Cheryl Snell's Blog, page 72

A Conversation in Third Person with Prof. T.S. Ramesh

Q Your work as a scientist required a serious commitment of time and concentration from a very early age. How did you imagine marriage fitting into the picture?

A While he was growing up in India, Ram would often sneak out of his noisy home to go down to the beach, wander along the shoreline with a cone of phani-poori in his hand. He'd skim stones and watch nature's properties at work. The water's ever-widening ripples from the smallest tossed stone fascinated him. Someday he would get to Amer...

Eight Things You Don't Know About Alice

1) Alice grew up with this painting of an Indian soldier in her bedroom.

2) She played a Hindu princess in a fifth grade play, and slept in a sari for a month.

3) Alice used perspective in her drawings in grade school. Her teacher, Mrs. Lerner, said she'd never encountered that ability before.

4) Alice remembered ghosts in her playroom. She drew them floating, upside-down, and claimed that they brushed her hair at night.

5) Alice would not eat the ears off her chocolate Easter bunnies.

6) When The...

Eight Things You Don't Know about Alice

1) Alice grew up with this painting of an Indian soldier in her bedroom.


2) She played a Hindu princess in a fifth grade play, and slept in a sari for a month.

3) Alice used perspective in her drawings in grade school. Her teacher, Mrs. Lerner, said she'd never encountered that ability before.

4) Alice remembered ghosts in her playroom. She drew them floating, upside-down, and claimed that they brushed her hair at night.

5) Alice would not eat the ears off her chocolate Easter bunnies.

6) When The...

Character Interview

Twenty Questions with Amma

1.What is the name of the book where we would meet you?

Shiva's Arms by Cheryl Snell

2. What do you think of the author? You can tell us the truth.

She is soft like Alice, my daughter-in-law, but she is like me also. We know what is best for our children.

3. Tell us a little about yourself. How would you describe your appearance? That's more than just really cute or drop dead gorgeous. Give us enough detail to get a clear idea of how you look.

I am not yet five feet tall...

Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal

On Killing Your Darlings

Sometimes, in the revision process, a character becomes beside the point. In Shiva's Arms, I had to pull the character of Sam, Alice and Ram's son, back to a younger version of himself. In early drafts he was old enough for a scene like this:
Damn! Once the thought of the girl entered his mind, there was no way to get her out of his head. He had no choice but to pull up the memory of night they met--- the smell of the college bar, the musk of girls in tiny skirts, the ferment of beer...

Reading Group Guide

1) Describe the dynamic between Ram and Alice during the first part of the novel. Why is Ram afraid of Alice's interest in Brahmin culture? If he is a symbol of assimilation, is he effective in that role?
2) What does 'samsara' signify for Alice? For Ram? How about Nela? Explain the strain her "shame" caused her family.
3) How is Alice's state of mind reflected by the clothes she wears? The juxtaposition of a Christian cross with a gold Ganesh around her neck?
4) Throughout the novel, the a...

Five Faves

1)Favorite phrase in Shiva's Arms?
vidama pidingarathu (the way samsara gets its hooks into you and won't let you go)

2)Favorite maxim or proverb in the book?
The elephant should not marry the mouse

3)Favorite description?
"Soon the lawn bloomed with bright saris. Heads tilted upward to try to see what Amma saw--light traveling to each person, to take with them wherever they went."

4)Scenes that made you want to visit India?
The celebration of Golu; Nela offering her hair at the temple.

5)Favorite ...

Q and A

You tackle several big themes in your book—culture clash, mental illness and its effect on a family, the ways in which tradition dies hard. Do you believe that you have a core subject, and will write through its permutations, as Faulkner did with race, for instance?

It's tempting to lose myself in such a complex subject as the Indian diaspora, especially as the ramifications evolve, but there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio.

What challenges did you face in writing about such...

Inspiration

I get the question: "What inspired you to write this?" a lot. The idea for the book took hold as I witnessed conflicts between immigrants and the family members they leave behind. What is lost and what is gained? Stories my husband told me about his childhood in India and my own position as an "unsuitable bride" provided both setting and emotional center.

For VS Naipaul, "finding the centre" was paramount. For me, it's the threshold that holds the most fascination, as it does for the charac...