(no subject)
Publishers Weekly
This stunning second novel from Desai (Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard) is set in mid-1980s India, on the cusp of the Nepalese movement for an independent state. Jemubhai Popatlal, a retired Cambridge-educated judge, lives in Kalimpong, at the foot of the Himalayas, with his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, and his cook. The makeshift family's neighbors include a coterie of Anglophiles who might be savvy readers of V.S. Naipaul but who are, perhaps, less aware of how fragile their own social standing is-at least until a surge of unrest disturbs the region. Jemubhai, with his hunting rifles and English biscuits, becomes an obvious target. Besides threatening their very lives, the revolution also stymies the fledgling romance between 16-year-old Sai and her Nepalese tutor, Gyan. The cook's son, Biju, meanwhile, lives miserably as an illegal alien in New York. All of these characters struggle with their cultural identity and the forces of modernization while trying to maintain their emotional connection to one another. In this alternately comical and contemplative novel, Desai deftly shuttles between first and third worlds, illuminating the pain of exile, the ambiguities of post-colonialism and the blinding desire for a "better life," when one person's wealth means another's poverty. Agent, Michael Carlisle. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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My sister in law gave me this book to read. I was skeptical at first because John and his family tend to read boring, tiring books. However, I gave this one a chance because I enjoy reading novels set in India.
This one did not disappoint. Not only did it provide great characterization and conflict, but it also provided an historical overview of India during the 1980s when each religious faction there was fighting to have their own state and there were a lot of religious factions!!
The judge, grandfather to the orphan Sai, does not come across as a good man and the author does not sugarcoat this. He abused and left his pregnant wife and had nothing to do with his grandchild until she was forced upon him at age 16. It is ironic that he spoils and loves his dog so tremendously while being cavalier toward his kin. At one point, the dog becomes lost and I was so happy because karma had finally hit the man.
The more interesting story was that of the cook's son, Buji, who struggles as an illegal alien in the U.S. He endures poverty and loneliness but writes letters to his father in which he describes himself as a rich man who works at restaurants.
The romance between Sai and her tutor is also not overblown and flowery. Well, in certain sections it is but it is not a major component of the book other than his betrayal of Sai.
I recommend this book for those of you who enjoy a bit of the exotic. You won't be disappointed.