How would you do?
I'm not very far into the book, but as I've been reading, I've been thinking a lot about how I would adapt if I were to move to another country. Would I feel lonesome for everything - family, food, familiarity? Would I ever stop feeling like an outsider? Would my answers differ depending on the country to which I moved?
It's been fascinating to me to read how Ashima adjusts (or doesn't) to life in America over time, and the areas that seem most foreign to her. Some of the things seem totally normal to me are jarring to her because they are so different from her own traditions.
Your thoughts?
It's been fascinating to me to read how Ashima adjusts (or doesn't) to life in America over time, and the areas that seem most foreign to her. Some of the things seem totally normal to me are jarring to her because they are so different from her own traditions.
Your thoughts?
I found myself getting annoyed with Ashima when she couldn't figure out what to do with herself when Ashoke was at work. I don't think I was properly appreciating the feeling of being dropped into a totally different culture.
For another really great book about feeling foreign in America, try "Digging to America" by Anne Tyler. There are some definite similarities in theme and resolution in the two books.
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I found it very fascinating that she never really felt at home in America and yet -- after a certain amount of time she wasn't at home in India either. I have no frame of reference for how isolating that must feel, to feel sort of rootless. And I wonder if that contributed to her being so rooted to her family, especially her children. That was really all she belonged to was that house and her family.
I really loved this book and finished it in pretty short order (it helps that I am also currently obsessed with Bollywood films and hence Indian culture right now).
My copy said "Now a Major Motion Picture" on it and I wondered what the hell motion picture they were talking about. Last week I figured out that Mira Nair has made this into a movie which opens at The Lagoon this week. Part of me wants to see it, but -- as is usual when a book I like gets made into a movie -- part of me doesn't.
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I also enjoyed this book. There were two things I wanted to quote from the book and thought I would remember them without writing them down or at least where they were in the book. Well...you know where this is going...
Anyway, I did think that the idea of wanting to "abandon" your culture was really not much different than teenagers wanting to get as far away from home as possible. Then later deciding that what is familiar is often most comfortable. I have recommended this book to others, so I guess it rates 4 stars.
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