Author Jhumpa Lahiri
Country United States
Genre Realistic Fiction
Publication Date 2013
Pages 340
An effortlessly and poignantly written real novel about real India, real relationships and real people. An easy read but a thought provoker. A story that revolves around 2 brothers and their relationship and how they are same, yet very different. While one (Udayan) gets involved with the Naxalite movement in India, the other (Subhash) moves to the States to build his future. Udayan's tragic death pulls Subhash back to his roots so much so that he ends up marrying Udayan's widow, Gauri and takes her with him to the US. Gauri bears Udayan's daughter only to finally pull away from her family strings and build a life alone with her books and studies.
This beautifully written book has left me confused about 'Gauri'. Her courage to break away from her daughter and second husband is in some way impressive and in other ways disgusting. While the mother in me wants to detest Gauri for doing what she did to her daughter (abandoning her at the tender age of 10 for no concrete reason other than the fact that she did not feel connected to her family); the woman or the individual in me empathizes with her - understands how it's hard to carry on a life when one is not truly happy from within and how it needs a lot of gumption and honesty to finally call it a day!
Being a 'black and white' person, I like to have strong views about my likes and dislikes. But Gauri's character has in some way evolved my thinking - it makes me believe in the 'grey'. It makes me realize that life is not as simple as two distinct compartments of black and white - there is a lot in between. The circumstances and the experiences we go through in life mould our thinking process and make us the better or worse for it.
Hence, we must think twice before we judge people; without any knowledge of their circumstances and life story!
And that's my take away from the book. Read it to find out yours!
