SubscribeThis was such a great book! If you enjoyed the book Memoirs of a Geisha or Birth of Venus, you will love this book too! The three books have their differences in setting and time, but are each about the struggles that women go through simply because they are women. I really liked this book! I was able to read this as an “Advanced Copy” because I work at at bookstore, so the book won’t be out until January 2006. So, get on a waiting list now, and beat the rush! I am expecting this will be big very fast.
This book is set in India, and, in addition to being about all the troubles that only women experience, (a world of difference from what men’s lives are like), it focuses on the lives of three particular women. Sera is a wealthy woman. Bhima is her servant. Maya is the granddaughter of Bhima. The book defines the “space between” the lives of women who have servants, and the women who are servants. It explores the views held in India about the seperation of different classes. Bhima cleans Sera’s house, cooks her food, helps take care of her daughter. At the same time, Sera has seperate cups for Bhima to use, and has her sit on the floor instead of using the furniture. I had heard about these kinds of beliefs, but didn’t understand much about them before reading this book. Some of the women in the book have mixed feelings about these obvious seperations, but, feel compelled to follow them anyway.
The book is also about the space between the educated and the illiterate. Bhima struggles. She cannot read, and must trust others to tell her what things say, even for important documents. Bhima has little money, so when her family needs medical attention, she can’t do much. Sera, on the other hand, can easily come in and read the papers the doctors present, and pay for care on Bhima’s behalf. The two families are interconnected in many ways. There is lots of description of the day to day lives of each woman, and the area each lives in. Both suffer, but not in exactly the same ways.
One main problem in the book is that Maya has “gotten herself” pregnant, and now cannot attend the college that Sera was paying for. It means she must do something about the baby, and very fast, one way or the other, or she will surely lose her chance to become educated and have a better life than Bhima had. It is unknown for most of the book just who the father is, or what circumstances Maya got pregnant in. The answer is completely unexpected, and once revealed, further clarifies the dichotomies between the privelaged and the destitute.
The book is covered with wonderful descriptions of India, including the seaside, and some of the more affluent areas, and the food. The book is peppered with what I can only assume are …. Indian?… words. There are many little phrases that I cannot understand. However, they are used many times, over and over, and I think after a while I was able to catch the main idea of most of them. Some are insults, some are just titles, some seem to be terms of enderement. Its a bit distracting at first, but, gets much easier to deal with soon enough, and it adds to the flavor of the book very much. Overall, a great read!
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