This book is heavy. There's a lot of love and self-discovery but it comes along with abuse.
I'm sad slept on this one, it was great! I had an ARC for Blue-Skinned Gods so I should have read and reviewed this by November 2021.... and here we are in April 2024. Oops.
But I'm actually glad that I waited to read it because this was easier for me to digest as an audiobook and my ARC is an ebook. There are many many words and names that I would have great difficulty pronouncing. I know that I would spend too much time trying to sound out these unfamiliar words and it would take me out of the moment and probably would have prevented me from enjoying this one so much. It's been almost 3 years since I read the synopsis, but at some point I assume I had an idea of what this was about. By the time I picked it up though, that memory was out the window. Color me surprised when the story eventually takes us to NYC and references as a family famous for an uncommon medical condition.
I really couldn't tell in the beginning if this book was veering more towards magical realism. It was written in a way that kept me guessing for a while, and I liked that.

Kalki was born with blue skin and due to his father's manipulation he raised to believe that he was the reincarnation of a God. As he grows older he begins to doubt his divinity and struggles to find a life that is uniquely his. This story offers a unique perspective on the manipulation we experience as children and the path of discovery once separated from the lies that created us.

Kalki Sami is the 10th incarnation of Vishnu. He is a god. He is also 9, turning 10, at the start of this book. Probably not the emotions the author was intending, but I was overwhelmed with sadness for the young boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders and contempt for his horribly abusive father. I cringed thinking about the mental abuse of telling a boy he can save the world, actually save it! I knew going in there would be no completely happy ending to this book. It just made me hold on stronger and hope for the young boy as the story follows him growing up and confronting the lie he was living. Surprisingly, though, the story is still uplifting and there are spots of joy and happiness. Rare to find a book that can devastate you and still leave you feeling better after reading them!

A great exploration of the impact of a child's surroundings on him/her/them, but I wish some things were delved deeper into. But despite it being morbid at times, it's a deeply gripping one, no doubt. Would recommend.

I don’t know what I was expecting going into this book but it wasn’t this story. Our main character grapples with what it means to be a god and, ultimately, what if he isn’t? I craved more of his adult life though, beyond his partying phase in NYC.

Blue Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu

324 Pages
Publisher: Soho Press
Release Date: November 2, 2021

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction (Adult), India, Religion, Hindu

When a blue baby is born in India, his father dedicates his life to proving his son is the reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. On his tenth birthday, Kalki must pass three tests to prove he is a god. Even though it appears he has passed the tests, he begins to question his abilities. As he grows into his teenage years, his father continues to expand the ashram and more visitors pay to see the blue god. When he begins a worldwide tour with his father, Kalki makes a connection with someone from his past. This makes him question everything about his whole existence.

The book has a steady pace, the characters are somewhat developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. His father has a heavy hand in his life which to me appears as greed. There are lies and much deceit in the story, which made me I feel sad for Kalki. His young life is spent serving others without any thought to his own emotional welfare. If you like general fiction books, you may enjoy this one.

SJ Sindu's writing keeps getting better and better. Hear our interview with the author at the link down below.

I cannot argue that it isn't thoughtful and well crafted, but I might complain, briefly, about the melancholy set to engulf you while you're reading.

Blue-Skinned Gods is an intricately woven and deeply compelling story that explores faith, race, gender, sexuality and class identities. An exhilarating and heartbreakingly raw read.

Well I finally have my computer back, now I can keep up with what I have left. First of all thanks to netgally for letting me read this book in advance.

When I picked up this book I didn’t know what I was expecting or what I was getting into, maybe a Little bit of magic, something like that, but oh lord, it was totally mind blowing, and I love it.
Here we have the story of lies and myths, how do you tell a kid the life he has been living is not what he believes? it is going to crash his world, how is he going to change? With this idea we enter to blue-skinned gods, I have to say I didn’t have any idea about the culture, and learning about their myths, their religión was beautiful, and sad in a way, becausae we see how this line of the magic and myths disapear with the techonology and the advances of the world, we don’t believe as we used to do.

I have to say, this book is not for everybody, it is slow and it takes a long time to explain every single detail of the culture, the rites, if this is what you are looking for, a story that is going to make you stop and question your ideas, then this is for you.

A wonderful story that I thoroughly enjoyed and found engaging through out. I would recommend this book to my friends and fellow readers.

Well written story of a boy coming to terms with the complexity of his family’s lies. We witness him grapple with his identity and love and anger towards his family. Powerful story. Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A fantastic story. The exploration of myth, family and individualism is beautiful and encompassing. This is such a wonderful and unique coming of age tale that would be well placed in any young persons hands.

A beautiful exploration of family . A child born different is revered and adored, and envied and almost destroyed. A wonderful story of how we love the special and how that live evolves.

“Was I really blue? Were Rama and Krishna blue? Or did we just look it? Maybe our skins refracted light around and made us look blue. Maybe we were no color. Maybe we were translucent, reflecting everything around us like human mirrors.”

BLUE-SKINNED GODS is a mesmerizing and gut-wrenching novel about a boy with blue skin raised as the tenth incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. The boy, Kalki, lives at an ashram in Tamil Nadu, India, where he and his family are visited by believers who receive blessings and healing from him under the watchful, controlling eye of his father. As the story progresses, Kalki loses almost every significant relationship and begins to question what he’s always believed, until he finally breaks free - from his father, from his faith, from everything he’s ever known.

I’ve been anticipating this book since I heard that Sindu, a genderqueer Tamil author, was publishing another full-length novel; their debut, MARRIAGE OF A THOUSAND LIES, is one of my favorite books. Her writing is beautiful, the characters achingly real, and the plot, flashing forward to hint at the future to come, is expertly crafted and kept me hooked until the last page. Though there are compelling romantic relationships in this story, the strongest connections explored are those between family. I love how she explores belief (religious and otherwise), gender and sexuality (particularly the different ways that Hindu texts can be interpreted and how those varied meanings are used to oppress and to liberate), abuse and affection, caste, the power of art and music, and so much more. Anyone who has had faith in a higher power that later changed will be able to relate to aspects of Kalki’s journey. The story is bursting with queer and trans folks of all kinds, existing in the world in different ways, surviving, defiant, and beautiful. I particularly enjoyed the final chapters set in New York City. I would have easily read another hundred pages of Kalki’s story; it’s an utter triumph. Thank you to Soho Press for the review copy and to Libro.fm for the ALC!

Content warnings: illness, death of a loved one, child abuse, intimate partner violence, completed suicide, sexism, some homophobia & transphobia

In Tamil Nadu, India, a boy is born with blue skin. His father sets up an ashram, and the family makes a living off of the pilgrims who seek the child’s blessings and miracles, believing young Kalki to be the tenth human incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. In Kalki’s tenth year, he is confronted with three trials that will test his power and prove his divine status and, his father tells him, spread his fame worldwide. While he seems to pass them, Kalki begins to question his divinity.

Even before his birth, Kalke Sami’s parents knew he was destined to become a god. He appeared to be a normal infant until he was bitten by a cobra at age six months. He survived the deadly bite, but his skin turned blue, the color of the Hindu god Vishnu.
His parents raise him on their ashram in a manner befitting the avatar of the tenth reincarnation of Vishnu. He spends his days in study and meditation. In the evenings he used his healing powers to treat the minor ailments of the villagers, aided at times by his doctor father’s skills. His only companions are his cousin Lashman and Roo, the girl he’d healed as his first miracle. When Lashman’s family moves to the United States, it leaves a huge hole in his heart and in his life. When his father banishes Roo because of his attachment to her, Kalke is devasted.
As Kalke grows older, he becomes more and more dissatisfied with his restricted life. He wants to play with the village kids, he wants to go to school, and he wants to fall in love. Visitors to the ashram introduce him to the outside world, against his father’s wishes. The more Kalke struggles to have a more normal life, the more his father cuts him off from the world.
When he reached adulthood, his father took him on a world tour. He found Lashman In New York City, escapes his father’s clutches, and discovers a whole new world. He reaches some incredible highs and some devastating lows, including the shocking revelation that nothing he thought he knew about his life is true.
Blueskinned Gods gives a fascinating look into a little-known culture. Kalke’s unique coming of age story is poignant and moving. Highly recommended.

The story of a young man trying to be the God everyone expects him to be, Blue-Skinned Gods is the perfect story for anyone confused about their purpose in life. I can't say what made me more angry throughout this book, Kalki's overly-possessive father, his opportunistic childhood friend or the number of people who saw something was wrong and never stepped in. Things are hard enough for kids as they grow up and while no one ever expected me to be a goddess, I remember the crushing weight of expectations from the older people in my life. The story is only made better by SJ Sindu's incredible writing. She creates a world so vivid, I couldn't believe I wasn't there each time I closed the book. I look forward to exploring her backlist.

An incredible novel, full of feeling and tenderness and complicated characters asking sometimes impossible-to-answer questions about belief, faith, love, and what living well and freely can, should, and does look like.

Real Rating: 4.5* of five

A child is fed a diet of lies by his parents and all the adults around him. They seek many things from their lies, and he seeks only his truth.

Come for the writing, stay for the story...the sentences are lovely things, shining and glowing with the light of inspiration. The story's the one we all need to hear at this juncture, the one about the abuse of religion in service of religiosity and greed. The cost to this genuinely beautiful soul, Kalki, is so huge...the relationships he can not save are all built on the sand of lies.

What makes this story so extraordinarily resonant is that we're all surrounded by lies all day every day. Yes, it's true, Kalki's lies are costly to those he's lying to...not being a god and still trying to heal people is wrong...but he told the truth he had been sold all his life by the liars he was raised by and among. Kalki, unlike all the rest of us, has the weight of the literal world on him, has expectations of miracles mounded on him. That's his excuse for buying into the lies he's surrounded by. What's yours? What's mine?

The questions that this brutally honest look in the mirror of a story raises are urgently in need of everyone's answers, delivered with the honesty and the anger that Kalki uses as he does the absolutely unthinkable, the unbelievably god-like thing and takes control of his life: He forgives.

Being able to forgive is, I honestly believe, the single most important quality in a healthy person's happiness. I see it in stark relief as this novel winds its coils around my heart. Kalki, wronged on every level, betrayed and abandoned on every side, used and abused and ripped off...he forgives. And that is the most beautiful thing available for a mortal to do, to give. Come and be healed: Read BLUE-SKINNED GODS.