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The World We Found

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 · rating details · 2,104 ratings · 439 reviews

The acclaimed author of The Space Between Us and The Weight of Heaven returns with a breathtaking, skillfully wrought story of four women and the unbreakable ties they share.

As university students in late 1970s Bombay, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta were inseparable. Spirited and unconventional, they challenged authority and fought for a better world. But much has chan...more

Hardcover, 305 pages

Published January 3rd 2012 by HarperCollins

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Mar 05, 2012 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-fiction, av, domestic-and-relationship-fiction, four-star-fiction, indian-subcontinent-and-surrounding

Traditional attitudes still linger in India, but they're not held equally in all quarters of Indian society. Some Indians are more liberal than many Americans, while others cling desperately to the old ways and steep themselves in fundamentalist practices. Thrity Umrigar highlights that clash between the old and the new in this story of renewed friendships in modern Bombay.

Laleh, Kavita, Armaiti and Nishta were fast friends and fellow revolutionaries in their Bombay college days 30 years ago. No...more Traditional attitudes still linger in India, but they're not held equally in all quarters of Indian society. Some Indians are more liberal than many Americans, while others cling desperately to the old ways and steep themselves in fundamentalist practices. Thrity Umrigar highlights that clash between the old and the new in this story of renewed friendships in modern Bombay.

Laleh, Kavita, Armaiti and Nishta were fast friends and fellow revolutionaries in their Bombay college days 30 years ago. Now they've mostly lost touch, and their lives have diverged greatly, leaving them with little in common but a shared history. When Armaiti reaches out from America with news of cancer and a dying wish to have them all together one last time, they reconnect and prove that the sisterhood stands stronger than ever.

The contrasting experiences of these four women reflect the complex challenges facing a nation caught between the past and the present.

Laleh enjoys a marriage of equals with Adish, her college sweetheart.
Kavita is a successful architect. She is a lesbian, happy in her current relationship and aching to reveal her authentic self to her old friends.
Armaiti is the deserter. She's the one who ran off to America, and worse yet, married an American.
Nishta also married her college sweetheart, but Iqbal is no longer the liberal socialist she married. He has returned to his fundamentalist Muslim roots. He keeps Nishta on a short leash, essentially a prisoner in their home.

Nishta's plight becomes pivotal as the friends race against time and Armaiti's imminent death. This is where Laleh's husband Adish really shines, faced with divided loyalties and possessed of a chivalrous heart. Can he live up to his old reputation as "Mr. Fix-It" and come through for them one more time?

The World We Found has a lot to recommend it. Character development is superb. The presentation of modern Bombay's paradoxes is nuanced and fascinating. The book even has some expertly-paced suspense that will keep you turning pages right up to the end. Some readers may find the regularly shifting points of view distracting. It does at times interrupt the fluidity of the story, but Umrigar handles the transitions more deftly than many contemporary authors.

The essence of this story is that there are no friends like old friends. Neither changing fortunes nor the distance between us can break those bonds. (less)

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Aug 15, 2011 Will Byrnes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-of-the-year-2012

Thrity Umrigar is the internationally renowned author of The Space Between Us, an impressive tale of class and family in India. In the World We Found, she widens her domain while still writing about caste, class, religion, relationships between women and the need to make difficult choices in life.

Amraiti, Kavita, Laleh, and Nishta were close friends in college back in 1970s Bombay (Umrigar’s birthplace). The world in which they lived was vibrant and dangerous. With great optimism that they could...more Thrity Umrigar is the internationally renowned author of The Space Between Us, an impressive tale of class and family in India. In the World We Found, she widens her domain while still writing about caste, class, religion, relationships between women and the need to make difficult choices in life.

Amraiti, Kavita, Laleh, and Nishta were close friends in college back in 1970s Bombay (Umrigar’s birthplace). The world in which they lived was vibrant and dangerous. With great optimism that they could effect meaningful change and make their world a far better place, they were bound to each other, sharing politics, demonstrations, idealism, and mutual affection.

Decades passed and their lives changed. One married an American and is living in the States. One is still in the closet, but getting closer to opening the door. One is married to a very successful businessman, and struggles to cope with her youthful idealism in a realistic world. And one is caught in a stifling marriage, hidden beneath a burkah. When now-American Amraiti learns that she has terminal cancer, and seeks to gather her friends together one last time, this offers the friends the prodding they need to examine the lives they have led, reconnect with each other and consider where they want to go in the years ahead.

The World We Found is a long-view coming of age tale, (coming of middle age?) not the usual metamorphosis from child to adult but the arrival at a certain place much later in life from the place inhabited, in a time long past, by young adults. Here in the 21st century, four middle-aged women trace their passage from there to here. They look at the events that shaped their lives, the decisions they made, and the values they held then in light of decades of experience. Does who we are remain the same?

One character says that “misery was the connective tissue that bonded humans to each other.” There was certainly that with these four, but there was more. If difficulty was an element in the friends’ bond what happens when that challenge is overcome, sidestepped, or forgotten? What happens when a friendship is no longer nourished? Can it be revived?

Umrigar uses a very wide stage for her characters. There is particular attention to religious pogroms in India, in both the 20th and 21st centuries. One character visits Czechoslovakia before the fall of the Berlin Wall and what she sees changes her life, and the lives of those around her. We see Amraiti and her family living in the USA. Both men and women are injured in Indian street violence, but the victims are targeted for different reasons and choose far different solutions. Spiritual directions are portrayed, from Hindu to Islam to Parsi to atheism

I was very pleased to see that Umrigar paid attention to her male characters as well. The Muslim man, Iqbal, who wants his wife to wear the burkha is not portrayed as a wild-eyed fanatic, but has a very heart-rending story that explains a lot about who he became, and why he espouses what most of us consider extreme views. The successful business man is shown not only as someone who can cope in the world of money, but as someone who uses his skills for helping others as well, someone who is caring, and who has a spiritual life. People here, male and female, are confronted with difficult situations and are challenged to make moral choices.

Umrigar has offered some images of times that will not be familiar to most western readers. That certainly adds to our appreciation of the complexity of Indian history. But mostly, she has offered an outstanding group of well-developed, interesting characters. You will care about what decisions they make. You will want to know more about what happens to their lives after their page-bound tales end. Umrigar also promotes the idea that our lives are worth examining. Socrates would be pleased. The World We Found finds a great writer at the top of her game. You will find this world one worth exploring.
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Jan 02, 2012 Alena rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

I won this through First Reads and finished it in one day because I never wanted to put it down. I don't know what it is about books by Indian writers, but they seem more lush and intimate to me than many American or British authors.
Here Umbrigar is exploring the bonds forged by 4 women who came of age in the tumultuous India of the 1970s. 30 years later an illness brings them together again. As you would expect, there are lingering dramas, unclaimed passions and misunderstandings. All those iss...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Kim Fay rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my third of three installments of reviews of books by new (to me) writers I encountered at the Tucson Festival of Books. I was on a panel by Thrity and was enthralled as she discussed her novels. When I read "The World We Found," I was impressed by the tenderness shared by the characters. They felt real to me, with many flaws, but at the same time I liked how Thrity focused on the soft place in their hearts ... and by this I do not mean their weaknesses. This is the story of four idealis...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Jgfunk marked it as to-read

Shelves: in-the-future

Publisher's review: Thrity Umrigar, acclaimed author of The Space Between Us and The Weight of Heaven, returns with a breathtaking new novel—a skillfully wrought, emotionally resonant story of four women and the indelible friendship they share. Fans of Jennifer Haigh’s Faith, Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, and Katrina Kittle’s The Kindness of Strangers will be captivated by Umrigar’s The World We Found—a moving story of bottled secrets, unfulfilled dreams, and the acceptance that can s...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Four old college friends from Bombay try to reunite in America to see one of the group who is dying of cancer, one last time. The whole book is consumed with leading up to the friends getting together. Each of the 3 Bombay-based friends has various issues trying to arrange the trip, some more serious than others.

Although this is one of those books that's all about the character development, the plot was pretty riveting at the end. But I loved getting to know the characters throughout the book,...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Pamela rated it 5 of 5 stars

The World We Found is a well-written novel that explores many of the modern changes and ancient beliefs that have defined India over the last 30 years. The four main characters are all representative of India. The liberated sassy-mouthed wife seems to cling to the past by observing many Indian traditions, while at the same time she is definitely the one who rules the home. The shy lesbian finally comes out of the closet, mirroring many of the society norms that were once extremely taboo in India...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

This definitely wasn't my favorite Thrity Umrigar book. I did read it to the end, just to find out what happened. Although unlike others before me, I thought the characters were well filled out, and even interesting and varied. I did find it dragged on a bit, and I found the airport scene disturbing and unresolved, and felt I was left hanging at the end, especially about Iqbal's sister, who risked so much to help her sister-in-law. I think there could be a sequel to this novel, and I would proba...more

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May 27, 2012 Susanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Oh my. What a powerful and moving read! I read this somewhat reluctantly for a book group, fearing it would be just another meandering 'women's friendship' tale, albeit with an exotic setting to add some interest, but it was SO much more than that! I'll never think of the tensions between social classes and religious groups in India (or other parts of the world) in the same way again. I didn't have to like the frustrated muslim husband Iqbal to understand the rage his situation engenders; and my...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Sheila rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: cultural, current_issues, relationships

The last book we read in our local book group was set in India and America and explored cultural differences in the light of attitudes to love. Some members complained it was an easy read and not really book club material as there’d be nothing to discuss. All the same, I shall recommend Thrity Umrigar’s The World we Found to our book club when we next choose books. It’s another easy read, it explores cultural differences, not just between India and the United States, but also between Hindu and M...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Bonnie Brody rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Bonnie by: Joan Bain

Lalah, Kavita, Nishta and Armaiti were inseparable all during their college years when they worked together in India on socialist and humanitarian causes, played the guitar and sang, demonstrated, and flirted with boys. Together, they went from being girls of seventeen to young women of twenty-two. It is now thirty years later when this book opens and Armaiti is in the United States and dying. She has just found out that she has an inoperable brain tumor and her last wish is to have her three fr...more Lalah, Kavita, Nishta and Armaiti were inseparable all during their college years when they worked together in India on socialist and humanitarian causes, played the guitar and sang, demonstrated, and flirted with boys. Together, they went from being girls of seventeen to young women of twenty-two. It is now thirty years later when this book opens and Armaiti is in the United States and dying. She has just found out that she has an inoperable brain tumor and her last wish is to have her three friends fly to the U.S. from India and be with her before she dies. Though they have not been in touch much over the last decades, the memories and bonds of friendship have remained strong and infused with love.

Lalah has married Adish, a successful businessman of her own class. Together, they have built a family and remain much in love. Lalah was a true spirit to be reckoned with when young and she retains that impulsivity and idealism that were her currency in youth. They live in a luxurious high-rise in Bombay and have two teen-aged children. Lalah has regressed into some magical thinking. When they were young, she did not participate in a march that Armaiti was in and during that march, Armaiti got hit in the head and suffered a concussion and some amnesia. Lalah thinks this is the reason for Armaiti's brain tumor and that if she'd been at the march as planned she could have somehow protected Armaiti. She blames herself.

Kavita is single and a successful architect in Bombay. She had a long-held crush on Armaiti that she never told Armaiti about and she is still pretty much in the closet. She does have a German lover who she does business with and they are in love. For most of the world, however, Kavita, plays the role of the successful single woman and a spinster, caring for her mother who is ill.

Nishta married Iqban, a Muslim. In their early years together, she had high hopes of transcending social taboos in India and making this marriage work despite the fact that she is a Hindu and comes from a higher class. Marrying Iqban cost her her parents and they have not talked to her for thirty years. Iqban has forced Nishta to convert to Muslim and wear a burqa, even getting her name changed to a more Muslim sounding one. Her life is like a jail. She cares for her mother-in-law who watches what she does and where she goes. She is terribly unhappy.

Armaiti went to graduate school in the U.S. and met her husband, Richard, there. Five years ago they divorced because Richard had an affair though they remain the best of friends. They have a college age daughter, Diane, to whom both Richard and Armaiti are very close. Armaiti is in love with life and coming to terms with dying is very difficult for her. What keeps her going is looking forward to the reunion of the four friends at her home.

There are some wonderful scenes of India and the novel provides information about the classes, religions, political uprisings, employment and educational system. My only quibble with the book is that it is too repetitive and some of it would be better off edited out. The novel is interesting, the character development fine, and I enjoyed it very much. I did not like it as much as The Space Between Us: A Novel (P.S.) but it's a close second.
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Feb 26, 2012 Ellyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

This novel tells the story of four women, Laleh, Armaiti, Kavita, and Nishta, who were close friends during their college years in 1970s Bombay, when they were student activists and idealists. Thirty years later, Armaiti, who married an American and lives in the United States, is diagnosed with a brain tumor and given six months to live, and the friends, who have largely lost touch, plan a reunion so that they can be together one last time. The book focuses on the weeks leading up to the reunion...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature-fiction

Story Description:

As students in 1970’s Bombay, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta were inseparable, but the quartet has since drifted apart. When Armaiti, now living in America, learns that she is gravely ill, she hopes to see the friends she left behind thirty years ago.

For Laleh, reunion is bittersweet, but she promises to fulfill her friend’s wish. She convinces Kavita to put aside the past, and the two search for Nishta, who has long been hiding in a bitter, oppressive marriage. In the cour...more Story Description:

As students in 1970’s Bombay, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta were inseparable, but the quartet has since drifted apart. When Armaiti, now living in America, learns that she is gravely ill, she hopes to see the friends she left behind thirty years ago.

For Laleh, reunion is bittersweet, but she promises to fulfill her friend’s wish. She convinces Kavita to put aside the past, and the two search for Nishta, who has long been hiding in a bitter, oppressive marriage. In the course of their journey to reconnect, the four women must confront the truths of their lives and acknowledge long-held regrets, secrets, and desires. And they will have to decide what matters most, a choice that may just help them reclaim the extraordinary world they once found.

Exploring the enduring bonds of friendship and offering an unforgettable portrait of modern India, The World We Found is a dazzling masterwork from the remarkable Thrity Umrigar.

My Review:

Laleh, Kavita, Armaiti and Nishta were once inseparable during college but over the years they had drifted apart. Armaiti is terminally ill and lives in America. Nishta is missing and the only one still in Laleh’s life is, Kavita.

Laleh and Kavita still live in India and go to visit Mrs. Lokhanwala, Nishta’s mother. She wasn’t exactly sure where her daughter lived as the family is estranged. However, she gave them an envelope addressed to her with a return address circled in red.

Armaiti is divorced from her husband, Richard, as he had been unfaithful to her. After 5 years apart, he, along with their daughter, Diane, are taking care of her. Richard and Armaiti only broke the sad news to their daughter 5 short days ago and told her that her mother only had 6 to 8 months to live. Compounding the problem, Armaiti is refusing treatment. Diane is totally shocked and can’t understand her mother’s reasons for not having the treatment but Armaiti is “firm” in her decision.

Armaiti picked up the phone one day to call Bombay, India to invite her 3 friends to come to America to see her. Laleh and Kavita are coming but they didn’t know about Nishta yet as they had yet to find her.

Once Nishta was found, she was living in a crowded run-down neighbourhood and had changed her name to Zoha and wore a full burqa at the demand of her husband, Iqbal, who isn’t very kind to his wife.

Laleh and Kavita finally convince Zoha to go to America with them but Iqbal isn’t going to allow Zoha to go with them and has taken her passport. Will Zoha ever get to America?

Beautifully written, explaining the bonds of friendship, this is a stunning novel for all to read.
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Feb 19, 2012 Ciara rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

a middle-aged woman who immigrated from india to the u.s. for college has been diagnosed with an inoperable terminal brain tumor. she decides that she wants to see her three best friends from her youthful days as a socialist revolutionary again before she dies. two of the friends are easily found. one is a successful, if closeted, architect. the other seems to have no job other than a weekly volunteer gig at a women's shelter, but she is all feisty & independent & leading a very comforta...more a middle-aged woman who immigrated from india to the u.s. for college has been diagnosed with an inoperable terminal brain tumor. she decides that she wants to see her three best friends from her youthful days as a socialist revolutionary again before she dies. two of the friends are easily found. one is a successful, if closeted, architect. the other seems to have no job other than a weekly volunteer gig at a women's shelter, but she is all feisty & independent & leading a very comfortable life of privilege with her husband, whom everyone calls mr. fixit because he can fix any problem.

the big problem the women have is tracking down the fourth friend, nishta. they know she married her revolutionary boyfriend iqbal, & it was a big deal because iqbal was muslim (although secular) & nishta was hindu. but no one has heard from nishta in years.

the two women still in bombay, kavita & laleh, visit nishta's parents' house to ask if they have heard from her. nishta's parents were very disapporiving onf her marriage to iqbal & when they say they cut off ties, they really mean it. but nishta's mother does give them an envelope nishta sent her, with a return address.

they find nishta living in a muslim slum, living with a muslim name (zoha), still married to iqbal, who has become extremely religious. he makes her wear a burkha & adhere to muslim customs. they explain about the sick friend, but nishta says iqbal would never allow to her to go. lelah decides it is their duty to help free nishta from iqbal so they can all go to the united states & see their friend. she sends her husband to convince iqbal to let nishta go, but instead iqbal explains why he has become so pious & protective (some might say abusive) toward nishta. it has to do with all the discrimination he faced as even a secular muslim, & i guess i am missing something big about religion & indian culture because i don't understand how someone would know someone was "born muslim" unless they said so. i mean, it's a religion, right? maybe names are a signifier? i don't get it. a lot of what iqbal describes as "unbearable abuse" he suffered for being muslim doesn't really sound like that big a deal either. mostly people saying stuff like, "hey iqbal, did you sacrifice a goat before you came to work today?" i mean, that's definitely not cool, it's really ignorant, but it doesn't really seem worth quitting your job & moving your entire family, including parents & siblings, to a slum, forcing the women to wear burkhas, & forcing your sister into an arranged marriage with a man fifteen years older than her. iqbal was apparently also traumatized by riots in which many muslims were slaughtered by hindus. that is a lot more understandable...but everyone else in his family was also traumatized by the riots & they weren't forcing anyone to live in slums as a result. he keeps harping on how he was just trying to keep everyone safe, & everyone is alive, so i guess he accomplished his mission, but...

the bottom line here, i think, is just that the writing isn't that good. the whole narrative hinges on the fact that iqbal has made a remarkable transformation, from a freewheeling young revolutionary to a pious & controlling islamic stereotype. this is contrasted against the transformations other characters have made, from determined & idealistic young activists to wealthy, privileged middle aged liberals, i guess. iqbal's tranformation was supposedly triggered by the fact that he was of a marginalized identity that couldn't be overcome through sheer force of will, while the others were able to drift back into their safe, comfortable lives because they were privileged already. i totally get what the author was going for; i just don't think it was entirely earned. the way iqbal treats his wife & his sister is justified again & again by the discrimination he has faced as a muslim, but...his wife & sister are muslim as well (nishta converted) & are arguably facing the same degree of discrimination on that front, plus they're putting up with iqbal's rather breathtaking levels of abuse.

at the end of the book, when laleh's husband invokes his privilege in order to thwart iqbal in pretty much the most fucked up possible way, i found myself less taken with the contrast & death of idealism among these characters & more just kind of disgusted with everyone & all out of sympathy. & although the book starts with the premise that a woman has a brain tumor & wants to see her friends one last time (with many asides about how kavrati was always secretly in love with this friend & may finally admit it & see what happens), the book ends before the friends are reunited. in fact, many loose ends are left dangling, which makes it even more difficult to invest in the characters & their journeys.

& the writing...oof. i haven't read metaphors this labored since the last time i checked out some of the bulwer-lytton fiction contest entries. it reads rather like an undergraduate creative writing assignment before the first round of workshopping. give this one a pass.(less)

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Feb 18, 2012 Larraine rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm not sure how I missed one of the finest novelists I've read in a long time. Having just finished this wonderfully compelling and beautifully written novel (which I read in less than two days because I was virtually unable to put it down!), I realize that I have found an author who I will want to go back and read everything she has written. I'm already making a mental note to look for her next book.

We meet four women now approaching 50 who have grown apart. One moved to the United States and...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Jaylia3 rated it 4 of 5 stars

How and in what ways should the idealism of young adulthood influence mature adult lives? That’s the central question grappled with in this thoughtful, character-driven novel as four Indian friends come together one last time because on of them is dying.

In the late 1970s the four young women were inseparable, and part of a revolutionary movement hoping to change the world; now in their 50s they’ve all settled in different ways into adult lives. Laleh and Nishta both married the rebel boyfriends...more How and in what ways should the idealism of young adulthood influence mature adult lives? That’s the central question grappled with in this thoughtful, character-driven novel as four Indian friends come together one last time because on of them is dying.

In the late 1970s the four young women were inseparable, and part of a revolutionary movement hoping to change the world; now in their 50s they’ve all settled in different ways into adult lives. Laleh and Nishta both married the rebel boyfriends of their youth, but Laleh’s husband has become a wealthy businessman, while Nishta’s has embraced his once neglected Muslim faith and isolated her from her Hindu family and friends. Kavita is now cautiously accepting her lesbianism; ironically she never felt comfortable sharing her sexual orientation with her best friends back when they were fighting together for social justice. After being disillusioned by a trip to Czechoslovakia, a country whose communism seemed much less ideal than she had thought, Armaiti went to graduate school in the US and married an American. It is Armaiti who is dying, and it’s her request that they all get together again, but that will take finding Nishta who with her Muslim husband has somehow dropped out of sight.

There isn’t a lot of action in this novel until very close to the end, when suddenly the plot races along at heart pounding speed, but author Thirty Umrigar brings readers inside her characters’ heads to reveal their trains of thought, letting us see, for instance, what it might feel like to have only six months to live, or how living through India’s violent 1993 religious riots might affect a formerly lapsed Muslim.

There are no simple answers to the central question, how should youthful idealism inform adult lives, and the characters, especially Laleh’s husband Adish, struggle with it throughout the book. In the end Adish finds he may have to do something he knows is wrong to accomplish something he hopes is right.
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Feb 04, 2012 Ann Collette rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book, and pretty much read it in one night.
Four young Indian women from similar backgrounds become very close friends during their college days in 1970's Bombay. Bound by their commitment to political change, they're passionate and idealistic, convinced they can change the world. But time, economics and different lifestyles change all that. Thirty years later they've lost touch, though they remain in each others' hearts. When one of them develops a fatal brain tumor, though, she fi...more I loved this book, and pretty much read it in one night.
Four young Indian women from similar backgrounds become very close friends during their college days in 1970's Bombay. Bound by their commitment to political change, they're passionate and idealistic, convinced they can change the world. But time, economics and different lifestyles change all that. Thirty years later they've lost touch, though they remain in each others' hearts. When one of them develops a fatal brain tumor, though, she finds her greatest desire is to see her three old college friends before she dies. Now living in America, she calls one of them to ask if the other two can join her in a visit to see her in the USA, before she passes on. Two of the friends reconnect easily, but they have trouble locating the third. When they do, they're shocked by the change in her lifestyle; her husband, a very religious Muslim, has demanded that his Hindu wife convert and begin wearing a burkha when she goes outside. With the help of another female family member of the Muslim family and the husband of one of the old friends, they concoct a plan to smuggle the Muslim wife out of the country for three weeks so that together they can visit their dying friend at the same time. But the Muslim friend has plans she keeps secret from the others, resulting in a absolutely shocking betrayal of the Muslim husband by the husband of one of the friends.
The author makes you care about these women and their families in just a few pages. There was an occasional paragraph of dull, somewhat abstract writing here and there but the pace of the novel is excellent and the characterization is deep and varied. What I particularly enjoyed about these women was that when they were young, they were sincere and acted on their desire to change the world. But the approaching death of their friend makes them face up to what they did and didn't accomplish, setting off a chain reaction that ends with a character having to make a decision that will liberate one while destroying another. At its' core, this book makes you realize how sometimes doing the right thing morally can come at the cost of having to do another, lesser thing wrong morally, and how paying the cost for that is something that can never be met. The author handles a lot of complex political and moral issues with a deft touch, making them such an organic part of the characters' lives all become both exotic yet familiar. True friendship, in all its intimacy and secrecy, is also fully explored, making this a provocative and engaging novel that will stay with the reader.

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Feb 02, 2012 Marcy rated it 5 of 5 stars

The World We Found was a riveting account of four best college friends who had unusually close relationships with each other. They were all for democracy, and were part of multiple protests where they felt they were living their lives for the causes they believed in. Thirty years later, their lives since college, and their past love for one another unfold when they find out that one of their friends in America is dying, and they plan to visit her as a group to give their support and love. There...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Denise rated it 5 of 5 stars

In the late 1970's Laleh, Kavita, Nishta, and Armaiti, were idealistic young students protesting the political conditions in India, passionate about their beliefs and seemingly willing to risk everything to see equality for India's religious and economic minorities. Thirty years later they are all living different lives then they imagined and they haven't stayed the close-knit group they once were. When Armaiti learns she is dying her last wish is to have all of her friends together again. But t...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Radhika added it

We are of the thought that India has turned modern in the turn of this century. Ms Umrigar's story relates to the India of the 1960 and it was amazing to know that the problems that exist now did exist then too but the manifestations were different. It had a different hue to it. People who were rich enjoyed the privileges and had the power and the right circumstances to make decisions and the middleclass still struggling to uphold values over anything else.

Five friends Armaiti who left behind he...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Gail rated it 5 of 5 stars

Once again, Thrity Umrigar illustrates the difficulties and tensions of the Indian culture to us in a lush, passionate work. Her previous novels brought insight into how difficult meshing the cultures of India and the US together can be. She ushers us into a world that not many outsiders get to experience--a world where old meets new, where those who still cling to old Indian cultural customs clash with those who have adopted the New Era. Her poignancy is felt throughout the tale, as the four wo...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

The novel takes place in modern day India and United States. One of four friends (the one in the U.S.) is dying of brain cancer and wants the other three to visit her. They were close in college, bound together in a common cause - to bring forth a New India. They were politically active socialists who pled for equality for all citizens. They were in marches where the police beat them and they were hospitalized or arrested. They had ideas and dreams of the way the world should be.

Fast forward nea...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Leeswammes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Armaiti, an Indian woman who moved to the US years ago and is married with a daughter, discovers that she has a brain tumor and not long to live. She invites her old friends to come and visit before she dies. The friends haven’t been in contact with each other for about twenty years. Since they went to university together and were all involved in student protests, these are the people Armaiti would most like to see again.

The three friends, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta, live in India. The former two...more Armaiti, an Indian woman who moved to the US years ago and is married with a daughter, discovers that she has a brain tumor and not long to live. She invites her old friends to come and visit before she dies. The friends haven’t been in contact with each other for about twenty years. Since they went to university together and were all involved in student protests, these are the people Armaiti would most like to see again.

The three friends, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta, live in India. The former two are independent women, rich enough to afford the trip. They have some trouble locating Nishta, but find her in a Muslim neighbourhood, in difficult circumstances. Her husband, in his student days a liberal-minded man, turned Muslim fundamentalist after the riots in 1992 in which many Muslims were killed. After the first contact, her husband doesn’t allow Nishta to talk to her friends again, let alone come to the US with them (at their cost).

The book covers Armaiti and her attempt at coping with her illness, and Laleh and Kavita in India, who keep trying to find a way to get their friend to come with them.

I loved this book! The writing style is easy, but not lazy. The story is very fluent and satisfying.

Since both Laleh’s and Nishta’s husbands had also been involved with the group of friends at university, Laleh’s husband, Adish, goes to talk to Nishta’s husband Iqbal about the trip (not having seen each other for years) but the difference between them is now so enormous. It was a pity that they didn’t part as friends. In hindsight each of the men didn’t think badly of each other, but they didn’t want to show their real feelings. This rang very true of how people deal with each other.

I thought it was a bit unlikely that the women would be great friends again straight away after 20 years of not having met up. On the other hand, it was heart-warming and I loved how they cared for each other.

As in The Space Between US, Umrigar doesn’t spend too many words explaining what India is like, the customs of the people or what the streets, houses, etc. look like: it’s all “normal” and doesn’t need any explanation. I love that. In this book, the reader is not a visitor to India, looking in from the outside, but is treated just as anyone else and doesn’t get a lot of explanation. Also, sometimes Indian (Hindi?) expressions are used, none of which aren’t translated. This made it all very real and very personal.(less)

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Apr 02, 2012 Dana rated it 1 of 5 stars

Ugh. FINALLY, after too many weeks, finished THE WORLD WE FOUND, by Thrity Umrigar. Dull, anticlimactic, annoying. The premise was great: 4 women who were great friends in college in India 30 years ago, are about to be reunited at the request of the one of the 4 who moved to America. That 1 has a terminal brain tumor and wants them all to be together again. The book ends before they are all together in America, and we are left not knowing when or if she dies. One of the women in India, a former...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Kali rated it 1 of 5 stars

Don't look to this book to teach you anything authentic about India, Bombay or even young college-going youth in the 1970s which is where the four women Laleh, Kavita, Nishta and Amraiti are supposed to have forged their bond. Characters seriously lack dimension and the story-line is silly. The two Parsi protagonists are very (upper) middle class Mumbai and imho pretentious.

The characters go to college (and presumably obtain a nondescript 'degree') only as a waystation en route their ordained p...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book a lot, much as I like all of Thrity Umrigar's other books. She is a talented writer. She style of writing flows easily, and I always fall in love with her female (and often) male characters. I enjoy the relationships the characters have with each others, and I enjoy the glimpes she gives me into India --its culture, its history, its politics, its food, its places and geography and its people. This book centers on the relationships of 4 women, who were close in college, and now...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, 2012

This First Reads Giveaway win gives me an opportunity to read another new-to-me author. Thrity Umrigar weaves a tale of four young women who are student activists in 1970s Bombay. Laleh, Kavita, Nishta and Armaiti share a friendship and idealism that gradually changes after graduation. Armaiti leaves Bombay to live in America. Nishta marries her Muslim boyfriend is disowned by her family and also loses contact with her friends. Only Laleh and Kavita stay in touch. Each woman leads a life very di...more

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May 07, 2012 Candice rated it 5 of 5 stars

Back in the late 1970s Bombay, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita and Nishta were close friends. They were often at the forefront of demonstrations that challenged authority and the status quo. Eventually Armaiti moved to America, and time and distance separated the four. Armaiti’s imminent death from a brain tumor will bring them all together one last time. That’s the story in a nutshell, but it is told with such skill and compassion. Friendship. Love. Marriage. Religion. Prejudice. Discrimination. Betraya...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Cathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ah.... just the literary respite I needed. I love this author ... Thrity Umrigar never disappoints! Really engrossing story about four women, now in their late 40's/50's , who are brought back together because of the illness of one of the women. Three of the women still live in Bombay, India, while Armaiti, who is ill, lives in the U.S. The four women were close friends as students in college and participated in the protests in the late 70s. Decades later, the women reconnect; as they do, they a...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Peg rated it 4 of 5 stars

'The World We Found' by Thrity Umrigar. This novel was provided to me free-of-charge by GoodReads, FirstReads. This is the first work of Thrity Umrigar's that I have read but it won't be the last. After reading this novel, I'm impressed with her skilled writing style. She makes me want to read more of it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel about modern-day India which also provided insight from the old India during the 1970s. It was very educational and interesting to observe their customs, traditio...more

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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 World We Found

“What she had believed was indignation or rage or a deep intolerance for injustice came down to this: she was irreducibly in love with this bewitching planet, this thrilling life, this heartbreaking species she belonged to, with its capacity for stupefying destruction and breathtaking magnanimity.” — 4 people liked it

“So all I'm saying is, everything that seems important--our quarrels, or philosophical differences--in the end, it doesn't matter much. You know? In the end, what matters is what remains.” — 3 people liked it

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