Of all the family gatherings in her childhood, one stands out in Amina's memory. It is 1979, in Salem India, when a visit to her grandmother's house escalates into an explosive encounter, pitching brother against brother, mother against son.
In its aftermath, Amina's father Thomas rushes his family back to their new home in America. And while at first it seems that the intercontinental flight has taken them out of harm's way, his decision sets off a chain of events that will forever haunt Thomas and his wife Kamala; their intellectually furious son, Akhil and the watchful young Amina.
Now, twenty years later, Amina receives a phone call from her mother. Thomas has been acting strangely and Kamala needs her daughter back. Amina returns to the New Mexico of her childhood, where her mother has always filled silences with food, only to discover that getting to the truth is not as easy as going home.
Confronted with Thomas's unwillingness to talk, Kamala's Born Again convictions, and the suspicion that not everything is what it seems, Amina finds herself at the centre of a mystery so tangled that to make any headway, she has to excavate her family's painful past. And in doing so she must lay her own ghosts to rest.
It's not very often that I find a book the keeps me up all night to finish it. With a job, two very busy children...I just don't have the time or energy anymore. So when I do find a book that compels me to continue reading lost past my bedtime and into the wee hours of the morning (3AM, to be exact), I find myself absolutely joyous (if a bit exhausted).
I had heard wonderful things about this book, but what I heard pales in comparison to actually reading it. It goes back and forth from the past to the present in order to not only describe the life of new immigrants to the United States, but to also explain what is happening and why. The characters are so finely tuned that they were real within the story - I laughed in parts, I cried in parts, and I was truly sad to have to say goodbye to them. They aren't perfect - each has their own trials, their own strengths and weaknesses...but they make do, push past, and live (and love) large.
To me, this book is more about family - its strengths and its weaknesses - than anything else. Family can simultaneously lift you up and throw you down harder than anyone else. Sometimes, when one makes a choice absolutely inscrutable to everyone one, family will be all you have left. So far, I would have to say this is my favorite book of the year - and I don't often say that (I tend to be one who has too many likes to come up with a favorite) lightly. This is also a book that you could come back to over and over again for the nuances that will change as you do. I can't recommend this book strongly enough - it's heartbreaking in its beauty and in its humanity.
