false 2808966 141968440X 9781419684401 3 1 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2808966.Only_the_Eyes_Are_Mine 301277 Usha Alexander 6 2 5 0 false Mon Nov 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Oct 17 08:06:22 -0700 2009 Mon Nov 02 19:56:44 -0800 2009 Only the Eyes are Mine, is married at about age 10. After three or years or so, she experiences her first menses and goes to live with her husband and his family, where she learns the art of weaving from her mother-in-law, whom Sita soon surpasses in ability.

That weaving is a perfect metaphor for a book in which the characters entwine so seamlessly as the story flows from Sita as an old woman caring for her brother’s family in America and her younger life in India. The story contains marvelous details about life in India, yet by depicting the small, but crucial changes within familial life, conveys that while cultures might be different, the themes throughout humanity are universal.

I’m not usually a fan of stories with multiple points of view, but Ms. Alexander draws all of Sita’s family members and other characters together quickly then adds them in and lets them go — a little here, a little there, according to the necessity of their color and texture — while depicting a tapestry of life ruled by duty. This duty to propriety and tradition at all costs all but destroys life after life until slowly, Sita and her brother and his two grown children find their freedom and happiness.

This is an excellent book for anyone who enjoys being close to the tangled, pained hearts of characters without having their journeys ruined by sentimentality.
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