Miss Burma

Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig is a generational story spanning decades, inspired by the author's own family history! Pulled in by the prologue but then it does slow down a little. The chapters are told in the third person but we get switching POVs about Khin, Benny, and Louisa. I liked Benny’s chapters the best-they were more well-paced and showed what was happening whereas Khin and especially Louisa’s early chapters, are telling over showing and have too much minute detailing.

It slows a lot in the middle and I thought about DNFing several times but I really wanted to continue learning about Burma and Karen history-which I couldn’t find many other novels about so I stuck it out. I was glad I did though because it does pick up the pacing again. Also, I didn’t know much about Burma but I’ve been learning so much through this novel!

It’s a very dark and heavy book because of the war and violence it’s set around. I’m seeing a lot of history that’s now being repeated, in terms of talking about the colonization of Burma and the inequality/enslavement of Karens.

I really didn’t like Khin; I can’t say too much without spoiling but let’s just say she’s a hypocrite who mistreats her loved ones often. Very flawed characters, which I do usually like, but there was not much shown to make Khin redeemable in my opinion.

Writing became very philosophical at times, I think if the focus of the book had been narrowed/edited down it would’ve flowed better and been more engaging. Based on the title and prologue I was expecting more of Louisa but she’s a minor character and we barely get her story until the end.

In the end, I think the first third and last third are the best, the middle slumps and slows down dragging the story. I think it’s a book that should be read and I’d recommend it! Even though I didn’t love it, it’s very educational and opened my eyes to a piece of history I had never learned about.