in fall 2021 by TIME, The Washington Post, Bustle, Goodreads, and Debutiful • An Indie Next Pick • A Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book for Fall/Winter 2021 • Longlisted for the 2021 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
Dava Shastri, one of the world's wealthiest women, has always lived with her sterling reputation in mind. A brain cancer diagnosis at the age of seventy, however, changes everything, and Dava decides to take her death-like all matters of her life-into her own hands.
Summoning her four adult children to her private island, she discloses shocking news: in addition to having a terminal illness, she has arranged for the news of her death to break early, so she can read her obituaries.
As someone who dedicated her life to the arts and the empowerment of women, Dava expects to read articles lauding her philanthropic work. Instead, her "death" reveals two devastating secrets, truths she thought she had buried forever.
And now the whole world knows, including her children.
In the time she has left, Dava must come to terms with the decisions that have led to this moment-and make peace with those closest to her before it's too late. Compassionately written and chock-full of humor and heart, this powerful novel examines public versus private legacy, the complexities of love, and the never-ending joys-and frustrations-of family.
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
A Good Morning America and Lilly Singh's Lilly Library Book Club pick
Most anticipated in fall 2021 by TIME, The Washington Post, Bustle, Goodreads, and Debutiful • An Indie Next Pick • A Publishers Marketplace Buzz Book for Fall/Winter 2021 • Longlisted for the 2021 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
Editorial Reviews
"A rich portrait of a family facing their powerful matriarch's death, Dava Shastri's Last Day is full of music, magnetism, and familial obligation. If Succession were about a multicultural family who actually loved each other, it might look like this."―Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here
"Kirthana Ramisetti has written a sweeping saga and also a poignant story about sacrifice and the exacting price of secrecy. Cinematic and intimate, Dava Shastri's Last Day is an intricate story about family and love."―Devi S. Laskar, Author of The Atlas of Reds and Blues
"Dava Shastri's Last Day is a story about ambition and greatness, wealth and family, full of secrets, love, and music, and those eternal pop song complements: heartbreak and hope. It's a gripping, deeply satisfying story about one woman's tremendous life-and the infinitely complicated ways we create our own legacies."
―Kate Racculia, Author of Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts and Bellweather Rhapsody
"Ramisetti beautifully weaves keen analysis of celebrity culture and a deep love of music into this perceptive, intergenerational story of resentment, trauma, love, and redemption. A page-turner with humor, heart, and lots of pop music."―Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia
"Ramisetti draws nuanced characters who are introspective and entertaining. A solid debut that will appeal to readers who enjoy quirky family stories."―Kirkus
"A thought-provoking family drama that will appeal to fans of All Adults Here by Emma Straub."―Booklist
"Dava is fearless . . . Ramisetti takes us on a journey that terrifies, exhilarates and plunges us into a place of freedom and truth that can only be achieved when life meets death."―BookTrib
"Cinematic."―Khabar
"A high-concept novel that pulls off its premise, but its star is Dava herself . . . fascinating."―Strong Sense of Place
"Kirthana Ramisetti has written a sweeping saga and also a poignant story about sacrifice and the exacting price of secrecy. Cinematic and intimate, Dava Shastri's Last Day is an intricate story about family and love."―Devi S. Laskar, Author of The Atlas of Reds and Blues
"Dava Shastri's Last Day is a story about ambition and greatness, wealth and family, full of secrets, love, and music, and those eternal pop song complements: heartbreak and hope. It's a gripping, deeply satisfying story about one woman's tremendous life-and the infinitely complicated ways we create our own legacies."
―Kate Racculia, Author of Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts and Bellweather Rhapsody
"Ramisetti beautifully weaves keen analysis of celebrity culture and a deep love of music into this perceptive, intergenerational story of resentment, trauma, love, and redemption. A page-turner with humor, heart, and lots of pop music."―Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia
"Ramisetti draws nuanced characters who are introspective and entertaining. A solid debut that will appeal to readers who enjoy quirky family stories."―Kirkus
"A thought-provoking family drama that will appeal to fans of All Adults Here by Emma Straub."―Booklist
"Dava is fearless . . . Ramisetti takes us on a journey that terrifies, exhilarates and plunges us into a place of freedom and truth that can only be achieved when life meets death."―BookTrib
"Cinematic."―Khabar
"A high-concept novel that pulls off its premise, but its star is Dava herself . . . fascinating."―Strong Sense of Place
Readers Top Reviews
wendy t. gordon
I was so disappointed in this book and struggled to finish it. I kept waiting for it to evolve but it never did. The characters were flat and uninteresting. Dava was a non-likable person and her entitled children as well. The only character that was mildly interesting was her daughter that she gave up for adoption. I would have liked to read more in depth about Chatiyana’s life, ambitions, her feelings about being given up and finding out who her mother was.
DoeLady Bugwendy
It just didn't mesh together for me. I liked characters, husband, songvwriter... everyone but I did not care about her last day... as I should of. Frankly I have been known to cry at a poignant commercial... maybe if I knew more about the building of the Co and charity trusts. Maybe if I learned about the near future in which she lived, and presumably had something to do about it. Even the building of the Island,the book always left me wanting more story less leading lady. And saying that I know it's about her ambitions, will power, orchestrations.
Ms. PoeBiggie Mom
I debated whether to round my 3.5-star rating for this book up or down. For me, the main argument for rounding up was that the book, overall, was well done. It read naturally, with no glaring faux pas, and was beautifully edited. That counts a lot to me because so few books, even print books, are these days. I also found the premise for the plot intriguing and wish that I liked the resulting book more. Ultimately, though, the main argument for rounding down won the day. I didn't like any of the Shastris. They were, except for Arvid Persson, Dava's late husband, uniformly selfish. Dava herself, despite being a world-renowned philanthropist, was toxically ambitious and consumed by controlling her legacy. The only characters besides Arvid who I found sympathetic were Colin and Vincent, Sita's and Arvie's husbands, respectively. I felt sorry that they were stuck in the Shastri-Persson clan. Would I read another book book by Ramisetti? I don't know, which is probably the biggest reason for the three stars.
LDBMs. PoeBiggie
This is a closed-room type mystery, except that the only mystery is how Dava Shastri's legacy will play out. Dava Shastri, an Indian-American woman who is rich and philanthropic, discovers she has a terminal illness and takes matters into her own hands. She invites her four children, their partners and their children to stay at the island house she had hoped would be passed from generation to generation. As they are all stuck on the island after being snowed in, Dava has to deal with the media surfacing her deeply buried secrets after her death is prematurely announced and each child comes to know their mother a little better. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. As Dava would want it, and as expected from the title, everything revolves around her. Each chapter shares a perspective of the lives of each of her children and how their upbringing has ultimately molded them; as well as the two secrets she had tried to bury during her life. The story lingers on what we hope for our children and what they actually get out of everything we give them. Things never turn out exactly as we would hope... In the end, while each character is selfish in their own way, the final message is "what good have you done for others lately?"
FordLDBMs. PoeBig
Took a chance on this one, without knowing how heavy it was going to be. I have to admit, it's written well enough that I had no trouble finishing it in a day, which is a compliment to the author. I was simply unable to put it down for more than a half hour before picking it back up again to know what happened. It's heavy, emotional, and in its own way, shapes a lens through which I can see my own family. I didn't notice anything in here at all that resembled filler, and the story comes to life in multiple different perspectives. I'm grateful to the author for writing this. I poked briefly at the one star reviews before writing this to try to figure out why anybody could hate it so much. Lack of character development was a complaint, but to that I would like to point out that this is the story of an already grown, branched family. There's not really much of anything to develop, in a story that spans a single day. There is some in there anyway- but I don't even really feel like for the type of story that it is, that it was strictly necessary to be there. It's not often that I say, but I do wish to thank Ms. Ramisetti for not letting this one die as a concept.
