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Rescuing Ranu
"I would lay down my life for two brothers or eight cousins "-- W.D. Hamilton, Hamilton's Rule After Amma's health stabilizes, (see Shiva's Arms) Nela goes to India on sabbatical and is drawn into the lives of ten year old Ranu, the cunning motel-keeper who exploits her, and an unscrupulous Uncle who believes that everything is for sale. Nela's transformation from abstract thinker to selfless guardian begins when she and her lover Jackson rescue Ranu from child trafficking. Nela takes Ranu back home, where her cousin and colleague Ashoke has sabotaged her--stealing her work, and now intercepting her mail, cutting her off from Jackson. The couple manages to reconnect despite the interference, and make plans to reunite as soon as he finishes setting up his sanctuary for rescued child-brides. While she waits for him, Nela builds her career, winning accolades. Her ongoing success is assured, and Ashoke once again tries to sabotage her.
Nela learns that Jackson has been captured by the same people he had been helping and her hair turns white overnight. She makes plans to go back to India to find him, but before leaving, she turns the tables on Ashoke and has him fired. His response is to confess to a long-held family secret. Continuing on her changed course with this new information, Nela must confront her miscalculations about sacrifice, survival, and the mysterious alchemy of love.
Nela learns that Jackson has been captured by the same people he had been helping and her hair turns white overnight. She makes plans to go back to India to find him, but before leaving, she turns the tables on Ashoke and has him fired. His response is to confess to a long-held family secret. Continuing on her changed course with this new information, Nela must confront her miscalculations about sacrifice, survival, and the mysterious alchemy of love.
103 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 16, 2009
44 people want to read
About the author
Cheryl Snell
42 books34 followersReviews of my books: http://cherylsnell.blogspot.com
When I married into a Hindu Brahmin family, I began to write seriously as a way to penetrate the protocol of another culture. My novels, Shiva's Arms and Rescuing Ranu explore South Indian life, particularly the stage referred to as samsara.The term haunted me for awhile— samsara--the sibilance of a word that can connote drowning. I had been reading Indian writers—Lahiri, Desai, Divakaruni-- and was drawn to the stories of immigrant families thrashing in their domestic seas. The plight of characters who straddle two continents, the lives they make here, and the families they leave behind, raised the question: when one belongs to two cultures, which part of a divided self goes, and what stays? It's a recurring question in my work.
Besides my novels, I have written eight other books. Most recently, my poetry was chosen by Dorianne Laux for inclusion in the Best of the Net Anthology, and one of my collections of poetry, Prisoner's Dilemma, won the Lopside Press Chapbook Competition. When I'm not writing, I like to cook in the Indian idiom, and I play a mean classical piano.
When I married into a Hindu Brahmin family, I began to write seriously as a way to penetrate the protocol of another culture. My novels, Shiva's Arms and Rescuing Ranu explore South Indian life, particularly the stage referred to as samsara.The term haunted me for awhile— samsara--the sibilance of a word that can connote drowning. I had been reading Indian writers—Lahiri, Desai, Divakaruni-- and was drawn to the stories of immigrant families thrashing in their domestic seas. The plight of characters who straddle two continents, the lives they make here, and the families they leave behind, raised the question: when one belongs to two cultures, which part of a divided self goes, and what stays? It's a recurring question in my work.
Besides my novels, I have written eight other books. Most recently, my poetry was chosen by Dorianne Laux for inclusion in the Best of the Net Anthology, and one of my collections of poetry, Prisoner's Dilemma, won the Lopside Press Chapbook Competition. When I'm not writing, I like to cook in the Indian idiom, and I play a mean classical piano.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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July 18, 2009This is very intelligently written so a complex subject seems very real.I learned about culture and tradition of another country and the drastic impact of cross cultural transitions. Excellent book.
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January 14, 2020This is the second volume of the author's Bombay Trilogy.
After a power struggle at her university, math professor Nela Sambashivan returns to her native India to think. She is drawn, instead, into the lives of ten year old Ranu, the cunning motel-keeper who exploits her, and an unscrupulous Uncle who believes that everything is for sale. Nela's transformation from abstract thinker to selfless guardian begins when she and her lover rescue Ranu from a forced marriage, but only when tragedy befalls her mate does Nela confront her miscalculations about sacrifice, survival, and the mysterious alchemy of love.
After a power struggle at her university, math professor Nela Sambashivan returns to her native India to think. She is drawn, instead, into the lives of ten year old Ranu, the cunning motel-keeper who exploits her, and an unscrupulous Uncle who believes that everything is for sale. Nela's transformation from abstract thinker to selfless guardian begins when she and her lover rescue Ranu from a forced marriage, but only when tragedy befalls her mate does Nela confront her miscalculations about sacrifice, survival, and the mysterious alchemy of love.
December 16, 2010
“How can we tell whether a bird is being chased or leading?” asks Nela, trying to analyze the motion she sees in the sky. Author Cheryl Snell leads her readers to view the world through different eyes in this intricate novel, Rescuing Ranu, and her story is a delight to follow.
Flying home from India, Nela sits next to a westerner on the plane and muses on math and the importance of seeing someone’s eyes. Sitting together in a car, two mathematicians smile, “You iterate and I converge.” Mathematician that I am, I’m hooked. But lyrical descriptions of Indian tradition are equally enticing, and pages pass in a fire-fly dance of otherness, belonging and story.
The author conveys the passion of mathematical mystery just as beautifully as that of love, and opens the worlds of university, India and mathematics to delightful scrutiny. But Jackson and Nela don’t just come from different geographical places. The mystery of family ties and separation fuel their relationship too, and Nela’s relationships with her future, job and students.
Particularly impressive is the author’s ability to include Indian words and concepts without need for obvious explanation. Images flow naturally and vividly with powerful emotions. The scene shifts; one leads, one follows, and in India little Ranu flits, sometimes young, sometimes old, on a path that skirts disaster. Perhaps love plots the turning shape of the graph.
In the end, a story that starts on one part of a circle ends on another, but the circle’s the same, unbroken despite the distance it lies across. Nela completes her best work, and hope and story survive. Lyrical in scope, in symbolism, and in plot, Rescuing Ranu is like making sense of mystery without all the answers; a novel that feels balanced, right and new, with a delightful sense of the old.
Disclosure: Rescuing Ranu was offered as a free download for a short period in September, and I was delighted to acquire another of Cheryl Snell’s books.
Flying home from India, Nela sits next to a westerner on the plane and muses on math and the importance of seeing someone’s eyes. Sitting together in a car, two mathematicians smile, “You iterate and I converge.” Mathematician that I am, I’m hooked. But lyrical descriptions of Indian tradition are equally enticing, and pages pass in a fire-fly dance of otherness, belonging and story.
The author conveys the passion of mathematical mystery just as beautifully as that of love, and opens the worlds of university, India and mathematics to delightful scrutiny. But Jackson and Nela don’t just come from different geographical places. The mystery of family ties and separation fuel their relationship too, and Nela’s relationships with her future, job and students.
Particularly impressive is the author’s ability to include Indian words and concepts without need for obvious explanation. Images flow naturally and vividly with powerful emotions. The scene shifts; one leads, one follows, and in India little Ranu flits, sometimes young, sometimes old, on a path that skirts disaster. Perhaps love plots the turning shape of the graph.
In the end, a story that starts on one part of a circle ends on another, but the circle’s the same, unbroken despite the distance it lies across. Nela completes her best work, and hope and story survive. Lyrical in scope, in symbolism, and in plot, Rescuing Ranu is like making sense of mystery without all the answers; a novel that feels balanced, right and new, with a delightful sense of the old.
Disclosure: Rescuing Ranu was offered as a free download for a short period in September, and I was delighted to acquire another of Cheryl Snell’s books.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews