May 02, 2014 04:25 AM
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I grew up in Calcutta and lived the experiences Lahiri has described in her novel. She has been true to the events and her characters portray accurately the young men and women of the time.
As is always the case with Lahiri this book too is somewhat woman-centric and Gauri is more or less the main character. She is a bundle of contradictions and her relationship with Bela, her daughter, complex. Subhash's comment, "My mother was right. You don't deserve to be a parent. The privilege was wasted on you." is justified.
Lahiri's observations of life through the eyes of her characters are very astute. Biljoli feels the shame of surviving one child and losing another who still lives. This is such a poignant observation; and the book is full of such statements. A very interesting read indeed.
