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August 16
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Ms. Jen
gave
to:
Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy (Paperback)
by Dave Hickey
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Ms. Jen said:
"Dave Hickey is a genius. I wish he would put out a few more collections of his essays.
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August 10
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Ms. Jen
marked as to-read:
Cowboy: The Legend of Colton H. Bryant (Hardcover)
by Alexandra Fuller
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Ms. Jen
marked as to-read:
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood (Paperback)
by Alexandra Fuller
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Ms. Jen
gave
to:
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World (Hardcover)
by Steven Johnson
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in August, 2008
Ms. Jen said:
"The information in the book was good & interesting, but it was about 100 pages too long (out of 200 some odd pages) as it should have been a long essay or a short book.
I had heard many good reviews of the topic & ideas that Johnson wrot...more
The information in the book was good & interesting, but it was about 100 pages too long (out of 200 some odd pages) as it should have been a long essay or a short book.
I had heard many good reviews of the topic & ideas that Johnson wrote on, but found myself frustrated while reading as the book meandered and repeated itself unnecessarily, which is too bad as the topic and basic story are good....less
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Ms. Jen
is currently reading:
The Omnivore's Dilemma
by Michael Pollan
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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July 15
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Ms. Jen
marked as to-read:
The Death of Vishnu: A Novel (Paperback)
by Manil Suri
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Ms. Jen
gave
to:
Practical Django Projects (Paperback)
by James Bennett
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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July 14
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Ms. Jen
gave
to:
Ancient Shores (Mass Market Paperback)
by Jack McDevitt
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in January, 2005
Ms. Jen said:
"I love this book. It has all the bits I like in a good sci/fi novel: technology, mystery, cultural reprecussions, all on top of a good tale.
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Ms. Jen
gave
to:
A Good Indian Wife: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Anne Cherian
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in July, 2008
Ms. Jen said:
"If this book is considered a light summer read, then I give it 4 four points for a tale of 1980s immigrants struggling to figure out to which culture they belong, with a bit of a love-ish story thrown in. If a light summer read, then is also succeede...more
If this book is considered a light summer read, then I give it 4 four points for a tale of 1980s immigrants struggling to figure out to which culture they belong, with a bit of a love-ish story thrown in. If a light summer read, then is also succeeded in introducing the average American reader to the ups and downs of immigration for upper class, educated Indians.
If the book is meant to be considered a literary novel that examines the immigrant experience and contrasts between India of the 1980s and the US of the 1980s, then I give it a 2.5 to 3 points for missing a few key points that would have taken it from an ok to not-so-good literary novel over the top into a good or great novel.
The book read as if the novelist had not decided where she wanted to the book to reside, or maybe she new but her editors thought otherwise to market it, and tried to write both a light romance novel and a literary novel in one, except it didn't really work.
Here is where the book fell down:
1) Time placement. I really wish the author had anchored the book firmly in time, but as it was it was mostly pre-1995, but with some ambivalence as to whether the story was taking place in 1981 or 1987 or 1997 or 2007.
With a careful reading, there are only 4 places in the whole book that place it occurring sometime between 1981 - 1989:
a) A small statement in the first 4 or 5 chapters about it being "the Eighties". The eighties were 10 years long, when in the eighties?
b) A small statement midway through the book that Neel was born just after the Independence of India. The author tells us several times that Neel is 35, so if he was born sometime between 1948 and 1960, then the book would have taken place 1983 to 1995.
c) A discussion between Leila and her friend Rekha on arranged marriages talking about the wedding of Charles & Diana being an contemporary event or at least within the last few years.
d) No internet or mobile phones, but one communicates between the US and India via land line and sending "cables".
Why does time placement matter? Well, if the author had managed time a bit more precisely and presented the 1980s India as a world on the edge of big change (as we now in hindsight know it was), the reader could have felt more keenly both the ambivalence of Neel's wanting to escape traditional India and Leila's willingness to straddle both cultures.
The time also matters, as if it was the early or mid-eighties, then some of the American cultural references (like rollerblades & recycling) would have been completely off. If it was the late eighties or early nineties, then those references would have been on in a culturally cutting edge town like San Francisco.
2) Neel - From a romance novel perspective, the character of Neel is a bit of a dud, as he does not redeem himself enough in the end. From a literary novel perspective, the character of Neel is almost there and needed a bit more fleshing out.
I believed Leila's character fully. I almost believed Neel, but not enough in the end. I would like to have a bit more on the conflict raging inside of Neel that made him in the end choose what he chose, particularly in regards to his wife.
3) Place: While we knew that that Neel and Leila hailed from a town in South India, that they were Iyengars, and went on their honeymoon in Ooty, I wish for the author had told us what town (even if made up) and what state in India they were from. It matters. She told us all about San Francisco, so why not give the reader as much on the town in India, the language they spoke (each state in South India has its own language, cuisine, ways of wearing a saree or the like, etc.).
After googling "Ooty" and "Iyengar", it became obvious that Neel and Leila were most likely from Tamil Nadu, with a small chance of Kerala or Karnataka. This matters, as each of these states has a distinct culture, just like it would have bothered the American reader if the author had not listed the town or state that the couple lived in on the West Coast. The story would have been just as odd if we were trying to guess what part of the West Coast the author meant (is it Seattle? is it Portland? is it San Francisco? etc.)
The crux of the story resides in the cultural conflict that an immigrant experiences between India and US. I wish South India had not been so generic. It is possible that the author or her editors did not want the story to have to go into the differences between Tamil culture and other parts of India, but the book would have benefited if both were from Tamil Nadu and the added dimension to Neel's internal conflict if we had known a bit about the cultural conflicts between Tamil culture and the North of India. Then Neel would have been more human, his desire to achieve in the US may have been more understandable, why he did not speak Hindi, etc.
Sorry to go on so much, but I did like this book and I really wanted it to succeed into the areas that would have made it a great book. I am still thinking of the story in my head, which means that the book is closer to 4 points than 3 points for me.
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