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The Inheritance of Loss
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The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai - 4 stars
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I read this awhile ago and still remember thinking "Where is this going?"I wanted to like it more than I actually did.
Booknblues wrote: "I read this awhile ago and still remember thinking "Where is this going?"I wanted to like it more than I actually did."
Yes, me too. I ended up learning a lot about Indian history in the Kalimpong region, and it is beautifully written, but the narrative is all over the place.
I enjoyed this when I read it 15 years or so ago, but now, reminded by your review, I wonder if I'd like it as much. I, too, need a tighter story structure nowadays to keep my interest. Wonder if this is a reaction the the chaotic times we're living in.
I liked it a lot and have a high tolerance for wandering stories, but this one seemed to lose a little of its punch through such a loosely knit storyline. It could be the chaotic times. Nowadays, I find I read more non-fiction and perhaps the reason is that it is more focused. Good thought.
Judge Patel, his granddaughter, Sai, and a cook live in a formerly grand, now dilapidated, house in the shadow of the Himalayas, near the border of India with Nepal. Their personal stories are set against a backdrop of political unrest in the Kalimpong region in northeastern India. The cook’s son, Biju, has emigrated to the United States and has stayed without a green card. He obtains one menial job after the next, is treated poorly, and ultimately decides to make a significant change.
This is an ambitious book that tries to blend many themes and stories together. We have Sai’s love/hate relationship with her tutor, a robbery that ties into the political situation, and the backstories of almost every character, including several ancillary characters. I was engaged at the beginning of the book but, with all the competing storylines, it bogged down a bit in the middle.
The writing is strong. It does not contain an overarching narrative arc that sustains the whole. It is more of a patchwork quilt including themes such as colonialism, sect-related prejudices in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, the tribulations of illegal immigrants in the US, and class-related injustices. I can say I enjoyed reading it for the cultural aspects and the descriptions of the landscape and life in this remote region, but I prefer a storyline that is a little more tightly focused.