14. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Description (The New Yorker via Amazon.com)
Desai's second novel is set in the nineteen-eighties in the northeast corner of India, where the borders of several Himalayan states-Bhutan and Sikkim, Nepal and Tibet-meet. At the head of the novel's teeming cast is Jemubhai Patel, a Cambridge-educated judge who has retired from serving a country he finds "too messy for justice." He lives in an isolated house with his cook, his orphaned seventeen-year-old granddaughter, and a red setter, whose company Jemubhai prefers to that of human beings. The tranquillity of his existence is contrasted with the life of the cook's son, working in grimy Manhattan restaurants, and with his granddaughter's affair with a Nepali tutor involved in an insurgency that irrevocably alters Jemubhai's life. Briskly paced and sumptuously written, the novel ponders questions of nationhood, modernity, and class, in ways both moving and revelatory.
My Impressions
I can't say I liked the book as a story but I enjoyed the writing in isolated doses. There is a lot of detail that I was fascinated and drawn in by. I really get a sense of place in both settings - the 'grimy Manhattan restaurants' and the spaces illegal immigrants inhabit; and the isolation and emptiness of the house and the inner workings of the community in the Himalayas both for the rich 'outsiders' who have made their home here and the poorer locals. I also get a sense of the head-space of the various characters - their emotional turmoil, guilt, worry, obligations, etc. This was the first book that I read for this challenge for which I felt I needed to take notes. There were just so many thought-provoking passages and lines throughout, especially about "the consequences of colonialism and global conflicts of religion, race, and nationalism" (from back cover). There were also passages and lines that were just beautifully written and evocative. Somehow despite all this, the book left me cold. I just couldn't bring myself to care for the plot or the majority of the characters. It always felt like there was a barrier, like this was all distant and far-off and somehow not compelling enough. Add all this to the fact that this is not a happy book. For instance, there are disturbing instances of spousal assault and abuse, and police brutality. Overall, I admire the book but couldn't enjoy it fully.
Desai's second novel is set in the nineteen-eighties in the northeast corner of India, where the borders of several Himalayan states-Bhutan and Sikkim, Nepal and Tibet-meet. At the head of the novel's teeming cast is Jemubhai Patel, a Cambridge-educated judge who has retired from serving a country he finds "too messy for justice." He lives in an isolated house with his cook, his orphaned seventeen-year-old granddaughter, and a red setter, whose company Jemubhai prefers to that of human beings. The tranquillity of his existence is contrasted with the life of the cook's son, working in grimy Manhattan restaurants, and with his granddaughter's affair with a Nepali tutor involved in an insurgency that irrevocably alters Jemubhai's life. Briskly paced and sumptuously written, the novel ponders questions of nationhood, modernity, and class, in ways both moving and revelatory.
My Impressions
I can't say I liked the book as a story but I enjoyed the writing in isolated doses. There is a lot of detail that I was fascinated and drawn in by. I really get a sense of place in both settings - the 'grimy Manhattan restaurants' and the spaces illegal immigrants inhabit; and the isolation and emptiness of the house and the inner workings of the community in the Himalayas both for the rich 'outsiders' who have made their home here and the poorer locals. I also get a sense of the head-space of the various characters - their emotional turmoil, guilt, worry, obligations, etc. This was the first book that I read for this challenge for which I felt I needed to take notes. There were just so many thought-provoking passages and lines throughout, especially about "the consequences of colonialism and global conflicts of religion, race, and nationalism" (from back cover). There were also passages and lines that were just beautifully written and evocative. Somehow despite all this, the book left me cold. I just couldn't bring myself to care for the plot or the majority of the characters. It always felt like there was a barrier, like this was all distant and far-off and somehow not compelling enough. Add all this to the fact that this is not a happy book. For instance, there are disturbing instances of spousal assault and abuse, and police brutality. Overall, I admire the book but couldn't enjoy it fully.