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Lingering Tide: and other stories
Honourable Mention, San Francisco Book Festival, General Fiction, 2012 These poignant stories finely depict the lives of immigrants, through the themes of family adjustment, loss, and starting afresh in a new place. Set in suburban Toronto, New Jersey, Texas, and India, they draw out the conflicts in three generations of Indians whose lives interconnect even as they straddle the old and the new. What we sense is both the anguish of loss and the thrill of discovery. Viswanathan's quiet prose imparts powerful emotions that ring true, and her rendering of cultural clash is truly skillful and nuanced. The depiction of her characters' interior lives is so full and vital that they breathe and walk off the page. The reader is drawn in and completely absorbed into her world of transitions.
155 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2011
26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 22, 2019
While there were two stories from this collection that I really liked ("Eclipse" and "Cool Wedding"), the prose overall was not for me. I'm personally not a reader who is drawn to stories for beautiful language alone, and I felt in this collection that the language (too poetic for me) was trying to mask bland stories. I didn't feel the spontaneity, the urgency, or the connection with these characters that I wanted to feel.
November 25, 2023
"Bee Mind Lotus Bud" what a story!
June 17, 2012
For more reviews and to see what I thought of this book's cover, check out my blog, {Bookish Comforts}!
Want to travel around the world, experiencing different cultures and meeting engaging people? Well then Lingering Tides and Other Stories by Latha Viswanathan may be just the book for you! Lingering Tides is a collection of Viswanathan’s short stories (some previously published elsewhere) that focus on the lives of various Indian characters, from Canada to India, dealing with an array of life’s issues, from growing up or old, to falling in love, and life’s hardships.
At first I had a bit of difficult getting into the various stories - each one focusing on a different character, their family, and setting. I don’t often read short stories so it took a bit of getting used to the change in pace and styling, as the writing, styling and point of view changed from story to story. It also seemed much less like a short story (with a beginning, middle and end) and more like snapshots of the various character’s lives. Once I was able to get used to the the format of the book, I was drawn in by many of Viswanathan’s characters and immersed in their stories.
Each story introduces the reader to a different cast of characters and each has a different theme. Some were funny, others were full of happiness, sadness, and excitement. I definitely cared for some stories and characters more so than others (some where a bit hard to follow), but each was full of rich, vivid descriptions and characters that were complex, full and practically breathing they were so well developed. The diversity in the book was great, and is really reflective of the author’s own experiences, having lived and worked in India, London, Manila, Montreal, Toronto and the United States, all common settings throughout the collection.
When I was deciding whether to read this collection, I did an initial search and read various reviews where the story titled “Peanut Brittle” was clearly many reader’s favourite piece overall. The reviews gushing about this one story was actually a major part in my decision to read Lingering Tides. However, while I really enjoyed the beautiful, heart wrenching story of an elderly neighbourhood woman whose love of peanut brittle has a backstory that goes beyond just having a sweet tooth, I don’t think it was my favourite in the end. The story I enjoyed the most was “Good Wedding”. “Good Wedding” tells the story of Shoba, a middle aged Indian woman living in Houston with her family, and is the format of a letter that she is writing to her sister back home. Shoba was such a loveable character! She was hilarious, and had a great personality. I loved all her rhyming and mixing up of Indian and American sayings and slang. It felt like she was sitting at your table, telling you all the latest gossip! The story wasn’t all light hearted though - you could also feel her frustration and disappointment with her young teenagers attempts to try not to bring attention to their heritage and blend in, taking part in American tradition. I really just fell in love with the family, and would have read an entire book based on Shoba and her husband and children!
Overall, while I may not be a newly converted reader of short stories, I did enjoy many of the glimpses into the various characters that Latha Viswanathan has created in Lingering Tides and Other Stories. Finally, I think Lingering Tides can have a wide array of appeal - from those interested in adult fiction, to those just interested in expanding their own horizons and trying something a bit different that isn’t exploitive or stereotypical.
Want to travel around the world, experiencing different cultures and meeting engaging people? Well then Lingering Tides and Other Stories by Latha Viswanathan may be just the book for you! Lingering Tides is a collection of Viswanathan’s short stories (some previously published elsewhere) that focus on the lives of various Indian characters, from Canada to India, dealing with an array of life’s issues, from growing up or old, to falling in love, and life’s hardships.
At first I had a bit of difficult getting into the various stories - each one focusing on a different character, their family, and setting. I don’t often read short stories so it took a bit of getting used to the change in pace and styling, as the writing, styling and point of view changed from story to story. It also seemed much less like a short story (with a beginning, middle and end) and more like snapshots of the various character’s lives. Once I was able to get used to the the format of the book, I was drawn in by many of Viswanathan’s characters and immersed in their stories.
Each story introduces the reader to a different cast of characters and each has a different theme. Some were funny, others were full of happiness, sadness, and excitement. I definitely cared for some stories and characters more so than others (some where a bit hard to follow), but each was full of rich, vivid descriptions and characters that were complex, full and practically breathing they were so well developed. The diversity in the book was great, and is really reflective of the author’s own experiences, having lived and worked in India, London, Manila, Montreal, Toronto and the United States, all common settings throughout the collection.
When I was deciding whether to read this collection, I did an initial search and read various reviews where the story titled “Peanut Brittle” was clearly many reader’s favourite piece overall. The reviews gushing about this one story was actually a major part in my decision to read Lingering Tides. However, while I really enjoyed the beautiful, heart wrenching story of an elderly neighbourhood woman whose love of peanut brittle has a backstory that goes beyond just having a sweet tooth, I don’t think it was my favourite in the end. The story I enjoyed the most was “Good Wedding”. “Good Wedding” tells the story of Shoba, a middle aged Indian woman living in Houston with her family, and is the format of a letter that she is writing to her sister back home. Shoba was such a loveable character! She was hilarious, and had a great personality. I loved all her rhyming and mixing up of Indian and American sayings and slang. It felt like she was sitting at your table, telling you all the latest gossip! The story wasn’t all light hearted though - you could also feel her frustration and disappointment with her young teenagers attempts to try not to bring attention to their heritage and blend in, taking part in American tradition. I really just fell in love with the family, and would have read an entire book based on Shoba and her husband and children!
Overall, while I may not be a newly converted reader of short stories, I did enjoy many of the glimpses into the various characters that Latha Viswanathan has created in Lingering Tides and Other Stories. Finally, I think Lingering Tides can have a wide array of appeal - from those interested in adult fiction, to those just interested in expanding their own horizons and trying something a bit different that isn’t exploitive or stereotypical.
June 15, 2012
I'm a sucker for fiction that details Indian culture and the struggles and triumphs of people of Indian descent navigating American life. I haven't read as much on the subject as I would like to, but Jhumpa Lahiri is among my favorite authors for the painful beauty infused in her stories of Indian-American life.
Because of this I was excited to read Lingering Tide and Other Stories by Latha Viswanathan. By and large I was not disappointed. Lingering Tide is a collection of 12 stories that detail the struggles and triumphs, big and small, of Indian citizens and immigrants. One story follows an aging Indian engineer's failing attempts to revive interest in a local Hindu temple with a variety of gimmicks, and another story focuses on the blossoming relationship between mother and daughter as they learn to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity. Many of the stories are vastly different in plot, but they are tied together through rich, detailed prose and a deep empathy for the widely varying characters. No character escapes sharp scrutiny, and yet it is impossible to thoroughly dislike even the most impossible of crusty old men or defiant women, for while they are described with an unflinching look at their deepest character flaws, their vulnerabilities and propensity toward good are always given a moment to shine.
The greatest strength in this collection of stories is the thickly atmospheric detail; reading each story, one can feel the heavy silk of a woman's hair, smell the cloying scent of gardenias wafting through an open window, hear the wailing strains of a sitar. Reading these tales is like taking a sensory trip to India, and one can understand the deep love that the characters have for their home and understand the hesitance of some characters to adapt to life in modern America.
Yet at the same time, modern America is not presented as an obstacle or a villain to be overcome. It is not portrayed as a necessary evil, but rather as something that is simply foreign to the immigrants; full of it's own culture and wonders and beauty, but often confusing and intimidating to an outsider. In the end, more often than not the characters are able to revel in small personal triumphs that positively reinforce the value of family and of honoring one's roots but also of embracing the uncertain future.
While these stories were beautiful and the detail made them an absolute delight to read, at times the detail got in the way of the plot and I found it very difficult to understand what was happening. Some paragraphs I had to reread several times to understand what had just taken place.
If you are a lover of short stories, stories about India or simply about good, real people overcoming obstacles with reflection and a healthy dose of humor, I encourage you to pick up Lingering Tides and Other Stories. It reads like a love letter to both America and India, a testament to the strength of the human spirit, and the power of a tightly-knit family.
Because of this I was excited to read Lingering Tide and Other Stories by Latha Viswanathan. By and large I was not disappointed. Lingering Tide is a collection of 12 stories that detail the struggles and triumphs, big and small, of Indian citizens and immigrants. One story follows an aging Indian engineer's failing attempts to revive interest in a local Hindu temple with a variety of gimmicks, and another story focuses on the blossoming relationship between mother and daughter as they learn to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity. Many of the stories are vastly different in plot, but they are tied together through rich, detailed prose and a deep empathy for the widely varying characters. No character escapes sharp scrutiny, and yet it is impossible to thoroughly dislike even the most impossible of crusty old men or defiant women, for while they are described with an unflinching look at their deepest character flaws, their vulnerabilities and propensity toward good are always given a moment to shine.
The greatest strength in this collection of stories is the thickly atmospheric detail; reading each story, one can feel the heavy silk of a woman's hair, smell the cloying scent of gardenias wafting through an open window, hear the wailing strains of a sitar. Reading these tales is like taking a sensory trip to India, and one can understand the deep love that the characters have for their home and understand the hesitance of some characters to adapt to life in modern America.
Yet at the same time, modern America is not presented as an obstacle or a villain to be overcome. It is not portrayed as a necessary evil, but rather as something that is simply foreign to the immigrants; full of it's own culture and wonders and beauty, but often confusing and intimidating to an outsider. In the end, more often than not the characters are able to revel in small personal triumphs that positively reinforce the value of family and of honoring one's roots but also of embracing the uncertain future.
While these stories were beautiful and the detail made them an absolute delight to read, at times the detail got in the way of the plot and I found it very difficult to understand what was happening. Some paragraphs I had to reread several times to understand what had just taken place.
If you are a lover of short stories, stories about India or simply about good, real people overcoming obstacles with reflection and a healthy dose of humor, I encourage you to pick up Lingering Tides and Other Stories. It reads like a love letter to both America and India, a testament to the strength of the human spirit, and the power of a tightly-knit family.
June 11, 2012
This, and other reviews can be found on my blog Just a Lil Lost
Lingering Tide is a collection of 12 short stories, told in different styles with different characters and circumstances. The only connecting factor is that they are stories about Indian immigrants, in all facets and moments in their lives. From stories about first generation children to dealing with grief within a culture and its accompanying traditions.
While I’m not as in tune with the Indian culture as others may be, I was able to enjoy the different views this collection of short stories provided. Being a first generation child of immigrants myself, it was really interesting to see how different and culturally shocking life can be to those who grew up in a certain way of life. In that respect, I was particularly drawn to the short story entitled Third Eye, where it discusses that very subject and having such different generations collide.
Admittedly, there were some stories where I couldn’t quite follow easily what was going on, and although I know they are short stories, some of them seemed to end quite abruptly. There were some that I would have preferred to keep going a bit longer, and others that I thought was dragging on a bit. That being said, Viswanathan has a beautifully poetic writing style. Her narrative and prose just dance off the pages with vivid detail and description. At only 155 pages, Lingering Tide is a heart-warming, heart-breaking and eye-opening read for everyone.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ (3/5 stars)
Lingering Tide is a collection of 12 short stories, told in different styles with different characters and circumstances. The only connecting factor is that they are stories about Indian immigrants, in all facets and moments in their lives. From stories about first generation children to dealing with grief within a culture and its accompanying traditions.
While I’m not as in tune with the Indian culture as others may be, I was able to enjoy the different views this collection of short stories provided. Being a first generation child of immigrants myself, it was really interesting to see how different and culturally shocking life can be to those who grew up in a certain way of life. In that respect, I was particularly drawn to the short story entitled Third Eye, where it discusses that very subject and having such different generations collide.
Admittedly, there were some stories where I couldn’t quite follow easily what was going on, and although I know they are short stories, some of them seemed to end quite abruptly. There were some that I would have preferred to keep going a bit longer, and others that I thought was dragging on a bit. That being said, Viswanathan has a beautifully poetic writing style. Her narrative and prose just dance off the pages with vivid detail and description. At only 155 pages, Lingering Tide is a heart-warming, heart-breaking and eye-opening read for everyone.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ (3/5 stars)
May 27, 2012
Beautiful suite of stories about life of immigrants in America. All focus on the inner life, the adjustments to strange new worlds. The stories are subtle d the "events' of them are marvelously interior and exquisite.
She is very good and the stories, such as the title, and Cool Wedding, are comparable to the best works by Bharati Mukerjee, and others.
Read these stories. They are diamonds, objects of contemplation.
She is very good and the stories, such as the title, and Cool Wedding, are comparable to the best works by Bharati Mukerjee, and others.
Read these stories. They are diamonds, objects of contemplation.
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February 25, 2016kindle - stories
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews