William Morrow
ISBN: 978-0062105769
Published June 19, 2012
Trade paperback, 336 pages
I have mixed feelings about this book.
I liked reading about the dilemma that two young Indian-Americans,
Rasika and Abhay, faced when dealing with their culture's traditions
and pressures, but I disliked Rasika's character and was frustrated
throughout my reading of this novel. Rasika is a twenty-five year-old
beautiful woman, living at home in a wealthy family. She comes across
as vain, spoiled and aloof. Abhay is a smart young man who doesn't
know what he wants to do with his life, much to the disappointment of
his father. Although he has nothing in common with Rasika, who thinks
he is not good enough for her, he falls in love with her and pursues
her even as she agrees to an arranged marriage with a suitor chosen
by her parents.
It quickly becomes clear that Rasika
doesn't know how to deal with the pressure of an arranged marriage.
The only reason she agrees to it is because she will have the ideal
husband—handsome, well-educated, and doting. She thinks she has
good values because she has grace, dresses well and is beautiful.
However, she is promiscuous and has short-lived relationships with
men to get away from the pressures of her parents. This is what she
does with Abhay too. She sleeps with him and then wants nothing to do
with him because she doesn't want her parents to find out about her
double life, and besides, he is from a different caste and therefore
would never be accepted by her parents as an acceptable husband.
Abhay, on the other hand, understands
why Rasika acts the way she does, why she is so messed up, and even
though he knows she only used him for sex, he still wants her. I kept
wondering what would make these two get together in the end, if at
all, since they were so different and it would take a big change in
Rasika's way of thinking to even accept Abhay as an acceptable mate
by her standards. The ending, although a happy one, was disappointing
to me as a reader because the author took the easy way out where
Rasika did not have to deal with her problem. Instead, a situation
took care of that and the ending was too neatly tied up with a big
red bow.
There was no resolution for me, just a
quick-fix ending. The only reason that kept me reading this book was
the psychological aspect of how children from two cultures deal with
being from two different worlds. Okay, Rasika's coping mechanism
is destroying her, so how does she finally confront the cause of her
dilemma? How does she change? How does she grow as a person? Would
she resort to the same tactics when things would get difficult in the
future? None of this is clear by the end of the book.
So although I enjoyed the setting and
the Indian culture, I had mixed feelings when reading this book, especially at the end when things became convenient for everyone.
And I'm still trying to figure out the book's title, if that expression is significant in the Indian culture.
Note: This book is rated S = sex scenes. There are sex scenes in this
novel, however, not at all explicit.
You can read more reviews on the TLC Book Tour page.
I will count this book toward the following challenges: Reading the World Challenge
About the author:
The daughter of Indian immigrants, Jyotsna Sreenivasan was born and raised in Ohio. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines and she has received literature grants from the Washington, D.C., Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The author of several nonfiction books published by academic presses and the creator of the online Gender Equality Bookstore, she lives in Moscow, Idaho, with her family. This is her first novel.
Connect with the author here: Website | Facebook | Twitter
Jyotsna will discuss And Laughter Fell From the Sky on Book Club Girl on Air on Wednesday, July 18th at 7 pm ET.
Reviewed by Laura
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