Often the first person narrative is used by an author to create doubt in the mind of the reader. Ratika Kapur does the opposite in her novel, The Private Life of Mrs. Sharma, with a narrator who calmly tells the truth about her actions from the novel’s beginning to its end. She is a respectable woman—a wife and mother who works at a doctor’s office in Delhi, India. She ... Read More...
It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews
First of all, how is it that summer is already over?! I know this wasn't the case in most of the country, but here in Seattle we never had sustained summer heat, just a few days here and there. It still feels as if summer lies ahead, even though September is chock full of big releases. Having said that, here are two It's Not You, It's Me books. They did not go ... Read More...
The House of Hidden Mothers
The House of Hidden Mothers is a melting pot of a lot of timely themes, but author Meera Syal manages them without overwhelming the flavor of the story. Forty-eight-year-old Shyama owns a successful beauty salon in London where she lives with her thirty-four-year-old boyfriend Toby and her daughter Tara, who’s attending university. By and large she is happy with her ... Read More...
It’s Not You, It’s Me: Commitment Issues
When I was young, I got around—reading three or four books at the same time, juggling plots, themes, and characters with abandon, but now I’m a responsible reader—no longer one of those flighty, ‘I’m-going-to-read-around’ kind of gals. Or so I thought, but the last two months have found me playing fast and loose with my reading again. Starting a book, then ignoring it ... Read More...
Rebel Queen: A Novel
As a fan of historical fiction I often find myself reading about women as either accessories or behind-the-scenes figures so it was a welcome delight to read Michelle Moran’s Rebel Queen, about Lakshmi, the Rani (or queen) of one of the states in India in the late 19th century. The novel is told from the perspective of a young woman named Sita who lives with her family ... Read More...
The Story Hour
When it comes to the workings of the human heart there are few who tell tales so consistently unexpected and with such depth as Thrity Umrigar. Her newest novel, The Story Hour, is about the lonely Lakshmi and Maggie, the psychologist assigned to work with her after she tries to kill herself. Lakshmi came from India six years ago with her arranged-marriage husband. Her life ... Read More...
