Foreign

[Martha]

I read a great deal of literature by non-Americans and even translated non-English lit, but I think I had a hard time getting into this story because of the many difficult religious concepts and political concepts that drive the activities of the book. I didn't know why the Hindus could eat chicken tandoori but not steak or why others were vegetarian, and I did not understand the nature of the political uprising. The degree to which each character was westernized in terms of British influences and British thought, and the degree to which that influence caused everything from ambivalence to hatred to affection was also puzzling. I know only the bare minimum about the British colonial era in India and how it reverberates today (in a very modern book about a very non-modern place).

I liked the life of Biju more -- his struggles of trying to make it in a new country, and the terrible pain of being out of one's element in a new culture, while at the same time being desperately poor, was a thing many more people can relate to. I think that as much as the author loved talking about the adventures of Sai, she really has more of a heart for Biju.

[Bernice]

I could not finish this book and I seldom leave a book unfinished. Somehow I could not relate to any of the characters, nor did I have an interest in how their lives turned out.