Escape to India - Philippa J Kaye

Fiction

Read it

I believe this is the first novel I can say that I know the authoress first hand. Philippa is a kick-ass lady.  Her situation is in some ways very similar to mind, and it was a joy to meet her and read her book. 

Escape to India is about a woman who finds out her boyfriend is married - not divorced like he said - and literally just bounces to spend some time in India to gain space and perspective. She is going to run a wild life lodge and encounters some crazy and heartwarming characters along the way. There's romance, a surprise appearance of the boyfriend, and lots of fun info about jungles. It's a fun novel. I almost thought it was biographical until I almost reached the end and figured out my assumption was wrong.

What I loved about this novel was that Philippa gets India. The characters, the situations, they're all true to someone who would have gone to do what the heroine does. Probably because Philippa has spent a great amount of time here. It's not a tourist novel, and that's amazingly refreshing. Yet it comes across as quite accessible. I also loved that her main character was flawed - as we all are to be honest - but you root for her none the less. Screw the boyfriend, even I wanted to drop kick him.

To be sure, the jungle/safari/tourism sector of India isn't all of it. India is fucking huge and the variety is mind blowing. But I felt like I understood better about it - which for me is what I'm usually after in a book. 

Leave alone my personal admiration for Philippa, I can't wait to read what she writes next. I would love to hear more accounts (fictional or not!) about her exploits here. 

Read it!

~Becky~

Maps for Lost Lovers - Nadeem Aslam

Fiction

Read it

I wandered past this book in Just Books, unable to stop myself from trying out such an interestingly titled book. I'm glad I did. I've had extensive exposure to Indian authors - much to my delight - but not many (if any at all) Pakistani ones. It was definitely a textured difference to explore.

The novel centers around a Muslim Pakistani family that has settled into life in a "South Asianized" section of an English town. The two main characters are a middle aged man and wife. They have 3 children who are grown and visit far too occasionally.

The main character's brother has moved in with a divorced Pakistani woman, much to the community's dismay. The two are murdered and the book dances around who has done it until the very end. Indeed it's almost like a mystery where the strings come together at the end, but not really. In fact, while the whole novel dances around the murder, the novel itself really has very less to do with the murder (or finding the culprit) rather than focusing in excruciating depth about the cultural factors and attitudes that lead to the events themselves. The small attitudes, justifications, and rationalizations prevalent in that community that persist even though the community itself is far from the land that spawned such thoughts in the first place.

I found it very curious that the author chose to portray the wife as the move vehement believer than the husband. Indeed, he strikes one as a milquetoast character who just wants to get through his life comfortably and his morality is flexible as to what suits him. The wife is not concerned with anything but what is proper. The children, as can be expected, have vastly different outlooks and standards than their parents. 

Another interesting thing I noticed in this novel is the persistent mentions of plants, flowers, and insects. It made me wonder if it was a leftover from Urdu poetry references. 

The plot line definitely wanders and there aren't any huge surprises in this novel. Weirdly, I didn't find myself minding too much. While I try to be open to different cultures and ideas, I have to admit that this book made it difficult for me to remain indifferent to some of the cultural aspects of both Islam and Pakistan that I object to. But I did appreciate the honest look - and it was quite honest I feel. I could identify with the displaced population, desperately clinging to tradition and identity, and always feeling outside and persecuted. Overall, it has whetted my appetite to explore further into Pakistani literature. 

It's not an easy read, especially if you truly think about the attitudes behind the scenes and accept that this is their tradition. But it IS different than the standard Indian fare. It will seem shocking for those who don't understand the cultural underpinnings that have created these attitudes, but life is good when you learn about others.

Read it!

~Becky~

Two Lives - Vikram Seth

 Non Fiction

Verdict: Read it

I picked up this book because I had fought my way all through A Suitable Boy (happily I might add, but it's a huge book) and An Equal Music and wanted to read more from him. I wasn't quite prepared for a non-fiction biography type of (also long!) adventure, but that is what I ended up with.

Seth takes people into the lives of his Uncle and Aunt, whom he spent time with as a young man. Both people had extraordinary lives and Seth does an excellent job examining them, both from an independent perspective as well as a family one. After reading A Suitable Boy, Two Lives was illuminating about Seth as an author, and the family that spawned the ideas for A Suitable Boy. 

I enjoy family sagas in general, and there were old photos - also + points for me. Seth wanders into so many topics that it's quite the mindful to consider. It's quite something how people's lives twist and turn and wander in the most random of directions. Seth's uncle went to dental school in Germany. He happened to be living with his future wife's family as a boarder right before WW2. He leaves and goes to England to begin his career. He has his own stint in the military which results in him losing a part of one arm. His wife, a Jewish German is given the opportunity to leave Germany when things start to get difficult for Jewish people. She takes it and survives, unlike most of her family. The two wander into mid life, and eventually settle into a companionable marriage that doesn't produce any children. 

Seth does a brilliant job of exploring many different themes through the book. Not the least of which is how WW2, views of Jewish people in Germany at the time, and how it affected his aunt's entire life. He also gets into how we may not know people we love when they are alive, and only get a small window is we happen to run into letters or memories from others into other sides of people after they pass. He explores cultural ideas of families, an interracial marriage at a time when it was not common.

Vikram Seth's life paralleled his Uncle's in many strange and wonderful ways. It's quite interesting to watch this as it unfolds. One cannot avoid the thoughts that patterns within families determine many things.  

The most interesting thing for me, was the author's dismay at the end of the book over how his uncle had changed into someone he didn't know due to age and mental decline. How someone walked into their lives and took the property from under their noses. The property itself was less hurful than comments that were made about life long loving relationships - both due to age related confusion and unmet expectations. I found this fascinating because it's not a subject often discussed in such brutal honesty. We don't like to think that others may change because they are old and uncomfortable, or slightly confused. We don't like to talk about that people respond bitterly when they feel their expectations aren't met. 

As I mentioned, Seth is a prolific writer and his books are not short. But they are well worth the investement. Read it.

~Becky~

Three Merchants of Bombay - Lakshmi Subramanian

NonFiction
Verdict: It depends

I picked this book up from my favorite bookstore long before we all came under house arrest for Covid.  These were supposed to be short stories, and I love short stories that  are about people. Set in the British Colonial times in India, the book follows three prominent money lenders and merchants during that time. 

I started reading. The intro was a very heavy, in depth account of the situation and situation at the time. Cool. I love extra information that helps me understand the context. Only it went on, and on.  I really had a hard time separating the intro from the actual start of the "stories."  When the author did get going, the focus of the book was more on the British than the actual merchants that the book was about! 

This is definitely an academic piece, and the scope that the author is trying to cover is quite large. Unfortunately, I couldn't ever identify with or understand the characters she is trying to explain. And eventually I got bored of the repetitive sentences about the British. 

I guess If I would have had a better idea about what the book was about then perhaps my expectations would have been different. So whether or not you read it depends on if this is something that interests you. It didn't hold mine and I didn't finish it. 

~Becky~