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Anju and Sudha #2
The Vine Of Desire
The beloved characters of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's bestselling novel Sister of My Heart are reunited in this powerful narrative that challenges the emotional bond between two lifelong friends, as the husband of one becomes dangerously attracted to the other.
Anju and Sudha formed an astounding, almost psychic connection during their childhood in India. When Anju invites Sudha, a single mother in Calcutta, to come live with her and her husband, Sunil, in California, Sudha foolishly accepts, knowing full well that Sunil has long desired her. As Sunil's attraction rises to the surface, the trio must struggle to make sense of the freedoms of America-and of the ties that bind them to India and to one another.
Anju and Sudha formed an astounding, almost psychic connection during their childhood in India. When Anju invites Sudha, a single mother in Calcutta, to come live with her and her husband, Sunil, in California, Sudha foolishly accepts, knowing full well that Sunil has long desired her. As Sunil's attraction rises to the surface, the trio must struggle to make sense of the freedoms of America-and of the ties that bind them to India and to one another.
416 pages, Paperback
First published February 19, 2002
106 people are currently reading
2871 people want to read
About the author
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
62 books6,938 followersChitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her themes include the Indian experience, contemporary America, women, immigration, history, myth, and the joys and challenges of living in a multicultural world. Her work is widely known, as she has been published in over 50 magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her works have been translated into 29 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Hindi and Japanese. Divakaruni also writes for children and young adults.Her novels One Amazing Thing, Oleander Girl, Sister of My Heart and Palace of Illusions are currently in the process of being made into movies. http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/books.... Her newest novel is Before We Visit the Goddess (about 3 generations of women-- grandmother, mother and daughter-- who each examine the question "what does it mean to be a successful woman.") Simon & Schuster.
She was born in India and lived there until 1976, at which point she left Calcutta and came to the United States. She continued her education in the field of English by receiving a Master’s degree from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
To earn money for her education, she held many odd jobs, including babysitting, selling merchandise in an Indian boutique, slicing bread in a bakery, and washing instruments in a science lab. At Berkeley, she lived in the International House and worked in the dining hall. She briefly lived in Illinois and Ohio, but has spent much of her life in Northern California, which she often writes about. She now lives in Texas, which has found its way into her upcoming book, Before We Visit the Goddess.
Chitra currently teaches in the nationally ranked Creative Writing program at the Univ. of Houston. She serves on the Advisory board of Maitri in the San Francisco Bay Area and Daya in Houston. Both these are organizations that help South Asian or South Asian American women who find themselves in abusive or domestic violence situations. She is also closely involved with Pratham, an organization that helps educate children (especially those living in urban slums) in India.
She has judged several prestigious awards, such as the National Book Award and the PEN Faulkner Award.
Two of her books, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, have been made into movies by filmmakers Gurinder Chadha and Paul Berges (an English film) and Suhasini Mani Ratnam (a Tamil TV serial) respectively. Her novels One Amazing Thing and Palace of Illusions have currently been optioned for movies. Her book Arranged Marriage has been made into a play and performed in the U.S. and (upcoming, May) in Canada. River of Light, an opera about an Indian woman in a bi-cultural marriage, for which she wrote the libretto, has been performed in Texas and California.
She lives in Houston with her husband Murthy. She has two sons, Anand and Abhay (whose names she has used in her children’s novels).
Chitra loves to connect with readers on her Facebook author page, www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni, and on Twitter, @cdivakaruni.
For more information about her books, please visit http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/, where you can also sign up for her newsletter.
She was born in India and lived there until 1976, at which point she left Calcutta and came to the United States. She continued her education in the field of English by receiving a Master’s degree from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
To earn money for her education, she held many odd jobs, including babysitting, selling merchandise in an Indian boutique, slicing bread in a bakery, and washing instruments in a science lab. At Berkeley, she lived in the International House and worked in the dining hall. She briefly lived in Illinois and Ohio, but has spent much of her life in Northern California, which she often writes about. She now lives in Texas, which has found its way into her upcoming book, Before We Visit the Goddess.
Chitra currently teaches in the nationally ranked Creative Writing program at the Univ. of Houston. She serves on the Advisory board of Maitri in the San Francisco Bay Area and Daya in Houston. Both these are organizations that help South Asian or South Asian American women who find themselves in abusive or domestic violence situations. She is also closely involved with Pratham, an organization that helps educate children (especially those living in urban slums) in India.
She has judged several prestigious awards, such as the National Book Award and the PEN Faulkner Award.
Two of her books, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, have been made into movies by filmmakers Gurinder Chadha and Paul Berges (an English film) and Suhasini Mani Ratnam (a Tamil TV serial) respectively. Her novels One Amazing Thing and Palace of Illusions have currently been optioned for movies. Her book Arranged Marriage has been made into a play and performed in the U.S. and (upcoming, May) in Canada. River of Light, an opera about an Indian woman in a bi-cultural marriage, for which she wrote the libretto, has been performed in Texas and California.
She lives in Houston with her husband Murthy. She has two sons, Anand and Abhay (whose names she has used in her children’s novels).
Chitra loves to connect with readers on her Facebook author page, www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni, and on Twitter, @cdivakaruni.
For more information about her books, please visit http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/, where you can also sign up for her newsletter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 326 reviews
June 14, 2012
I loved the predecessor to this book, Sister of My Heart. It was a fabulous story of strong women. They made amazing selfless choices out of love and loyalty to each other. Even when you didn't agree with their actions, you understood their motivations clearly. I highly recommend Sister of My Heart.
I was excited to find out a sequel existed and picked up The Vine Of Desire almost immediately. Somehow, this book was the opposite of the first and made me dislike almost all of the characters I loved so much before. The characters acted very selfishly on all fronts and their motivations were almost a complete mystery. I think the intent was to explore freedom from duty and putting yourself first but everyone was hurtful and self-absorbed.
It ended better than I expected but I still didn't enjoy this book and wish I had stopped after the first.
I was excited to find out a sequel existed and picked up The Vine Of Desire almost immediately. Somehow, this book was the opposite of the first and made me dislike almost all of the characters I loved so much before. The characters acted very selfishly on all fronts and their motivations were almost a complete mystery. I think the intent was to explore freedom from duty and putting yourself first but everyone was hurtful and self-absorbed.
It ended better than I expected but I still didn't enjoy this book and wish I had stopped after the first.
December 18, 2009
This review ran in the San Jose Mercury News in 2002:
Do you know the sensation of getting near the end of a book and feeling the thickness of the pages left? As the remaining pages of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's new novel grew fewer I began to worry: Would there be room enough for what I wanted to know about the characters and their lives?
There was. Divakaruni's narrative in ''The Vine of Desire'' is as gracefully structured as a piece of chamber music, with its interplay of themes and voices, ensemble and solo, working their way toward a final resolving chord.
It begins with discord in the lives of the cousins Anju and Sudha, whom some readers have met in Divakaruni's earlier novel ''Sister of My Heart.'' Anju has miscarried and is emerging from a dark depression that has put a strain on her marriage to Sunil, an executive at a Silicon Valley company.
Back in India, Sudha has left her husband: When an ultrasound revealed that the baby Sudha was carrying was female, her domineering mother-in-law wanted to have it aborted. Sudha fled her home, her spineless husband divorced her, and she's trying to raise the infant, Dayita, by herself. So Anju and Sunil invite Sudha and Dayita to stay with them in their apartment in San Jose.
Soon after Sudha's arrival, Anju resumes her work toward a college degree and begins to find her metier in writing classes. Anju is particularly inspired by an instructor who introduces her to the letters and journals of 18th- and 19th-century women -- writers who were denied a larger literary fame: ''The instructor thinks of it as a great pity. Imagine all the letters that were lost, she said last week. All the diaries that were thrown away unread. What a waste. . . . Anju understood what she was saying. And yet -- what freedom it must have been! What exquisite loneliness.''
So Anju embraces such loneliness, seeking out a solitary space at the college where she can write: ''a room white as the inside of an egg, circular and without windows. . . . She has always thought of windows as distractions, drawing a person out of herself.''
But if solitude is freedom for Anju, it's oppression for Sudha, who stays in the apartment while Anju goes to class and Sunil to work. She cooks and cleans and tends to Dayita. And then one day Sunil returns to the apartmentwhile Anju is away and reveals his passion for Sudha. She repels his advances but can't bring herself to reveal the truth to Anju.
Their meals together become ''a tableau of silence: three people, inside their chests small black boxes, holding inside them smaller, blacker boxes. . . . Until at the very center of the chest, the secret of whose existence they are totally unaware. The secret of the self, already pollinated by time's spores, waiting to burst open when they are least prepared for it.''
Against these images of enclosure, isolation and solitude, Divakaruni plays an awareness of the larger world. The novel takes place in a specific time -- 1994, the year of, among many other things, the O.J. Simpson case, with which Sunil is oddly obsessed -- and a very specific place -- the Bay Area, a place that Sudha, like many immigrants, has difficulty coming to terms with.
Bay Area readers will relish the grace notes provided by Divakaruni's attention to local color. (She lives in the East Bay.) For example, there's the ostentatious Los Altos Hills trophy home where, at a party held by a successful Indian entrepreneur, Sudha meets Lalit Reddy, a handsome, thoroughly Americanized young surgeon, who begins to woo her. He takes her to Grizzly Peak to watch the sunset.
''Look,'' Lalit says. ''There's the campanile at Cal, there's the Bay Bridge, backed up as usual, there's Angel Island, where one time deer and immigrants were quarantined. . . .''
There's such fondness in his voice. I'm racked by jealousy. To belong to a place fully, to know it so well that you believe it belongs to you. Does he even guess how lucky he is?
Sudha also senses that, like Lalit, Anju has found something in America that Sudha can't feel, as when Anju describes a member of her writers' group:
''She's from Iran,'' Anju says. . . . ''Her family fled the country during Khomeini's rule. She's writing an essay about that time, particularly what happened to the women. . . . She said I had real talent and owed it to myself to develop it.''
Owed it to myself. It was not an idea we'd grown up with in Calcutta. Owed it to my parents, yes. My ancestors. My in-laws. My children. Teachers, society, God. But owed it to myself? Yet how easily Anju says it today.
What is it that I owe myself?
The strength of Divakaruni's novel is that it's built up through poignant insights into the hearts and minds of Sudha and Anju. We learn, for example, that Anju is more ambivalent about her life in the United States than Sudha supposes: When she's invited by her writers' group to go see a movie ''about Indians'' at Camera 3, Anju fears that she'll wind up defensively explaining that Indians don't really eat monkey brains or sacrifice virgins to Kali. Or else that it will be a serious movie by an Indian director about poverty or police brutality and that she'll find herself insisting that ''there's a lot more to India than what you're seeing here.''
Anju reflects on what it's like to ''love parts of your heritage so much that it tingles in your fingertips like pins and needles. You're ready to kill anyone who criticizes it. And then there are things about it that make you want to drive your fist through a window.''
Because Sudha is untethered to the culture in which she finds herself, her situation grows dire when the tensions among Anju, Sudha and Sunil in the too-small apartment finally erupt, sending each of them in a new direction. And then we occasionally see the novel's gears meshing and wheels turning. Divakaruni reaches into conventional, even sentimental, fiction to work out Sudha's destiny. I also think that neither of the principal male characters, Sunil and Lalit, quite comes off the page -- I suspect that Divakaruni hasn't spent as much time inside them as she has inside Anju and Sudha.
Yet once Divakaruni has established what course Sudha's life is to take, the richness of imagination that animates most of the book returns, and it moves to a lyrical resolution.
Divakaruni has established herself as an important writer -- just last year, her collection of short stories, ''The Unknown Errors of Our Lives,'' had reviewers reaching for superlatives. ''The Vine of Desire'' does nothing to undermine that reputation. If you find yourself counting the pages left in the book, it's likely to be because you wish there were many, many more.
Do you know the sensation of getting near the end of a book and feeling the thickness of the pages left? As the remaining pages of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's new novel grew fewer I began to worry: Would there be room enough for what I wanted to know about the characters and their lives?
There was. Divakaruni's narrative in ''The Vine of Desire'' is as gracefully structured as a piece of chamber music, with its interplay of themes and voices, ensemble and solo, working their way toward a final resolving chord.
It begins with discord in the lives of the cousins Anju and Sudha, whom some readers have met in Divakaruni's earlier novel ''Sister of My Heart.'' Anju has miscarried and is emerging from a dark depression that has put a strain on her marriage to Sunil, an executive at a Silicon Valley company.
Back in India, Sudha has left her husband: When an ultrasound revealed that the baby Sudha was carrying was female, her domineering mother-in-law wanted to have it aborted. Sudha fled her home, her spineless husband divorced her, and she's trying to raise the infant, Dayita, by herself. So Anju and Sunil invite Sudha and Dayita to stay with them in their apartment in San Jose.
Soon after Sudha's arrival, Anju resumes her work toward a college degree and begins to find her metier in writing classes. Anju is particularly inspired by an instructor who introduces her to the letters and journals of 18th- and 19th-century women -- writers who were denied a larger literary fame: ''The instructor thinks of it as a great pity. Imagine all the letters that were lost, she said last week. All the diaries that were thrown away unread. What a waste. . . . Anju understood what she was saying. And yet -- what freedom it must have been! What exquisite loneliness.''
So Anju embraces such loneliness, seeking out a solitary space at the college where she can write: ''a room white as the inside of an egg, circular and without windows. . . . She has always thought of windows as distractions, drawing a person out of herself.''
But if solitude is freedom for Anju, it's oppression for Sudha, who stays in the apartment while Anju goes to class and Sunil to work. She cooks and cleans and tends to Dayita. And then one day Sunil returns to the apartmentwhile Anju is away and reveals his passion for Sudha. She repels his advances but can't bring herself to reveal the truth to Anju.
Their meals together become ''a tableau of silence: three people, inside their chests small black boxes, holding inside them smaller, blacker boxes. . . . Until at the very center of the chest, the secret of whose existence they are totally unaware. The secret of the self, already pollinated by time's spores, waiting to burst open when they are least prepared for it.''
Against these images of enclosure, isolation and solitude, Divakaruni plays an awareness of the larger world. The novel takes place in a specific time -- 1994, the year of, among many other things, the O.J. Simpson case, with which Sunil is oddly obsessed -- and a very specific place -- the Bay Area, a place that Sudha, like many immigrants, has difficulty coming to terms with.
Bay Area readers will relish the grace notes provided by Divakaruni's attention to local color. (She lives in the East Bay.) For example, there's the ostentatious Los Altos Hills trophy home where, at a party held by a successful Indian entrepreneur, Sudha meets Lalit Reddy, a handsome, thoroughly Americanized young surgeon, who begins to woo her. He takes her to Grizzly Peak to watch the sunset.
''Look,'' Lalit says. ''There's the campanile at Cal, there's the Bay Bridge, backed up as usual, there's Angel Island, where one time deer and immigrants were quarantined. . . .''
There's such fondness in his voice. I'm racked by jealousy. To belong to a place fully, to know it so well that you believe it belongs to you. Does he even guess how lucky he is?
Sudha also senses that, like Lalit, Anju has found something in America that Sudha can't feel, as when Anju describes a member of her writers' group:
''She's from Iran,'' Anju says. . . . ''Her family fled the country during Khomeini's rule. She's writing an essay about that time, particularly what happened to the women. . . . She said I had real talent and owed it to myself to develop it.''
Owed it to myself. It was not an idea we'd grown up with in Calcutta. Owed it to my parents, yes. My ancestors. My in-laws. My children. Teachers, society, God. But owed it to myself? Yet how easily Anju says it today.
What is it that I owe myself?
The strength of Divakaruni's novel is that it's built up through poignant insights into the hearts and minds of Sudha and Anju. We learn, for example, that Anju is more ambivalent about her life in the United States than Sudha supposes: When she's invited by her writers' group to go see a movie ''about Indians'' at Camera 3, Anju fears that she'll wind up defensively explaining that Indians don't really eat monkey brains or sacrifice virgins to Kali. Or else that it will be a serious movie by an Indian director about poverty or police brutality and that she'll find herself insisting that ''there's a lot more to India than what you're seeing here.''
Anju reflects on what it's like to ''love parts of your heritage so much that it tingles in your fingertips like pins and needles. You're ready to kill anyone who criticizes it. And then there are things about it that make you want to drive your fist through a window.''
Because Sudha is untethered to the culture in which she finds herself, her situation grows dire when the tensions among Anju, Sudha and Sunil in the too-small apartment finally erupt, sending each of them in a new direction. And then we occasionally see the novel's gears meshing and wheels turning. Divakaruni reaches into conventional, even sentimental, fiction to work out Sudha's destiny. I also think that neither of the principal male characters, Sunil and Lalit, quite comes off the page -- I suspect that Divakaruni hasn't spent as much time inside them as she has inside Anju and Sudha.
Yet once Divakaruni has established what course Sudha's life is to take, the richness of imagination that animates most of the book returns, and it moves to a lyrical resolution.
Divakaruni has established herself as an important writer -- just last year, her collection of short stories, ''The Unknown Errors of Our Lives,'' had reviewers reaching for superlatives. ''The Vine of Desire'' does nothing to undermine that reputation. If you find yourself counting the pages left in the book, it's likely to be because you wish there were many, many more.
August 30, 2014
I absolutely loved Sister of My Heart.
The sequel, not so much.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has an incredibly lovely style of writing, however in this book, every sentence reeks of purple prose. The writing is too flowery, crowded by many metaphors which are sometimes hard to interpret. It became annoying quickly.
None of the characters were as likable to me as they were in the first book, except for maybe Dayita.
The fact that all of the men wanted Sudha was really off-putting. Yes, she is a beautiful and sweet girl but come on, really?! It seems as if everyone has the hots for her right away. These men lust for her so much, it's gross. I felt bad for Anju but even she became bleak as I kept turning the pages.
The Vine of Desire wasn't a bad book, but not as good as its predecessor.
Also, the cover art is gorgeous.
The sequel, not so much.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has an incredibly lovely style of writing, however in this book, every sentence reeks of purple prose. The writing is too flowery, crowded by many metaphors which are sometimes hard to interpret. It became annoying quickly.
None of the characters were as likable to me as they were in the first book, except for maybe Dayita.
The fact that all of the men wanted Sudha was really off-putting. Yes, she is a beautiful and sweet girl but come on, really?! It seems as if everyone has the hots for her right away. These men lust for her so much, it's gross. I felt bad for Anju but even she became bleak as I kept turning the pages.
The Vine of Desire wasn't a bad book, but not as good as its predecessor.
Also, the cover art is gorgeous.
December 30, 2015
Sublime! No hay otra palabra que pueda describirlo. Es la historia de Sunil, de Anju y de Sudha, de sus miedos y deseos; sobre todo de sus deseos. De esos anhelos que guardamos en lo más hondo del corazón y que no somos capaces de reconocer. Habla de amor, de diferentes maneras de amar, y también habla del dolor que causa el desamor; el amor mismo. Y del deseo, de la necesidad de ser amados y de los celos. Es un libro que habla hasta por los codos, con un lenguaje y una estructura nueva, donde todos los personajes tienen voz propia. Es ahí donde te enamoras de Sunil, de su manera de amar, de su valentía, de sus celos y sobre todo de su fortaleza.
June 17, 2010
Saia bener-bener suka gaya bercerita Divakaruni dalam buku ini.
awalnya seh agak boring, maklum buku drama, hehe...
gimana yah mengambarkan buku ini? hmmm...... ginih deh, ini cerita ngasal saia, gak ada di buku inih, cuma kayaknya sangat mewakili isi buku ini :P
bayangkan Anda sedang bercengkrama dg seorang rekan yang sudah lama tak bersua. tapi, dari tadi malah teman Anda yang mendominasi cerita. Karena dia terus ngomong gak jelas, Anda malah bosan mendengarnya, apalagi tema yang dia bahas menjemukan menurut Anda. Bayangkan, dalam setengah jam terakhir dia bercerita tentang cara membuat sup yang menurutnya enak!! Katanya, sebaiknya daun seledri tak dimasukkan di awal sehingga layu, tapi ditambahkan di akhir saat sup sudah matang, taburan bawang terlalu banyak malah mematikan aroma harum sayuran segar, bla-bla-bla-bla
Anda nyaris merasa jemu total mendengar detail mengerikan seperti ituh. Sesaat saat Anda berniat mengalihkan topik pembicaraan...
Dan, seharusnya, sayur sup jangan disajikan dalam keadaan panas.... soalnya rasa segar dari sayur bakal terkalahkan oleh panas.... Jadi inget, si X dulu pernah makan sup panas dan dia langsung memuntahkannya lagi.... eh, kamu masih inget kan dia? itu lho temen SMA dulu, sayang yah, dia bunuh diri....
Apa????????????!!!!!!!
dan seketika, rasa kantuk yg tadi datang pun hilang. Dan Anda akan menamatkan buku ini hingga akhir :D
Yah, letupan-letupan tragedi dramatis menjadi bumbu menakjubkan dalam buku ini. Novel ini, termasuk tipe novel yang alurnya mengalir tenang... tapi di akhir, menjerumuskan Anda pada jeram yang curam, tak terelakkan.
awalnya seh agak boring, maklum buku drama, hehe...
gimana yah mengambarkan buku ini? hmmm...... ginih deh, ini cerita ngasal saia, gak ada di buku inih, cuma kayaknya sangat mewakili isi buku ini :P
bayangkan Anda sedang bercengkrama dg seorang rekan yang sudah lama tak bersua. tapi, dari tadi malah teman Anda yang mendominasi cerita. Karena dia terus ngomong gak jelas, Anda malah bosan mendengarnya, apalagi tema yang dia bahas menjemukan menurut Anda. Bayangkan, dalam setengah jam terakhir dia bercerita tentang cara membuat sup yang menurutnya enak!! Katanya, sebaiknya daun seledri tak dimasukkan di awal sehingga layu, tapi ditambahkan di akhir saat sup sudah matang, taburan bawang terlalu banyak malah mematikan aroma harum sayuran segar, bla-bla-bla-bla
Anda nyaris merasa jemu total mendengar detail mengerikan seperti ituh. Sesaat saat Anda berniat mengalihkan topik pembicaraan...
Dan, seharusnya, sayur sup jangan disajikan dalam keadaan panas.... soalnya rasa segar dari sayur bakal terkalahkan oleh panas.... Jadi inget, si X dulu pernah makan sup panas dan dia langsung memuntahkannya lagi.... eh, kamu masih inget kan dia? itu lho temen SMA dulu, sayang yah, dia bunuh diri....
Apa????????????!!!!!!!
dan seketika, rasa kantuk yg tadi datang pun hilang. Dan Anda akan menamatkan buku ini hingga akhir :D
Yah, letupan-letupan tragedi dramatis menjadi bumbu menakjubkan dalam buku ini. Novel ini, termasuk tipe novel yang alurnya mengalir tenang... tapi di akhir, menjerumuskan Anda pada jeram yang curam, tak terelakkan.
April 1, 2017
How many stars I give this novel will depend on whether or not Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni intends to write a third book "Anju and Sudha" book. For now, I am going to be optimistic and assume she is and therefore give The Vine Of Desire 4 solid stars.
In the first book Sister of My Heart we met the cousins Anju and Sudha, born within hours from each other and raised as sisters in a huge, old mansion in Calcutta. We follow their coming of age, arranged marriages and their separation with Anju ending up in the States. The setting although realistic has a timeless mythical feeling to it.
This novel takes off where the other ends with both cousins being reunited in the heart of Silicone valley, San Jose, California. Gone are the fairy tales and myths they grew up with in Calcutta. Banerjee Divakaruni brilliantly describes the contrasts between the two worlds. Like in the first book there is lots of drama, love triangles, parts that are painful to read about.
However the ending is not satisfying at all and leaves the reader with a lot of unanswered questions. I sincerely hope that we will be treated to more stories of Anju and Sudha, because if this is how their story is going to end then I'd give this book 2 stars.
In the first book Sister of My Heart we met the cousins Anju and Sudha, born within hours from each other and raised as sisters in a huge, old mansion in Calcutta. We follow their coming of age, arranged marriages and their separation with Anju ending up in the States. The setting although realistic has a timeless mythical feeling to it.
This novel takes off where the other ends with both cousins being reunited in the heart of Silicone valley, San Jose, California. Gone are the fairy tales and myths they grew up with in Calcutta. Banerjee Divakaruni brilliantly describes the contrasts between the two worlds. Like in the first book there is lots of drama, love triangles, parts that are painful to read about.
However the ending is not satisfying at all and leaves the reader with a lot of unanswered questions. I sincerely hope that we will be treated to more stories of Anju and Sudha, because if this is how their story is going to end then I'd give this book 2 stars.
January 31, 2019
So beautiful, so beautiful. I’m overwhelmed by ‘The Vine of Desire.’ Every sentence, every word even, is loaded with meanings and elegance. It’s so emotional and passionate, painful and sensual... it is a novel to be felt and experienced. It brought back memories to me I’d forgotten for years, of infatuations and obsessions and the overarching motif of desire.
It’s the sequel to ‘Sister of My Heart,’ a book I adore beyond any other. And this one is as beautiful. As we travel from Calcutta to San Hose, as the cousins who love each other madly begin to live together, as men are attracted like magnets to one of the cousins, and all of their days are sewn together and unravel...
I was so moved. I felt a hundred different things for each of the characters, pity and impatience, affection and anger. The magic of the author’s language. It is unbelievable to me that someone can write in such minute detail, have words bloom like petals, pierce you with them like a scepter. One particular scene, where Anju begins transferring her anger to her kitchenware, nearly made me cry out loud.
It’s a work of great skill and sensibility, an exquisite and intelligent style that tells you everything and yet gives away nothing. Please tell me all, I beg. I want to hear, I must. The style combining letters and diary entries, stories and myths - engrossing as ever.
Lalit, I love you. You are the most attractive guy this amazing writer has created.
And Dayita - I would name my daughter that if I had any.
My soul is quenched.
It’s the sequel to ‘Sister of My Heart,’ a book I adore beyond any other. And this one is as beautiful. As we travel from Calcutta to San Hose, as the cousins who love each other madly begin to live together, as men are attracted like magnets to one of the cousins, and all of their days are sewn together and unravel...
I was so moved. I felt a hundred different things for each of the characters, pity and impatience, affection and anger. The magic of the author’s language. It is unbelievable to me that someone can write in such minute detail, have words bloom like petals, pierce you with them like a scepter. One particular scene, where Anju begins transferring her anger to her kitchenware, nearly made me cry out loud.
It’s a work of great skill and sensibility, an exquisite and intelligent style that tells you everything and yet gives away nothing. Please tell me all, I beg. I want to hear, I must. The style combining letters and diary entries, stories and myths - engrossing as ever.
Lalit, I love you. You are the most attractive guy this amazing writer has created.
And Dayita - I would name my daughter that if I had any.
My soul is quenched.
February 28, 2013
I loved this book! It is a continuation of Sister of my Heart. After Anju has a miscarriage, she is despondent and depressed. Sudha comes to America with her baby daughter, (her mother-in-law in India insisted that Sudha have an abortion because the baby was not a boy). Sudha had her baby at her mom's home in India, and then left for America to help her cousin, the "sister of her heart." Meanwhile, Sudha has to cope with Anju's husband's love for Sudha, a love that had emerged back in India during both cousins' marriage in the first novel. Sudha struggles with her own desires for her cousin's husband, a new man she meets in America, an Indian surgeon, who falls in love with Sudha and wishes to take care of her, and the wish to become independent from any man willing to take care of her. Each character's feelings in this novel runs deep and is described with detail by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It is easy for the reader to become intimately involved with each character, and understand the pain each one endures throughout the story. The reader also "feels" the experiences and thoughts of Indian immigrants, new, and not so new, to America. My eyes were blurred by the time I finished reading this story, I read to the end because I could not stop...
October 5, 2011
perempuan. kalau mengeluh dibilang tidak bersyukur. tidak bisa sabar. tidak bisa nerimo. padahal terkadang ia lelah menjadi tumpuan. yang tidak seharusnya. dan ia tidak bisa berbagi. tidak boleh membuka diri. ditanggung dan ditelan sendiri.
perempuan. dituntut menjaga diri. sempurna seperti cermin. bukan untuk dirinya sendiri, tapi untuk sekeliling. 'apa kata orang nanti?'. kebebasan yang didapat penuh syarat. tak mengindahkan hati.
perempuan. melawan dengan harga diri. mengombang ambing tak pasti. dipermainkan sana sini. untuk kehidupan satu perempuan mungil dalam pelukan. oh, apakah hidup hanya layak untuk laki-laki? ketika sahabat dan terdekat semua lari, ia tetap harus menjaga agar hatinya tak mati.
perempuan. dituntut menjaga diri. sempurna seperti cermin. bukan untuk dirinya sendiri, tapi untuk sekeliling. 'apa kata orang nanti?'. kebebasan yang didapat penuh syarat. tak mengindahkan hati.
perempuan. melawan dengan harga diri. mengombang ambing tak pasti. dipermainkan sana sini. untuk kehidupan satu perempuan mungil dalam pelukan. oh, apakah hidup hanya layak untuk laki-laki? ketika sahabat dan terdekat semua lari, ia tetap harus menjaga agar hatinya tak mati.
December 21, 2016
Sister of My Heart was amazing, wonderful, even magical. Although also very good, this sequel doesn't quite measure up. But it is in some ways more interesting -- both as a story and in the way it is told. The first book had alternating chapters from the two main characters' first-person POVs. This one has some of that, but also: epistolary chapters made up entirely (or primarily) of various people's letters, and occasionally including ones with a large X (so convincingly hand-written that I was initially steamed that my used-like-new book had something crossed out) -- first drafts not sent and followed by what was instead; third-person POVs; some of Anju's writing assignments (double-spaced, and complete with professor comments at the ends) from a sequence of different college classes; first-person POVs from other characters, including one whose chapters are full of "what I said" and "what I didn't say"; and some other very different chapters.
Set in 1994, the book also frequently brings up and relates to the plot various news events of the year. The one that comes up over and over is the entire sequence leading up to the OJ murder trial. (But not the trial itself, which occurred in 1995.) While I would not normally label a book set only about 20 years in the past (less than 10 at the time of publication) as "historical", this one earns that designation.
Set in 1994, the book also frequently brings up and relates to the plot various news events of the year. The one that comes up over and over is the entire sequence leading up to the OJ murder trial. (But not the trial itself, which occurred in 1995.) While I would not normally label a book set only about 20 years in the past (less than 10 at the time of publication) as "historical", this one earns that designation.
July 17, 2020
Buku ini adalah serial lanjutan kisah tentang Anju dan Sudha. Dua sepupu yang saling menyayangi, hidup terpisah selama bertahun-tahun, satu di India dan satu lainnya di Amerika. Menghadapi masalah pelik dalam hidup masing-masing yaitu kehilangan. Masalah mereka makin ruwet justru setelah mereka kembali bersatu dan tinggal dalam rumah yang sama.
Konflik perasaan, guncangan budaya dan perubahan diri dengan lingkungan yang berbeda membuat Anju dan Sudha harus memutuskan jalan hidup yang akan mereka lewati selanjutnya.
Konflik perasaan, guncangan budaya dan perubahan diri dengan lingkungan yang berbeda membuat Anju dan Sudha harus memutuskan jalan hidup yang akan mereka lewati selanjutnya.
July 12, 2008
I would read another novel by this author but this wasn't a favorite by any means. The author's wonderful rich & layer discriptive details are lost in the first 100 pages. It took me that long to truly get into the meat of the novel. There are short & strange movie/storie plot lines told in a Bollywood type manner which seem surreal & don't really add to the story. I was glad when the main character finally triumphed but felt like it took forever to read this book.
September 25, 2025
The Vine of Desire is the sequel to Sister of My Heart. I honestly cannot remember the last time I read a sequel to a book. I am not even sure how I feel about this one. Maybe I am just sad because of everything that unfolded. The first book ended on a note that was both hopeful and ominous, with shadows of what might come. The sequel carried more of that ominous weight than I expected. It made me wonder why we complicate our lives the way we do. We don't need to act out on all our desires, do we?
What I really want is a part three that focuses only on Anju and Sudha. No men from their past lives interfering. Lalit could be an exception, but that is all.
What struck me most was how the story unfolded in the Bay Area. It felt surreal to read about the characters moving through Sunnyvale, Milpitas, Berkeley, San Francisco, Daly City, 101, Mathilda Avenue etc. These are the same places I move through now, but their lives here happened thirty years ago. The overlap between their world and mine felt uncanny.
What I really want is a part three that focuses only on Anju and Sudha. No men from their past lives interfering. Lalit could be an exception, but that is all.
What struck me most was how the story unfolded in the Bay Area. It felt surreal to read about the characters moving through Sunnyvale, Milpitas, Berkeley, San Francisco, Daly City, 101, Mathilda Avenue etc. These are the same places I move through now, but their lives here happened thirty years ago. The overlap between their world and mine felt uncanny.
December 15, 2017
I picked this one without knowing this was a sequel. When I looked up online, most reviewer mentioned that it can be read separate, so I was relieved as I tend to skip if it’s a series unless I read this first book and loved it.
I’m contemplating how should I rate this book. Would I have had interest in the book if I already read the first book or it would remain the same.
This is my first novel by author Divakaruni. A blunt statement here! I was lost with the detailed illustrative. Most of the time I had very hard to imagine the scene. It became cloudy and was too slow for my liking. Took me long to get into the story.
The book involves with ones’ feelings, soul searching and most importantly how you move on from your past.
The main protagonists are Anju and Sudha two cousin @ BFF. Anju lost her unborn baby lives in California with her husband Sunil. Sudha with a new born baby has left her husband when it was revealed that she’s carrying a baby girl. Much to Sunil’s opposition, Anju invites Sudha to live with them.
I liked Anju’s character but I’m disappointed that she didn’t get the same attention as Sudha.
Sudha was portrayed as a typical typecast Indian woman but America have changed to a betterment. She grooms herself to be independent and follow as what her heart says. She wants to achieve and proof herself.
I believe this is what Divakaruni tries to convey through this story. One shouldn’t allow anyone to control how we should live our life. There’s no point making other’s happy but at the end we yourself are not happy. It’s important to dream and be ambitious. And most importantly to work towards it.
I likes this story but I didn't enjoy this one quite as much.
I’m contemplating how should I rate this book. Would I have had interest in the book if I already read the first book or it would remain the same.
This is my first novel by author Divakaruni. A blunt statement here! I was lost with the detailed illustrative. Most of the time I had very hard to imagine the scene. It became cloudy and was too slow for my liking. Took me long to get into the story.
The book involves with ones’ feelings, soul searching and most importantly how you move on from your past.
The main protagonists are Anju and Sudha two cousin @ BFF. Anju lost her unborn baby lives in California with her husband Sunil. Sudha with a new born baby has left her husband when it was revealed that she’s carrying a baby girl. Much to Sunil’s opposition, Anju invites Sudha to live with them.
I liked Anju’s character but I’m disappointed that she didn’t get the same attention as Sudha.
Sudha was portrayed as a typical typecast Indian woman but America have changed to a betterment. She grooms herself to be independent and follow as what her heart says. She wants to achieve and proof herself.
I believe this is what Divakaruni tries to convey through this story. One shouldn’t allow anyone to control how we should live our life. There’s no point making other’s happy but at the end we yourself are not happy. It’s important to dream and be ambitious. And most importantly to work towards it.
I likes this story but I didn't enjoy this one quite as much.
November 3, 2015
ok. saya lebih suka buku #1. tapi jejak membaca buku 1 sudah mulai menghilang ketika saya membaca buku ini. meski demikian, Divakaruni mau menceritakan ulang sebagian besar kusah di buku 1, dalam tiap sudut pandang Anju dan Sudha, 2 saudara sepupu yang kembali bertemu dalam perantauan mereka di Amerika, bersama Sunil suami Anju.
Jadinya, awal-awal memang membonsankan dengan kilas balik dari buku pertama. Dan saya baru bisa menikmati buku ini di sepertiga akhir buku ini, kira-kira.
Dan 1/3 akhir menceritakan sebuah kisah, dimana setelah konflik memuncak, ada sebuah hidup yang masih menunggu, bagibsetiap tokoh. Seolah-olah setelah diombang-ambing, mau tak mau di depan masih ada hidup yang harus dilakoni. Dan saya berani mengangkat jempol untuk bagaimana Divakaruni membuat kisah yang smooth yang bisa membalikkan penilaian saya.
Jadinya, awal-awal memang membonsankan dengan kilas balik dari buku pertama. Dan saya baru bisa menikmati buku ini di sepertiga akhir buku ini, kira-kira.
Dan 1/3 akhir menceritakan sebuah kisah, dimana setelah konflik memuncak, ada sebuah hidup yang masih menunggu, bagibsetiap tokoh. Seolah-olah setelah diombang-ambing, mau tak mau di depan masih ada hidup yang harus dilakoni. Dan saya berani mengangkat jempol untuk bagaimana Divakaruni membuat kisah yang smooth yang bisa membalikkan penilaian saya.
May 6, 2008
This is the sequel to Sister of My Heart, which I enjoyed. But I couldn't get through this one -- I confess I didn't try very hard. It just is too much in the heads of all the characters -- too psychoanalytical for my tastes. Too much angst, too much insecurity, too much "what do I do and who am I," too much reflection and not enough action. Although I wanted to see what happened to the characters that I liked in the first book, the answer ended up to be "not much" -- one woman's husband falls in love with her best friend who has come to live with her, and they all need to deal with the fall-out. Yup, got it in the first 20 pages.
July 26, 2014
I absolutely love this author - and that is the only reason I'm giving this two stars and not one.
Sister of my heart was a book I fell truly madly and deeply in love with. This sequel unfortunately is a bit of a stretch. The plot's gone weird, the characters feel like entirely different people and I couldn't finish the book because I was 80 pages in and nothing has really happened that's remotely interested me. The whole different country and different setting thing is just not working for me man. The writing is beautiful but feels forced as do the scenes.
I wish I had stopped at #1 which I will re read again and again.
Sister of my heart was a book I fell truly madly and deeply in love with. This sequel unfortunately is a bit of a stretch. The plot's gone weird, the characters feel like entirely different people and I couldn't finish the book because I was 80 pages in and nothing has really happened that's remotely interested me. The whole different country and different setting thing is just not working for me man. The writing is beautiful but feels forced as do the scenes.
I wish I had stopped at #1 which I will re read again and again.
March 20, 2008
It was a nice surprise when I realized the book in my hands was the sequel to one I just read. However, the two characters can't seem to pull it together in this one. If something is bothering me, I whine and complain and yell about it. I'm not proud of this quality, but it does keep certain things from happening
(SPOILER)
like my cousin sleeping with my husband.I don't quietly hope that things stay stable and that nothing too bad happens, so I had a really hard time understanding how Anjun and Sudha could be so quiet about important things.
(SPOILER)
like my cousin sleeping with my husband.I don't quietly hope that things stay stable and that nothing too bad happens, so I had a really hard time understanding how Anjun and Sudha could be so quiet about important things.
April 26, 2016
I liked this book, and I listened to it right on the tail of finishing book 1. It does a good job of retelling enough of 1 to provide context and remind a reader who waited a long time between books to remember important events that shaped this continuing story (without boring the reader who didn't.) I wanted to give it 3.5 stars because I enjoyed the writers style, but in some ways I found the plot to be a little too predictable. The author has a way of making it enjoyable anyway with her creative use of language. It was a quick read and a good read too. Enjoy!!
June 25, 2009
It's sounds tacky but Chitra's writing is like drinking a really good drink. You just keep taking sips. Honestly, I'm not always propelled by the plot, but I am always eager to just keep listening.
This book is about a love triangle between two best friends and one of the women's husbands. It sounds like a scandal but it's more about dealing with your feelings, who you are, the possibilities and moving on past mistakes.
This book is about a love triangle between two best friends and one of the women's husbands. It sounds like a scandal but it's more about dealing with your feelings, who you are, the possibilities and moving on past mistakes.
November 14, 2015
besides bathroom breaks and dinner (and an hour where i watched master chef australia), i basically read this book in one sitting. i've been craving this sequel since i finished sister of my heart and it didn't disappoint. it's 2 am right now and i'm very tired and emotionally exhausted so i'll write a more coherent and thorough review tomorrow. but for now, i really liked the book and i liked the ending, though i can see why some people wouldn't. it was enough closure for me.
February 7, 2017
Nothing spectacular compared to Sister of My Heart. Where the former had strong, varied characters, this fell a little flat. Severely disliked the long, unnecessary prose that failed to make sense. Having said that, it's an interesting read on putting self before others - a lesson that is hard to swallow for South Asian women - and living with the consequences.
July 28, 2007
I remember liking this one less than the books I'd already read by the same author...
April 9, 2008
I could have skipped this sequel. I liked the first one so much this was a disapointment.
March 30, 2020
It is breaking up, like the memory of an old promise you know you made but can't figure out why.
It is the year of incomprehensible losses, of unbelievable gains.
Is this the law of the world, that to go forward you must first step back?
I read it as a sort of standalone as I had forgotten most of the first book and that helped keep the disappointment at bay. I felt the sentences were overwrought, not a fan of the style of the writing but her stories. It was lovely to hear her speak at JLF where Forest of Enchantments was released - such a warm and sunny personality she has. Shobha De was the one asking her questions. I thought she would rip her to shreds but she was pleasantly polite and enthusiastic. Will wonders never cease?
One extra star for Lalit and Dayita. I loved the chapters which had Lalit's POV and oh the letters. Reading the letters in the book I realized that in the era of WhatsApp romances there are no letters. The antics of the baby Dayita growing up are my favourite bits in the book after wisecracking Lalit. He is a character for sure. Somehow the term class clown came to mind, how hard he tries to be joyous but my heart ached for him the most.
Why do people do the shit things they do? It offers no explanations but shows us their inner lives by which it's possible to arrive at a possible conclusion.
Infidelity
I have always hated the idea of extramarital affairs (emotional more than physical) so I was curious to see how it was addressed here. The author keeps it as real as possible but I'm not completely satisfied, and frankly I knew there won't be any easy answers (read answers to my liking) because my inner Victorian refuses to die an early death (thanks convent school education or should I blame my middle class morals). It's real and messy and filled with heartbreak. Thwarted desire and regret can still be lived with but what of the deed that's done just so that you get it out of your system. What about the scaring effect it has on the person you are doing it to? You call it love? I call it plain old lust.
Friendship
Also, it's never a good idea to come between women, especially if they grew up together or have been friends for a long time. They make up in their own way not just because their shared history far precedes the man in question but because it is so much more intimate. Years of shared confidences - there is nothing like it even when the friendship has run its course, the time they spent with each other remains true. It's usually the men who are left behind if they make a false move. In a world stacked against women this seems fair.
Sudha's anguish brought this on.
I am not locked in
I never was
I am free
always have been
I know this now
my youth taught me so much
about men and life.
You put me through the same anguish as you did her
longing isn't eternal
nothing is, you realize
everything comes with a best before date
things change
like seasons of love and indifference
does it really matter now
what it was.
It is the year of incomprehensible losses, of unbelievable gains.
Is this the law of the world, that to go forward you must first step back?
I read it as a sort of standalone as I had forgotten most of the first book and that helped keep the disappointment at bay. I felt the sentences were overwrought, not a fan of the style of the writing but her stories. It was lovely to hear her speak at JLF where Forest of Enchantments was released - such a warm and sunny personality she has. Shobha De was the one asking her questions. I thought she would rip her to shreds but she was pleasantly polite and enthusiastic. Will wonders never cease?
One extra star for Lalit and Dayita. I loved the chapters which had Lalit's POV and oh the letters. Reading the letters in the book I realized that in the era of WhatsApp romances there are no letters. The antics of the baby Dayita growing up are my favourite bits in the book after wisecracking Lalit. He is a character for sure. Somehow the term class clown came to mind, how hard he tries to be joyous but my heart ached for him the most.
Why do people do the shit things they do? It offers no explanations but shows us their inner lives by which it's possible to arrive at a possible conclusion.
Infidelity
I have always hated the idea of extramarital affairs (emotional more than physical) so I was curious to see how it was addressed here. The author keeps it as real as possible but I'm not completely satisfied, and frankly I knew there won't be any easy answers (read answers to my liking) because my inner Victorian refuses to die an early death (thanks convent school education or should I blame my middle class morals). It's real and messy and filled with heartbreak. Thwarted desire and regret can still be lived with but what of the deed that's done just so that you get it out of your system. What about the scaring effect it has on the person you are doing it to? You call it love? I call it plain old lust.
Friendship
Also, it's never a good idea to come between women, especially if they grew up together or have been friends for a long time. They make up in their own way not just because their shared history far precedes the man in question but because it is so much more intimate. Years of shared confidences - there is nothing like it even when the friendship has run its course, the time they spent with each other remains true. It's usually the men who are left behind if they make a false move. In a world stacked against women this seems fair.
Sudha's anguish brought this on.
I am not locked in
I never was
I am free
always have been
I know this now
my youth taught me so much
about men and life.
You put me through the same anguish as you did her
longing isn't eternal
nothing is, you realize
everything comes with a best before date
things change
like seasons of love and indifference
does it really matter now
what it was.
September 9, 2022
imo bardzo dobra książka
była trochę odskocznią od książek które czytałam w ostatnim czasie, ze względu na swój troszkę odmienny vibe
zakończenie było w porzadku, niezbyt zadziwiające, jednak miałam nadzieje na efekt wow
batdzo podobały mi się sformułowania ktorych używała autorka, szczegolnie w prologu
fajnie napisana, zawierała pare małych szczegółów dotyczących np stylu tekstu lub kompozycji które mimo ze nie zmieniają wiele na tle całego dzieła, to ja zwróciłam na nie uwagę i uważam ze sa dosyć ciekawe ( np. rozdziały podzielone na podczęści w stylu „co powiedziałem” „czego nie powiedziałem” „co chciałem powiedzieć” „co ona mogłaby powiedzieć” )
rozdziały same w sobie były dziwnie napisane, ale nie odbierało jej to uroku ani nie przeszkadzało w czytaniu wiec na luzie
jedna z niewielu książek w której nie związałam sie praktycznie z żadna postacią
mimo ze postacie były dobeze wykreowane, dobrze przedstawione, autorka dobrze ukazywała emocje z którymi mierzyli się bohaterowie i takie tam to nie bylam w stanie prawdziwie poznać tych bohaterów ani, no nie wiem, przywiązać sie do nich; i nie bardzo rozumiem dlaczego
aczkolwiek ksiazka sama w sobie bardzo mi sie podobała, mimo ze jest to druga część serii ktrorej pierwszej części nie czytałam :p
była trochę odskocznią od książek które czytałam w ostatnim czasie, ze względu na swój troszkę odmienny vibe
zakończenie było w porzadku, niezbyt zadziwiające, jednak miałam nadzieje na efekt wow
batdzo podobały mi się sformułowania ktorych używała autorka, szczegolnie w prologu
fajnie napisana, zawierała pare małych szczegółów dotyczących np stylu tekstu lub kompozycji które mimo ze nie zmieniają wiele na tle całego dzieła, to ja zwróciłam na nie uwagę i uważam ze sa dosyć ciekawe ( np. rozdziały podzielone na podczęści w stylu „co powiedziałem” „czego nie powiedziałem” „co chciałem powiedzieć” „co ona mogłaby powiedzieć” )
rozdziały same w sobie były dziwnie napisane, ale nie odbierało jej to uroku ani nie przeszkadzało w czytaniu wiec na luzie
jedna z niewielu książek w której nie związałam sie praktycznie z żadna postacią
mimo ze postacie były dobeze wykreowane, dobrze przedstawione, autorka dobrze ukazywała emocje z którymi mierzyli się bohaterowie i takie tam to nie bylam w stanie prawdziwie poznać tych bohaterów ani, no nie wiem, przywiązać sie do nich; i nie bardzo rozumiem dlaczego
aczkolwiek ksiazka sama w sobie bardzo mi sie podobała, mimo ze jest to druga część serii ktrorej pierwszej części nie czytałam :p
April 27, 2021
Actual rating: 2.5
Read this book on my quest to incorporate more WoC (and POC in general) into my reading list. Unfortunately, this book is bad. The writing is bad (jam-packed with similes, metaphors, and general floweriness) and the plot doesn't seem super original. It's basically a worse version of Jhumpa Lahiri's the Lowland. However, the second half did lift the book when Sudha started actually doing things and taking initiative.
Don't recommend, however -- I definitely do whole-heartedly recommend the Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri.
Read this book on my quest to incorporate more WoC (and POC in general) into my reading list. Unfortunately, this book is bad. The writing is bad (jam-packed with similes, metaphors, and general floweriness) and the plot doesn't seem super original. It's basically a worse version of Jhumpa Lahiri's the Lowland. However, the second half did lift the book when Sudha started actually doing things and taking initiative.
Don't recommend, however -- I definitely do whole-heartedly recommend the Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri.
June 23, 2017
Brilliant storyline, excellent narration and real life characters. This is the best book by Chitra Divakaruni I have read so far.
She is undoubtedly a very talented story writer. But here what I loved even more was the diversity of literary techniques she employed. Letters, dreams, assignments, the alternate voice of prominent characters. You name it and she has used it in this novel. A novel par excellence. Highly recommended. My rating 4.5
She is undoubtedly a very talented story writer. But here what I loved even more was the diversity of literary techniques she employed. Letters, dreams, assignments, the alternate voice of prominent characters. You name it and she has used it in this novel. A novel par excellence. Highly recommended. My rating 4.5
January 8, 2024
I loved Sister of My Heart and was excited to read this sequel. While I love Chitra’s beautiful writing, the book didn’t work for me unfortunately.
The story in this book is supposed to be a continuation of the first one but it took a weird direction, and the characters that I’d grown to love in book one felt like completely different characters (and not in a good way) here. There’s just too much angst and insecurities in this one.
The story in this book is supposed to be a continuation of the first one but it took a weird direction, and the characters that I’d grown to love in book one felt like completely different characters (and not in a good way) here. There’s just too much angst and insecurities in this one.
December 2, 2024
Not nearly as good as the first one unfortunately. Beginning is incredibly slow and repetitive, but things pick up about 3/4 of the way in and after that I couldn’t put the book down. Her writing was beautiful in the first novel, but fell off a bit in this one (overuse of metaphors).
Sadly, the story makes you hate a lot of the characters who were loveable in the first book. A lot of selfishness from characters established as selfless. In conclusion, men are the worst creatures to walk earth.
Sadly, the story makes you hate a lot of the characters who were loveable in the first book. A lot of selfishness from characters established as selfless. In conclusion, men are the worst creatures to walk earth.
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