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The Space Between Us

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 16,087 ratings · 2,169 reviews

Poignant, evocative, and unforgettable, The Space Between Us is an intimate portrait of a distant yet familiar world. Set in modern-day India, it is the story of two compelling and achingly real women: Sera Dubash, an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the shame and disappointment of her abusive marriage, and Bhima, a stoic illiterate harden...more

Paperback, 352 pages

Published February 6th 2007 by Harper Perennial (first published January 1st 2006)

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Jun 27, 2009 Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: india, 2009-reads, favourites

This is a gorgeous story about friendship, family relationships and the artificial barriers created between the classes in India. From the first page, I was sucked into the life of Bhima, a hardworking servant to an upper middle class, Parsi housewife named Sera. Bombay is powerfully present as the book opens with Bhima awakening to the sounds and smells of the slum around her. I felt I was right inside her head and eavesdropping on the constantly fluctuating emotions of these two women was wond...more

16 likes · like · see review

Jul 24, 2007 Glenn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

In Thrity Umrigar's transportive novel, we come to know Bombay, as well as its residents, in its ugliness, its evocative beauty, and its uniqueness; and find how rare and difficult it is for people to transverse different parts of it, geographically and culturally.

Throughout The Space Between Us, there are details presumably unfamiliar to the reader not conversant with the colloquial language of Bombay; the rhyming, the slang; yet, it hardly matters, as the thrust and emotional meaning of each l...more In Thrity Umrigar's transportive novel, we come to know Bombay, as well as its residents, in its ugliness, its evocative beauty, and its uniqueness; and find how rare and difficult it is for people to transverse different parts of it, geographically and culturally.

Throughout The Space Between Us, there are details presumably unfamiliar to the reader not conversant with the colloquial language of Bombay; the rhyming, the slang; yet, it hardly matters, as the thrust and emotional meaning of each line are apparent, even if not immediately so, and Thrity's ability to communicate the emotional essence of thoughts and conversations rarely leaves doubt about what is happening.

The book delves deeply into the sufferings of women, of any caste, at the hands of men. Men, who either by their comfortable assertions of patriarchal power or by their own dissolution become neglectful, make the lives of the women in “The Space Between Us” a trial, no matter how egalitarian the relationship appears to the outside world. And the men who are not "evil," are merely ineffectual, even their kindest gestures too little to salve the wounds that other men have created.

And yet there are throughout The Space Between moments of intense passion and sensuality between the men and woman portrayed within. Strong feeling that keeps rising up, memory at once healing, wounding, reminding.

We come to see the loyalties between people of different classes. How individuals can be convinced that they have conquered the unavoidable distances that money and station can create, and how the removal of that illusion can be an unforgiving destroyer. And how the instinct for self-preservation may be strong, but without the means to preserve oneself, all the intent in the world can mean nothing.

Even when detailing the worst circumstances, the beauty and the power of the prose drives the reader onward. This is writing with movement, small, and broad, of astonishing economy and painful, precise splendor.(less)

19 likes · like · see review

Jul 17, 2012 Jo Anne B rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a well told story about the lives of two women from different classes in modern-day India. Bhima is a servant to the upper middle class Serabai. Even though they have vastly different economic incomes, both have had their share of unhappiness. This book is about their unhappiness and also about the injustice done unto the uneducated lower class by those above them.

Despite being there to witness each other's pain and suffering, Bhima and Serabai will never be close because they are from...more This was a well told story about the lives of two women from different classes in modern-day India. Bhima is a servant to the upper middle class Serabai. Even though they have vastly different economic incomes, both have had their share of unhappiness. This book is about their unhappiness and also about the injustice done unto the uneducated lower class by those above them.

Despite being there to witness each other's pain and suffering, Bhima and Serabai will never be close because they are from different classes. Bhima was there to witness Serabai's bruises after the many beatings she suffered at the hand of her husband Feroz. Serabai and Feroz were there when Bhima's husband Gopal was in the hospital after a work-related accident and paid for him to have the best of care. Serabai paid for Bhima's granddaughter Maya's college education. But still Bhima was always treated as nothing more than the servant that she was. She was not allowed to use the same glassware and dishes when she ate at Serabai's house, nor could she sit on any chair or couch. Feroz made sure of this so that servants would know their place and not demand more pay. Serabai continued this tradition even after her husband passed away despite her daughter Dinaz's requests not to.

The problem with this book was the same problem everyone in this book had with their relationships. No one knew who each other was. The reader never knows any of the characters. I am not sure which came first. But it makes it hard to feel anything for the characters in the book. The story of their lives and what they went through were wrong and tragic, but because of the lack of depth to the characters I was never sad about it or teary eyed. What I knew for sure about all the characters in this book was that they were all out for themselves and they were all unhappy. How at the end of the book Bhima could find the strength and desire to look forward to another day is beyond me. By the end of the book you are left feeling so hopeless about the state of humanity you just want it to end.

I have read many books like this one but you got to know the characters, not just an account of their actions. It added so much more to the experience of reading the book and left you fulfilled. This book lacked all of that and you just were left feeling empty, regardless of what the author's intentions were. (less)

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Jul 17, 2007 Colby rated it 5 of 5 stars

My favorite quote from this book:
"...How, despite our lifelong preoccupation with our bodies, we have never met face-to-face with our kidneys, how we wouldn't recognize our own liver in a row of livers, how we have never seen our own heart or brain. We know more about the depths of the ocean, are more acquainted with the far corners of outer space than with our own organs and muscles and bones. So perhaps there are no phantom pains after all; perhaps all pain is real; perhaps each long-ago blow...more

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Oct 05, 2008 Will Byrnes rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Bhimi is a servant in contemporary Bombay. She works for Sera Dubash. The class divide between them is vast. Yet there are similarities to their lives that bind them across these lines. Bhima is an old woman with calloused feet, mildewy armpits and an affection for chewing tobacco. She is raising her granddaughter, Maya, by herself, her daughter and son-in-law having died of AIDS, her husband having left with their son, Amrit, many years back. Maya, a promising collegian, has dropped out of scho...more Bhimi is a servant in contemporary Bombay. She works for Sera Dubash. The class divide between them is vast. Yet there are similarities to their lives that bind them across these lines. Bhima is an old woman with calloused feet, mildewy armpits and an affection for chewing tobacco. She is raising her granddaughter, Maya, by herself, her daughter and son-in-law having died of AIDS, her husband having left with their son, Amrit, many years back. Maya, a promising collegian, has dropped out of school on finding that she is pregnant. Seraba Dubash is relatively well-to-do. Her children are faring well in the world. A child is on the way to her daughter Dinaz and her husband, Viraf, but this one is welcome. In learning of the history of the two central women we see that they have both suffered. Both had abusive husbands. Sera married into a family in which her mother-in-law was a maniac, constantly criticizing her when she lived with her husband’s family. Her husband turned out to be a true child of his mother, shielding his cruel side from her until after the marriage. Gopal, Bhima’s husband was the light of her life in the beginning of their marriage. But after an accident took three fingers and an unscrupulous company accountant tricked her into signing away all his rights, drink, depression and rage overcame him and he became a dark force, abusing her, blaming her for his misfortunes and ultimately leaving.

Through the eyes of these women we get a taste of how life is lived on either side of the class tracks in India today. Sera cannot expunge her class biases, her racism. Bhima always seems to fall back on low class subservience even when she is in the right.

The shame of Maya’s pregnancy is mirrored by Sera’s pride in Dinaz’s. Maya has an abortion, with the help of Sera, who had already rewarded Bhima’s care of and loyalty to her and her children by paying for Maya’s education.

Although they are from opposite worlds, it is clear that the two women need each other, but their interaction is not quite healthy. Sera never gets past seeing Bhima as a dumb, filthy prole. And while she is more than eager to see the worst in Bhima, who is clean in body and soul, she is blind to the corruption in her own household.

The story comes to a logical conclusion, with a wonderful final sequence in which Bhima unties herself from her anchor of a situation and lightens her emotional burdens, in a magical metaphor. It was quite moving. This is a wonderful book, with moving characters, payload re class and ethnicity in India, a tale with much feeling, nifty book club fodder.
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Oct 13, 2007 Agnes rated it 2 of 5 stars

Meh. This is the kind of novel I used to like - exploring gender and class issues in a foreign setting - but I found it unsatisfying. The author describes the crushing powerlessness of illiteracy and poverty well, but the rest of the book I found overly dramatic.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The one redeeming feature of the book to me was the fact that the two women characters in the book whose lives are profiled, do NOT find a way to bridge the class gap between them. However, the flashbacks employed by the...more

20 likes · like · see review

Sep 13, 2011 Josie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I noticed it was a very smooth read. It flowed so well I just flew through the book. Not really because I was dying to see what happened next, but just because of the easiness of it. But from my experience with easy to read books, they often lack detail. The characters physical attributes were rarely mentioned and when they were they were vague. For instance Bhimas scanty hair, the wrinkles on ones face or how Viraf was "handsome" hardly gives us a clear visual. But I don't think it was needed a...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Sweetdhee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bahasa-indonesia-terjemahan, punya

hati-hati dengan lelaki yang penuh dengan pesona..
#halah

Bhima, seorang pelayan yang mengabdi kepada keluarga Sera semenjak masih gadis
Mengalami pahitnya cinta yang hilang karena liciknya perlakuan terhadap kaum buruh yang dialami suaminya
Hingga suaminya pergi bersama anak lelaki kebanggaannya entah kemana
Anak perempuannya meninggal bersama dengan menantunya karena AIDS

Yang tertinggal hanya cucu nya, Maya
Yang ia besarkan sepenuh hati dan tenaga
Agar tidak lagi menjadi sekedar pelayan sepertinya

Ser...more

10 likes · like · see review

Jul 06, 2008 Candice rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Ellen, Jamie, people who like books set in India

I had wanted to read this book for a long time and finally got a chance. Now I have a new author to add to my favorites. This was a wonderful book and well-written. I like books set in India.

It is the story of two women - an upperclass Parsi, Sera, and her lower caste illiterate housekeeper, Bhima. Although prejudices exist - Sera does not permit Bhima to sit on their furniture, and Bhima must use her own glass for drinking at Sera's house - the two form a friendship and are privy to each other'...more

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Oct 11, 2007 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Read for October book club. This was an easy read and well written. At first I didn't think that it was a good book club book, but after reading several reviews, and finding some recommended discussion questions, determined that it does make for an interesting book club forum. I finished the book, feeling grateful that I was educated. One discussion question I found, that made me think was "Is blood really thicker than water and what does this bode for society at large?" - For me, yes, blood is...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The author's character development is superb as are her metaphoric descriptions of Bombai. I ached for each of the main females-- for Bhima, an illiterate servant from a low caste who though down on her luck, who suffers the loss of her daughter, and then husband and son, yet who slaves to ensure that her grand-daughter might have a better life than she; and for Sera, the upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose wealth and surroundings belie her shame of being abused by husband. Umrigar connects...more

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Jan 29, 2009 Artemis rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. The content wasn't always a pleasure but the reading was. The writing in this book flows like honey even though the message is often bitter. This book looks at class and caste destinctions in India and how even if you love someone, your place in the social spectrum outweighs all... and it is understood.

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Nov 16, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: india, servants, friendship, social, class

The Space Between Us is a story set in India. It focuses on two women living their lives through heartbreaking betrayal, tragedy, death and overwhelming joy. Bhima is an old, sad, uneducated woman who resides in the slums and works for a rich family. Serabai is Bhima's mistress. She lives a life that Bhima is jealous of. She has education, riches and power. Throughout the years of working for Serabai, Bhima and she have become close and even friendly despite their employer/employee status. Throu...more

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Mar 06, 2009 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of Indian fiction, people who liked Slumdog Millionaire

This is a novel about social class in Modern Bombay. It tells the story of two women - Sena, an upper middle class Parsi woman and her servant Bhima, who resides in the slums. The novel starts out with two pregnancies, that of 16 year old Maya, Bhima's granddaughter and of Dinaz, Sena's daughter. Dinaz' pregnancy is cause for celebration but Maya's is tragic because she is unmarried and forced to quit college because of her pregnancy. Bhima sees this as a disaster. Sena had paid for Maya's educa...more This is a novel about social class in Modern Bombay. It tells the story of two women - Sena, an upper middle class Parsi woman and her servant Bhima, who resides in the slums. The novel starts out with two pregnancies, that of 16 year old Maya, Bhima's granddaughter and of Dinaz, Sena's daughter. Dinaz' pregnancy is cause for celebration but Maya's is tragic because she is unmarried and forced to quit college because of her pregnancy. Bhima sees this as a disaster. Sena had paid for Maya's education through the years and Bhima sees education as the only way out of the slums. Through the years, the novel shows how her illiteracy, lack of education, and poverty have made her life extemely difficult. Although she did not see education as important for her now dead daughter, after a horrible incident where Bhima is taken advantage of because she cannot read, she realizes that even a girl needs to read.

The novel traces Sena and Bhima's histories. Both have suffered as women in a patriarchal society. Umrigar captures well the bond between servant and mistress, as they know each other's secrets because they are together day in and day out. Yet, Umrigar also captures the distance between them. Umrigar does a fine job of depicting Sena's middle class sensibilities - for example, how she would not permit Bhima to sit on the furniture or use the same plates and cups as her family and her guilt over this or her inability to not project her revulsion for the slums onto Bhima's person. At the end, when the secret of who fathered Maya's baby is revealed, the nvel ends in tragedy, stemming from the complicated class relationship between Bhima and Sena.

In Umrigar's writing, you can almost smell India - the sounds, sites, and flavors are all in the novel and she has captured the cadence of Bombay voices. Having been to Bombay, I recognized the city, its sounds and its people. The only negative I saw was Umrigar's tendency to over-write. Sometimes, she was too wordy which detracted from the story. This is definitely a dark novel throughout. While Sena and her daughter are kind to Bhima throughout, ultimately, Bhima and her employers cannot traverse class (i.e. the "space between them.") (less)

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Nov 23, 2008 Amanda (Amanda's Weekly Zen) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

The Space Between Us is a fictional look at the relationship between two very different women. Set in modern day India the novel explores how class affects the lives of women. There are two main characters which the novel moves between. One woman is an upper class Parsi housewife, Sera Dubash and the other is her servant of twenty years, Bhima. The novel reveals the similarities that each woman has by focusing on domestic abuse, loss, and disappointments. The novel begins with the disappointment...more The Space Between Us is a fictional look at the relationship between two very different women. Set in modern day India the novel explores how class affects the lives of women. There are two main characters which the novel moves between. One woman is an upper class Parsi housewife, Sera Dubash and the other is her servant of twenty years, Bhima. The novel reveals the similarities that each woman has by focusing on domestic abuse, loss, and disappointments. The novel begins with the disappointment in Bhima’s life that affects not only herself but Sera and her family. Maya, Bhima’s seventeen year old granddaughter, is pregnant and unmarried.

While Maya was away at college, which Sera paid for, she involved herself with a mystery man and became pregnant. At first she refused to hear Bhima and Sera requests that she abort the baby. Bhima hounds the girl each day about the pregnancy, desperate for the knowledge of who had done this to her granddaughter. Exhausted Maya tells Bhima the name of a young man at her college. Bhima travels to the college on loaned money from Sera to confront the man. What she finds is not only does the young man completely deny his involvement in Maya’s pregnancy but he also does not really know who Maya is. Disappointed and completely hopeless for Maya’s future she tells the girl she must get rid of the baby. Ultimately the more time she spent locked up in Bhima dirt shack in the slums the more she realized that she could not have the baby and went to the doctor friend of Bhima’s son in law. After the abortion Maya was sullen and refused to speak to Bhima or Sera.

After we learn about the initial conflict in the story we are then taken through the lives of the main characters. We find out how Sera and her dead husband really got along. How Sera believes that Bhima has been her best friend throughout the years but refuses to acknowledge the woman’s importance to her completely because she does not want to give her servant that power over her.

I gave this book a 3 out of 5 because the book moves slowly and too much time is spent bouncing between the two main characters lives that often times it becomes unclear who is the subject of the chapter. It takes a long time to reach the main story’s plot (although you suspect who the true father of Maya’s baby is shortly after meeting his character and hearing about his marital problems he and his wife “had.”

Also many times the accents seem forced making certain characters less of a sympatric being and more of a joke.

This novel is not a complete waste of time however. Some of the metaphors used in the novel are actually quite poetic and fit the idea that the author was trying to portray. (less)

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Jun 05, 2013 Shinelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Umrigar creates characters who are steeped in hurt, and who act accordingly, as much as their place within the caste system allows them to. Bhima and Sera, matriarchs for whom womanhood in this society equals suffering, illuminate the difference between upper and lower class pain. What we see is that there can be an end to suffering, if you are Parsi. We see how Sera's evil mother-in-law rises above (sinks below?) the trope to inflict psycho-emotional abuse on every level, how Feroz physically a...more

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May 09, 2013 Nitya Sivasubramanian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 4star

The bane of much modern Indian writing, especially about women, is the tendency to idolize victim mentality. After all, with Sita, Savitri and Draupadi setting examples, who can be blamed for women believing that no matter how horrifying your marriage is, no matter how abusive your husband is and what crazy escapades he leads you into, it is your duty to follow blindly?

Thank goodness, then, for Thrity Umrigar and her delicious book, The Space Between Us.

Simultaneously following the lives of mid...more The bane of much modern Indian writing, especially about women, is the tendency to idolize victim mentality. After all, with Sita, Savitri and Draupadi setting examples, who can be blamed for women believing that no matter how horrifying your marriage is, no matter how abusive your husband is and what crazy escapades he leads you into, it is your duty to follow blindly?

Thank goodness, then, for Thrity Umrigar and her delicious book, The Space Between Us.

Simultaneously following the lives of middle-class Parsi Sera Dubash and her servant Bhima, the story paints a telling and true-to-life picture of marriages, family and love.

Though both women marry good men and have happy children, life throws them challenges, a mean-spirited mother-in-law for one and an accidentally injured husband for another, that would send other women into spirals of despair and futile whining. But Sera and Bhima are not other women. As they watch the destruction of their marriages by men they have loved, they continue to stand upright and fight for the happiness of their children and grandchildren.

These are not perfect women. Sera hides the bruises on her arms with long-sleeved dresses and Bhima allows her illiteracy to cow her in. But they are not victims. They don't beat their breasts and cry when there are meals to be cooked and social obligations to be met.

Keeping company with these wonderfully gray women are several other morally gray characters: a father-in-law who hides his wife's (and perhaps son's) mental illness to gain himself an ally in the family, a mother-in-law who was tormented by her own mother-law, a husband who loses three fingers and all his self-worth in an industrial accident, and a granddaughter who gambles with her future and her family's security when she becomes pregnant.

And the thread that holds it all together? My beloved Bombay. The lilting rhythms of Parsi Hinglish, the frequent walks on Chowpatty for bhelpuri, even the malodorous aromas rising from the chawls, all weave in and out of the stories like kantha embroidery, turning old faded saris into beautiful comforting blankets. (less)

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Apr 27, 2013 Mom rated it 5 of 5 stars

A lovely, lyrical, at times heart-breaking book exploring the lives of and relationship between two women in Bombay -- Sera, an upper-middle-class housewife and Bhima, her household servant. They both have complex lives, riddled with joy and grief. The novel explores how their lives intertwine and mirror one another's, and explores the huge chasm between them because of class differences.

There is pain, tragedy and hatred in the novel; things look up and then everything crashes down again in chao...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Donna Barnes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-ve-read-in-2013

I picked up this book as a recommendation from a friend who had read it for her book club, and she likened it to "The Help" which our book club enjoyed so much. It is like "The Help" except it takes place in Bombay and it lacks the humor the other book has. But it is very good, and I recommend it anyway. I don't like the characters any more than "The Help" and it doesn't have an uplifting, rewarding ending like that book has; in fact, this is a very sad story full of all kinds of oppression, esp...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Katherine Harms rated it 5 of 5 stars

Robert Burns once said, “Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel's as others see us!” You will think that power has come to rest in the pages of Thrity Umrigar’s novel, The Space Between Us, if you read attentively. In Chapter 8, Bhima, an aging resident of the Bombay slums remembers when she learned that white people are missing something in their biology that would give their skin color and protection from the sun. (The substance is melanin.) She feels bad for them, and wants to give...more Robert Burns once said, “Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel's as others see us!” You will think that power has come to rest in the pages of Thrity Umrigar’s novel, The Space Between Us, if you read attentively. In Chapter 8, Bhima, an aging resident of the Bombay slums remembers when she learned that white people are missing something in their biology that would give their skin color and protection from the sun. (The substance is melanin.) She feels bad for them, and wants to give them money, or something, to help them. Her economically comfortable employer laughs gently and explains to her that these white tourists, from Western Europe and North America, are quite wealthy and don’t need anything from the old lady. She explains that they even think their white skin is better than skin with color. The old lady doesn’t buy it. Why would people be proud of themselves when they are missing something they need? And as for the money, all you have to do is look at their ragged jeans and t-shirts full of holes to know that they are poor. To Bhima these foreigners look like refugees, not visitors from some faraway fabulously wealthy country.
Bombay is not as different from the USA as Bhima’s worldview might suggest. After all, Bhima looks upon teen pregnancy as a terrible blight in her world, and she longs for a great-grandchild “who will never know what it is to have adults plot its death.”
More contemporary books may call the city Mumbai, but until recently, at least in the USA, the name of the huge metropolis in India that was one of the big names in geography books was Bombay. It is a city of immense wealth and immense poverty. Umrigar’s story is set in a middle ground between the extremes, yet as Bhima walks the streets of this megalopolis, even though she was born in the city, she still marvels. An Afghan balloonwalla, a character who appears only in her thoughts, inspires her to ponder “the greatest mystery of Bombay – how an entire breed of Bombayites … managed to feed themselves despite their pathetic jobs.” This from an illiterate and impoverished slum dweller whose doorway is so low that she cannot enter her hovel standing up.
But this story is not intended to analyze the economics or bewail the disparities. Those elements are carefully and accurately portrayed, but the author is not engaging in social activism disguised as a story. Rather, she writes a rich story, whose honest setting must include the honest portrayal of the issues of economics, social class, even religious reference. The religious references in the narrative provide important setting, but it isn’t the religion that is the focus. The moral values could best be classified as humanist, which is to say that this story deals in universal human values. In this sense, even though the characters and conflict certainly have elements of cultural and religious values, the real center of the plot is a completely normal human issue that has a background in human society that goes back to the first humans, no matter if you look for them in a Bible or the Rig Veda.
It would be wise to have your computer open to a search engine as you read. There are a number of terms such as mausi and bai and frequent references to ethnic Parsi’s. You can understand the story without understanding these terms, but you will enjoy the richness of the setting more fully if you take a few seconds and look them up. You won’t need to look up anything with regard to family dynamics and human nature. The key to this story is that it doesn’t matter where we grow up; as some wise sage said, all families are dysfunctional. Unlike Tolstoy, however, Umrigar suggests that rather than every unhappy family being unique, the dysfunctional elements of unhappy families recur throughout the fabric of the human family.
This novel is a tribute to the story-telling skills of the author. It showcases craftsmanship that lifts both reader and story out of the present realities and into a world they inhabit together for a time. As a bonus, the reader will have experienced metropolitan Bombay. While no writer has yet devised a way to conjure up new flavor experiences in words, this writer almost makes the reader believe it has happened.
At the end of the last chapter, the author masterfully draws the threads of the story together in a surprise ending that will almost certainly evoke an audible exclamation from the reader. Go ahead. This book is full of surprises. Toward the end, you may want to read more slowly in order to extend your time with Bhima.
You will find it on Amazon, and probably at other online booksellers.

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Mar 17, 2013 Laura Zurowski rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-world-in-which-we-live

I'm fortunate to live in a city that was recently named one of the "Top 10 Most Literary" (an honor having something to do with bookstores, libraries, online book sales, and e-reader ownership) so it's not surprising there's a decent selection of book clubs specializing in various genres and topics. One club I recently joined exclusively reads fiction from, or about, India. Being a part of this group has exposed me to books and authors I never would have picked up otherwise!

Last month's selecti...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Jandy James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Unrelentingly sad and depressing. But from me that is not a condemnation of a book. I actually like sad depressing stories. But I feel like the message of the book is; an intact family comes at the cost of honesty. And…. Honesty comes at the cost of an intact family. You can’t have both. If that’s true it is indeed depressing. I think when people talk of “family honor” what they really mean is “image”. You might maintain a lie to protect your image, but lying to protect your honor is… not very h...more

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Feb 26, 2013 Erica rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: foreign, modern-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I generally liked this book but I found that after I finished it and thought more critically about the story and characters I was left wanting more all around. The main twist that the son-in-law was the father of Maya's fetus was something I inferred about 150 pgs. before it was actually revealed - thus it felt more like confirmation than a meaningful twist. I wanted there to some critical thinking by any of the characters concerning where they are in their current lives and how they got there....more

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Nov 27, 2012 Book Concierge rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In present-day Bombay, Bhima leaves her slum each day to work as a domestic in a wealthy widow’s home. She has faithfully served this woman, Sera Dubash, for decades and prides herself on caring for the family. Sera is an upper-middle-class Parsi, but her social status has not protected her from an abusive husband and mother-in-law. In Sera’s home Bhima has witnessed the intimate details of the family’s life, and cared for Sera’s injuries; in return Sera has helped Bhima deal with the hospital w...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I find Thrity Umrigar's books so readable, and this one was no exception. I also love books set in India so I'm biased. This was another character study, which I think she does really well--although I wasn't quite as fond of it as some of her other books. Still, it was powerful and interesting.

The story centers around 2 women--one a well-off (well, middle-class) woman who employs a servant, who is the other woman. The book revolves around their relationship and the differences in their lives, ca...more

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Gita Wanted to explain the concept of the pariah plates - it is all about how one is raised. This is about a family friend of ours and the kids in the fami...more
Apr 14, 2013 05:35am

Katie Yes, the fact that it is "unspoken and understood" is exactly what this book was getting at! And what made it so difficult to understand for non-India...more
Apr 14, 2013 06:31am

Oct 25, 2012 Nur Asyiah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Novel suram yang mengesankan. Berkisah mengenai kehidupan wanita India dengan kelas yang berbeda. Bhima bekerja sebagai pembantu rumah tangga di kediaman Sera Dubash, seorang wanita dari kalangan terpandang. Memiliki latar belakang kehidupan yang berbeda, kedua wanita ini sama-sama menyimpan duka mendalam dalam kehidupan rumah tangga mereka. Ketika cinta berubah saat memasuki putaran hidup berumah tangga dengan berbagai masalah yang mungkin tidak pernah terpikirkan sebelumnya.

Derita demi derita...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Kiki Bolling rated it 4 of 5 stars

Thirty has quickly become one of my favorite authors. i was never one to read books from authors who were'nt black...not on PURPOSE...it just sort of happened that way. i was always under the false impression that african american authors were the best authors. so because of my self imposed prejudice i missed out on sooo much. But lately i have embarked on this love obsession with india. i have dreams of india, i think of india, and indian culture, life in india...its gotten to be quit redivulou...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Sheila rated it 3 of 5 stars

This fiction story takes place in present Bombay, and charts the tragic intersection of two lives; one a well-off and beautiful Parsi named Sera; and her elderly illiterate servant, named Bhima, who lives in the slums. Sera's grown daughter lives with her and is glowingly pregnant. Bhima's teen-age granddaughter, who lives with her in the slums is also, though shamefully, pregnant. The story goes from the hopeful or hopeless present, depending on whose story we are hearing, to the wretched pasts...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Vibina Venugopal rated it 4 of 5 stars

A confession, before I go further., I picked the book for the cover, something about it allured me...Surprises are always welcome isn't!!!! Class difference is a major problem in developing , people set to heavier and hard work do not enjoy the financial benefits they deserve, yet there hasn't been much progress till day...Few years back house maids were a class of people who suffered at the hands of their master and were completely at their kindness and mercy..Though things are quite different...more A confession, before I go further., I picked the book for the cover, something about it allured me...Surprises are always welcome isn't!!!! Class difference is a major problem in developing , people set to heavier and hard work do not enjoy the financial benefits they deserve, yet there hasn't been much progress till day...Few years back house maids were a class of people who suffered at the hands of their master and were completely at their kindness and mercy..Though things are quite different now still there are few unfortunate mortals (though I am not suppose to say so) who continue to suffer for keeping their family and children afloat..As I began to read I expected a sad tale of a suffering house maid ..But it turned to be quite different..I liked this quote very much..
"Tomorrow. The word hangs in the air for a moment, both a promise and a threat. Then it floats away like a paper boat, taken from her by the water licking at her ankles"

Sera Dubash and Bhima are the two important characters of the novel..Both the ladies are distinctly apart by their way of life yet stringed together by their journey of life, both have an unhappy marriage.. Sera sufferes physically and mentally tortured by her husband., she is nursed by the kindness of Bhima , she also renders courage to her..Sera also showcases her affection by taking care of Bhima's husband 's medical expenses , also by ensuring a good education for Bhima's grand- daughter...Both have a different lifestyle, Bhima's day starts in the chaos of Bombay's slum fighting for water and to carry out everyday chores of her day, while Sera's life is that of comfort , yet both are unhappy with their respective marriages... Class difference comes alive when Bhima is let to drink water in a separate glass and not allowed to share the seating that she cleans everyday..Bhima fights her way struggling hard to meet her both ends tired and distraught..Her only hope is on her grand-daughter Maya after her daughter and son-in law die of AIDS..Life further gives her a sad turn when Maya gets pregnant and denies to name the person...Urbanised quarters of a country has equal share of good and bad things.. Though some writers may point out to bring out the grayer part lives some writers use it effectively to weave story along...

Through simple writings Umringer has been able to bring out the deeper meanings for instance
"She always imagined that evil played out on a large canvas-wars, concentration camps, gas chambers, the partitionaing of nations. Now she realised that evil had a domestic side, and its very banality protected it from exposure."

Bhima marches high and low to punish the culprit of Maya's pergnancy in her haster she runs for the wrong guy , her remorse after finding out the truth was really disturbing even when the reader guess it earlier..Kudos to Umrigar for avoiding cliches and melodramatic twists and turns ..The characters appear real..Sera and Bhima spit hard truth wide and loud to the readers..Their social hierarchy setting the friendship apart inspite of this bond ...Sera and Bhima are close yet there is an invisible barricade that stops them from being the closest friends..Though the plot seem plain that have been much written and talked much about , its Umrigar's writing that sets this novel apart...
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Jul 18, 2012 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book has been around for a while, and I can't imagine why I haven't read it before this. As usual, I was prodded into action by the fact that my local book group chose it this month. I absolutely loved it.

The story centers on Bhuma, the elderly Hindu maid, who has been with her employers for thirty plus years. And also her employer, Sera, a Parsi, who is told by her contemporaries that she is too good to her "help". The lives and the families of the two women intertwine in this fabulous boo...more This book has been around for a while, and I can't imagine why I haven't read it before this. As usual, I was prodded into action by the fact that my local book group chose it this month. I absolutely loved it.

The story centers on Bhuma, the elderly Hindu maid, who has been with her employers for thirty plus years. And also her employer, Sera, a Parsi, who is told by her contemporaries that she is too good to her "help". The lives and the families of the two women intertwine in this fabulous book set in Bombay. (The book never mentions Mumbai instead of Bombay, so I shall not either).

Apart from the fact that the story is so good, I was fascinating by the cultural aspects of the book. I had never really understood, or realised, who Parsis were before I read this. When I visited Bombay a few years ago, I remember visiting the area where their Towers of Silence are on the Malabar Hill. Our guide just mentioned that this was where the Parsis left their dead for the vultures to pick clean, and I imagined that they were some small sect of "odd" Hindus. If you become as interested as I was after reading the book, then there is so much if you "google" the religion. Including the fact that the late Freddie Mercury of the Queen rock group was Parsi.

On the other hand, the story of Bhuma is a sad reflection of the downward aspects of poverty. Bhuma has spent her married life in an apartment with her husband and two children, and by the time we meet her, she lives in a terrible slum with her eighteen year old granddaughter, having lost everybody and everything else. Small things stay on your mind. I cannot get out of my head the fact that, every morning, Bhuma tried to delay going to the bathroom until she got to her employer's, rather than face the terrible communal latrine at the slums. To her the memory of living in the apartment, sharing a bathroom with three other, not-too-clean families, amounted to luxury. How much we take for granted.

At her employers, they reserved a special cup and plate for her to use, as despite being scrupulous about her personal hygiene, she was considered unclean. She was also not allowed to sit on the furniture for the same reason, and had to squat on her haunches on the floor, whilst having a cup of tea with her employer, Sera, who was seated at the kitchen table.

But the women have a strong bond, and for years they have turned to each other in times of trouble and of rejoicing. This incredible book lives with you long after you read it. It seems crass to say that the human spirit remains the same in all of us no matter what our circumstances appear, but you can relate so clearly to these two women from such different cultures as ours.

Loved this book - if I could give it more than five stars I would, and now I am going to search out the other books that she has written.

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About Thrity Umrigar

A journalist for seventeen years, Thrity Umrigar has written for the Washington Post, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and other national newspapers, and contributes regularly to the Boston Globe's book pages. She teaches creative writing and literature at Case Western Reserve University. The author of The Space Between Us, Bombay Time, and the memoir First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of...more

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First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood

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Quotes from The Space Between Us

“Or perhaps is is that time doesn't heal wounds at all, perhaps that is the biggest lie of them all, and instead what happens is that each wound penetrates the body deeper and deeper until one day you find that the sheer geography of your bones - the angle of your hips, the sharpness of your shoulders, as well as the luster of your eyes, the texture of your skin, the openness of your smile - has collapsed under the weight of your griefs.” — 66 people liked it

“ Perhaps the body has its own memory system, like the invisible meridian lines those Chinese acupuncturists always talk about. Perhaps the body is unforgiving, perhaps every cell, every muscle and fragment of bone remembers each and every assault and attack. Maybe the pain of memory is encoded into our bone marrow and each remembered grievance swims in our bloodstream like a hard, black pebble. After all, the body, like God, moves in mysterious ways.

From the time she was in her teens, Sera has been fascinated by this paradox - how a body that we occupy, that we have worn like a coat from the moment of our birth - from before birth, even - is still a stranger to us. After all, almost everything we do in our lives is for the well-being of the body: we bathe daily, polish our teeth, groom our hair and fingernails; we work miserable jobs in order to feed and clothe it; we go to great lengths to protect it from pain and violence and harm. And yet the body remains a mystery, a book that we have never read. Sera plays with this irony, toys with it as if it were a puzzle: How, despite our lifelong preoccupation with our bodies, we have never met face-to-face with our kidneys, how we wouldn't recognize our own liver in a row of livers, how we have never seen our own heart or brain. We know more about the depths of the ocean, are more acquainted with the far corners of outer space than with our own organs and muscles and bones. So perhaps there are no phantom pains after all; perhaps all pain is real; perhaps each long ago blow lives on into eternity in some different permutation and shape; perhaps the body is this hypersensitive, revengeful entity, a ledger book, a warehouse of remembered slights and cruelties.

But if this is true, surely the body also remembers each kindness, each kiss, each act of compassion? Surely this is our salvation, our only hope - that joy and love are also woven into the fabric of the body, into each sinewy muscle, into the core of each pulsating cell?” — 24 people liked it

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