You Bring the Distant Near

by Mitali Perkins

Told in alternating teen voices across three generations, You Bring the Distant Near explores sisterhood, first loves, friendship, and the inheritance of culture-for better or worse. Fans of Nicola Yoon's The Sun Is Also a Star will find a lot to love in this literary tour de force.

From a grandmother worried that her children are losing their Indian identity to a daughter wrapped up in a forbidden biracial love affair to a granddaughter social-activist fighting to preserve Bengali tigers, Perkins weaves together the threads of a family growing into an American identity.

Here is a sweeping story of five women at once intimately relatable and yet entirely new.

• ISBN10: 0374304904
• ISBN13: 9780374304904
• Publish Date: 12 September 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 23 December 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Yeah, I am crying again -- happy tears, I swear! That was really special. I just wanted to stay with the Das women forever!
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This was such a beautiful multigenerational story, that carried us through forty years of fierce Das women. I fell in love with this family, and just didn't want the book to end.

•Pro: This was a heartfelt look at a family's history. We celebrated with the Das family, as well as grieved with them. We experienced their joy and their pain.

•Pro: Getting to spend so many years with these women allowed me to form an extremely detailed picture of who they were. We watched Tara and Sonia grow up, and we also saw Mrs. Das evolve.

•Con: I would have liked a little more of Shanti and Anna's story, but it's just because I really cared about what happened to them.

•Pro: I loved all the cultural aspects Perkins shared with us. I found so many of the traditions quite lovely, but what I really adored, was my trip to Bangladesh! Perkins did such a great job bringing us there with her descriptions of the sights and sounds, smells and tastes.

•Pro: Yes, I loved the sensory part of my trip to Bangladesh, but I really loved what happened to Tara when she was there. I could not wipe the stupid, sappy grin off my face for quite a while after that part.

•Pro: There were a lot of interesting ideas about race and culture explored. I especially connected with Shanti. When she said, "I'm not BLACK enough for SOME people. I'm not INDIAN enough for OTHER people," it struck a chord with me as my daughter is biracial, and was often considered not asian enough.

•Pro: I really appreciated the pro-American sentiment in this book. The current climate makes me quite sad, because I am first generation, and was raised to appreciate how my family benefited from coming to the US. This country is not perfect, but we are afforded a lot of privileges that one cannot have in other places. It was nice to see that this was acknowledged in the story.

•Pro: I just never wanted it to end. I could read about these women until I mourned each of their deaths. They were just such wonderful characters.

Overall: A gorgeously written tale of five fierce women intertwined with thoughtful observations on culture and race from multiple perspectives, which I am so happy to have read.

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[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: This book is so beautifully written! And so close to my heart. The immigrant and third culture kid experiences don't feature often in YA fiction, so I'm extra happy You Bring the Distant Near does these justice. It's about the lives of five Bengali girls and women in New York, covering three generations within their family over the span of several decades. It was interesting to see how much changed and how much didn't.

The book was broken down into various sections focussed on the varying perspectives in different stages of the characters' lives. I think it's great that that included girls from young through to their adult years and even the perspective of a grandmother trying to come to terms with where is home. I loved reading about how they tried to fit in, make friends and yet not betray their identities and cultures. Props for including a biracial character as well!

Some parts reminded me of my own experiences, such as enrolling in new schools and having to fight for my place not just with peers but the administrations too. Then there's the disconnect with pop culture, and self-consciousness over my accent. Also, being perceived to be of particular races I didn't identify with. While my own parents never prized lighter skin colours over darker ones, I did experience that with parents of my friends, who ironically, didn't like me because even though my father was white and they weren't, they decided I was too dark/tanned, and so, didn't think I was good enough to be in the company of their children.