The World We Found

by Thrity Umrigar

“Stunning . . . . This is a novel that rewards reading, and even re-reading. The World We Found is a powerful meditation.” —Boston Globe

Thrity Umrigar, acclaimed author of The Space Between Us and The Weight of Heaven, returns with a breathtaking new novel—a skillfully wrought, emotionally resonant story of four women and the indelible friendship they share

As university students in late 1970s Bombay, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta were inseparable. Spirited and unconventional, they challenged authority and fought for a better world. But over the past thirty years, the quartet has drifted apart, the day-to-day demands of work and family tempering the revolutionary fervor they once shared.

Then comes devastating Armaiti, who moved to America, is gravely ill and wants to see the old friends she left behind. For Laleh, reunion is a bittersweet reminder of unfulfilled dreams and unspoken guilt. For Kavita, it is an admission of forbidden passion. For Nishta, it is the promise of freedom from a bitter, fundamentalist husband. And for Armaiti, it is an act of acceptance, of letting go on her own terms.

The World We Found is a dazzling masterwork from the remarkable Thrity Umrigar, offering an unforgettable portrait of modern India while it explores the enduring bonds of friendship and the power of love to change lives.

Genres: Fiction, India, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Asia, Friendship

392 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2012

About the author

A journalist for seventeen years, Thrity Umrigar has written for the Washington Post, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and other national newspapers, and contributes regularly to the Boston Globe's book pages. Thrity is the winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize, a Lambda Literary award and the Seth Rosenberg prize. She teaches creative writing and literature at Case Western Reserve University. The author of The Space Between Us, Bombay Time, and the memoir First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood, she was a winner of the Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University. She has a Ph.D. in English and lives in Cleveland, Ohio. (from the publisher's website)"

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrity Umrigar is the internationally renowned author of The Space Between Us, an impressive tale of class and family in India. In the World We Found, she widens her domain while still writing about caste, class, religion, relationships between women and the need to make difficult choices in life.

Amraiti, Kavita, Laleh, and Nishta were close friends in college back in 1970s Bombay (Umrigar’s birthplace). The world in which they lived was vibrant and dangerous. With great optimism that they could effect meaningful change and make their world a far better place, they were bound to each other, sharing politics, demonstrations, idealism, and mutual affection.


Thrity Umrigar - image from The Daily at Case Western Reserve

Decades passed and their lives changed. One married an American and is living in the States. One is still in the closet, but getting closer to opening the door. One is married to a very successful businessman, and struggles to cope with her youthful idealism in a realistic world. And one is caught in a stifling marriage, hidden beneath a burkah. When now-American Amraiti learns that she has terminal cancer, and seeks to gather her friends together one last time, this offers the friends the prodding they need to examine the lives they have led, reconnect with each other and consider where they want to go in the years ahead.

The World We Found is a long-view coming of age tale, (coming of middle age?) not the usual metamorphosis from child to adult but the arrival at a certain place much later in life from the place inhabited, in a time long past, by young adults. Here in the 21st century, four middle-aged women trace their passage from there to here. They look at the events that shaped their lives, the decisions they made, and the values they held then in light of decades of experience. Does who we are remain the same?

One character says that “misery was the connective tissue that bonded humans to each other.” There was certainly that with these four, but there was more. If difficulty was an element in the friends’ bond what happens when that challenge is overcome, sidestepped, or forgotten? What happens when a friendship is no longer nourished? Can it be revived?

Umrigar uses a very wide stage for her characters. There is particular attention to religious pogroms in India, in both the 20th and 21st centuries. One character visits Czechoslovakia before the fall of the Berlin Wall and what she sees changes her life, and the lives of those around her. We see Amraiti and her family living in the USA. Both men and women are injured in Indian street violence, but the victims are targeted for different reasons and choose far different solutions. Spiritual directions are portrayed, from Hindu to Islam to Parsi to atheism

I was very pleased to see that Umrigar paid attention to her male characters as well. The Muslim man, Iqbal, who wants his wife to wear the burkha is not portrayed as a wild-eyed fanatic, but has a very heart-rending story that explains a lot about who he became, and why he espouses what most of us consider extreme views. The successful business man is shown not only as someone who can cope in the world of money, but as someone who uses his skills for helping others as well, someone who is caring, and who has a spiritual life. People here, male and female, are confronted with difficult situations and are challenged to make moral choices.

Umrigar has offered some images of times that will not be familiar to most western readers. That certainly adds to our appreciation of the complexity of Indian history. But mostly, she has offered an outstanding group of well-developed, interesting characters. You will care about what decisions they make. You will want to know more about what happens to their lives after their page-bound tales end. Umrigar also promotes the idea that our lives are worth examining. Socrates would be pleased. The World We Found finds a great writer at the top of her game. You will find this world one worth exploring.


Reviews of other books by Thrity Umrigar
-----The Space Between Us - 2008
-----The Weight of Heaven - 2009
-----Everybody’s Son - 2016
-----The Secrets Between Us - 2018
-----Honor - 2022

[Alena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this through First Reads and finished it in one day because I never wanted to put it down. I don't know what it is about books by Indian writers, but they seem more lush and intimate to me than many American or British authors.
Here Umbrigar is exploring the bonds forged by 4 women who came of age in the tumultuous India of the 1970s. 30 years later an illness brings them together again. As you would expect, there are lingering dramas, unclaimed passions and misunderstandings. All those issues are handled deftly by the author as she shifts narrators among, not just the four women, but some of their husbands as well.
She explores the cultural differences among these friends, both in light of their idealistic youth, and from the perspective of "middle age." Muslim, Parsi, athiest, wealthy, American -- all these labels come into play without being stereotyped.
Well done.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This definitely wasn't my favorite Thrity Umrigar book. I did read it to the end, just to find out what happened. Although unlike others before me, I thought the characters were well filled out, and even interesting and varied. I did find it dragged on a bit, and I found the airport scene disturbing and unresolved, and felt I was left hanging at the end, especially about Iqbal's sister, who risked so much to help her sister-in-law. I think there could be a sequel to this novel, and I would probably read it. I think I gave it 3 stars, as it was sort of a dark novel to me, I didn't REALLY like it, nor did I love it, so Three stars meant: I liked it, but that's it.
Just a pet peeve of mine: Why do reviewers think they need to tell the whole storyline of a novel when giving a review? It is not meant to be a book report! I never read those reviews in their entirety because they ruin the book for me. Just give your opinion, what you liked and didn't like, but not the whole damn story. Just sayin...

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traditional attitudes still linger in India, but they're not held equally in all quarters of Indian society. Some Indians are more liberal than many Americans, while others cling desperately to the old ways and steep themselves in fundamentalist practices. Thrity Umrigar highlights that clash between the old and the new in this story of renewed friendships in modern Bombay.

Laleh, Kavita, Armaiti and Nishta were fast friends and fellow revolutionaries in their Bombay college days 30 years ago. Now they've mostly lost touch, and their lives have diverged greatly, leaving them with little in common but a shared history. When Armaiti reaches out from America with news of cancer and a dying wish to have them all together one last time, they reconnect and prove that the sisterhood stands stronger than ever.

The contrasting experiences of these four women reflect the complex challenges facing a nation caught between the past and the present.

Laleh enjoys a marriage of equals with Adish, her college sweetheart.
Kavita is a successful architect. She is a lesbian, happy in her current relationship and aching to reveal her authentic self to her old friends.
Armaiti is the deserter. She's the one who ran off to America, and worse yet, married an American.
Nishta also married her college sweetheart, but Iqbal is no longer the liberal socialist she married. He has returned to his fundamentalist Muslim roots. He keeps Nishta on a short leash, essentially a prisoner in their home.

Nishta's plight becomes pivotal as the friends race against time and Armaiti's imminent death. This is where Laleh's husband Adish really shines, faced with divided loyalties and possessed of a chivalrous heart. Can he live up to his old reputation as "Mr. Fix-It" and come through for them one more time?

The World We Found has a lot to recommend it. Character development is superb. The presentation of modern Bombay's paradoxes is nuanced and fascinating. The book even has some expertly-paced suspense that will keep you turning pages right up to the end. Some readers may find the regularly shifting points of view distracting. It does at times interrupt the fluidity of the story, but Umrigar handles the transitions more deftly than many contemporary authors.

The essence of this story is that there are no friends like old friends. Neither changing fortunes nor the distance between us can break those bonds.

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the late 1970s, four women friends were politically active students in Bombay. Thirty years later, Armaiti has terminal cancer and wants the other three women to fly to her home in America for a bittersweet reunion. Laleh lives a comfortable life in Bombay with her successful husband and their children. Kavita, who has a secret relationship, is finally at peace with her lifestyle. Nishta, a Hindu woman who converted to Islam at her husband Iqbal's request, has become a virtual prisoner in her home since he became deeply religious. Iqbal turned to fundamentalism after Bombay's Moslems were beaten, murdered, and forced from their homes and jobs in 1993.

Umrigar tells about their politically active student days when they protested against injustice, and the world they found now. India had gone through many social changes in those thirty years. Although there has been improvement, there is still widespread discrimination against people of certain social classes, religions, and gender. Some husbands still treat their wives like second-class citizens. The author shows us a slice of life in India through the lives of the friends and their spouses.

The final pages of the book are rather open-ended. While the college friends may not have the burning idealism of their youth, they are still willing to help someone in a meaningful way thirty years later.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this story of female friendship, Armaiti has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, and wants to see her good friends. Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta went to college with Armaiti in the 1970s in India, and they still live in Mumbai. In college, they were idealists, protesting for a better India, which they believed could be realized through Socialism. They lost contact with Armaiti when she moved to the States. They contact each other, and decide to travel together, with the exception of Nishta, who is now called Zoha. She is Hindu, and married her Islamic college sweetheart. He has become more religious due to events that occurred during the Muslim-Hindu clashes that took place in the 1990s. He forbids her to travel, and the ensuing issues bring the friends together. The storyline examines friendship, love, religious differences, and the influences of the past on the present.

The four women, now in their fifties, look back on the changes and regrets in their lives. Armaiti married a wealthy American, and they have since divorced but he is extremely supportive during her illness. Laleh has married a well-to-do Parsi man, who also knows the college friends. Kavita is an architect, who has decided to introduce her same-sex partner to her friends. Nishta's once-Socialist husband has become a conservative Muslim who follows strict religious guidelines.

While each of the friends’ backstory is portrayed, it focuses on Nishta’s struggle to break free of a repressive situation, and how she handles many conflicting emotions. Umrigar is one of the best at writing about friendship. I have read several of her other books and friendship is an ongoing theme. The storyline flows smoothly and does not go in predictable directions. In addition to the story of friendship, it also examines the changes in Indian society since the 1970s, and in particular focuses on Hindu-Muslim relations.

[Adite · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish there was a rating between "It was ok" and "I liked it". Maybe a 2.5 stars... an "I liked it in parts."

First what I loved about this book. I LOVED the premise of the book. How four friends (Laleh, Kavita, Nishtha/Zoha) connect with each other when one of them (Armaiti) is dying of cancer. I loved the fact that it is set in 1970s Bombay, a city in which I was growing up at the same time. I loved how it touches upon issues that we tend to sweep under the carpet, such as the compromises that we make with our ideals, the easy justifications, how we deal (or rather prefer not to deal with) our prejudices. I loved the evocative descriptions of Armaiti's feelings (and her inner world) as she inexorably inches towards death.

As for the parts that didn't appeal to me -- I thought the author missed out on a huge opportunity, given its great premise, to let the friendship evolve into something more real, more dramatic, more intensely-felt. The friends never have anything but love for each other. Also, the characters remain kind of stuck in the past, they don't really evolve with the 'world that they found', and even when they reject the past (as Armaiti rejects her old college-days ideologies), this rejection comes not from powerful, viscerally felt emotions or observations or situations, but wishy-washy situations. The only character that feels real and changes/evolves/grows (even if it is in a negative way) is the character of the Muslim guy, Iqbal. Nishtha's character arc of a liberal Hindu girl who falls in love with and marries her Muslim college mate, Iqbal, could have been more powerfully rendered, but instead the author falls into the trap of exploring her dilemma in a cliched way. But most disappointing of all is Laleh (the protagonist) who perhaps has no character arc whatsoever. The sub-plot of Kavita's lesbian relationship felt forced and unreal.

Overall, I was hugely disappointed at the missed opportunities and the potential of telling a real, dramatic story set in the hugely dramatic times of 1970's and 1990's Bombay.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a terrifically engaging read. Covers so many different aspects of life, like friendship, political activism, how and why people change, how they lie to themselves to stay with something that is not working. This book could have easily been maudlin and sad, concerning a group of four women who had been great friends and had drifted apart yet come together again when one falls ill, but instead it is a poignant and interesting story. Taught me things I didnt know, about Bombay, India and the 1993 riots between the Hindus and the Muslims, about the Indian culture and how important the little things in life are. Now I need to go back and read previous books by this author because her writing as quite won me over.

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my. What a powerful and moving read! I read this somewhat reluctantly for a book group, fearing it would be just another meandering 'women's friendship' tale, albeit with an exotic setting to add some interest, but it was SO much more than that! I'll never think of the tensions between social classes and religious groups in India (or other parts of the world) in the same way again. I didn't have to like the frustrated muslim husband Iqbal to understand the rage his situation engenders; and my easy western identification with Laleh and her kind, wealthy husband Adish didn't make their casual sense of entitlement any less horrifying. Other readers have complained that the ending was unsatisfying: I think it was just right -- perfectly appropriate that the story literally closes 'up in the air.' The tension of the last pages had me literally on the edge of my seat, and I expect I'll spend days brooding over what the most likely outcomes could be. We're meant to realize that this story is far from over, and to THINK about consequences.

[Larraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I missed one of the finest novelists I've read in a long time. Having just finished this wonderfully compelling and beautifully written novel (which I read in less than two days because I was virtually unable to put it down!), I realize that I have found an author who I will want to go back and read everything she has written. I'm already making a mental note to look for her next book.

We meet four women now approaching 50 who have grown apart. One moved to the United States and married a well-off American. Two of the women are still in touch. They have all lost touch with the fourth who married a Muslim in defiance of her family. Now one of the women is dying and wants to see her friends one more time. As the women come to grip with the news that their friend is dying, they remember their college years together. The dying woman also remembers and wants to see them just one more time.

The things we thought we knew, the things that were black and white when we were young - what happens to them? "Life happens." What a wonderful, joyful, sad, and exhilarating statement. Ms. Umrigar knows that nothing is simple. Life isn't simple.This is one of those books with so many layers of thought and ideas. It would make for an extremely lively book club meeting - one that might even go late in the night!

Ms. Umrigar knows how to weave a skillful narrative about these four women against a backdrop of class, money and political power. Life is messy and glorious. It's a good lesson told in a joyful way.

[Emily Cait]

Without spoiling anything: not sure if Umrigar was trying to start a discussion about how Muslims are depicted/expected to behave with Iqbal OR if this is actually Umrigar's idea of how Muslim men treat women (there are no other Muslim men in the book to offer an alternative POV).

Not sure how I feel about this book yet. Perhaps research + a re-read will help decide.

[Kim Fay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my third of three installments of reviews of books by new (to me) writers I encountered at the Tucson Festival of Books. I was on a panel by Thrity and was enthralled as she discussed her novels. When I read "The World We Found," I was impressed by the tenderness shared by the characters. They felt real to me, with many flaws, but at the same time I liked how Thrity focused on the soft place in their hearts ... and by this I do not mean their weaknesses. This is the story of four idealistic women who went to university together in Bombay in the late 1970s; they drift apart and decades later, one is dying of cancer (this is not a spoiler), and she wants to reunite with her friends before she dies. The obstacle is that one of the women's husbands has become a religious extremist over the years and scarcely lets his wife leave the house; the possibility of her flying to America to see her dying friend is out of the question. Told from multiple points of view, the novel takes readers on the journey each woman (and two of their husbands) made from youth to middle age. I appreciated that when it came to events of major consequence in the women's lives, Thrity did not overwrite. Some of the most devastating moments are given only a few paragraphs, or even sentences, and yet this somehow makes them stronger and more memorable -- they linger on the edges of the story, coloring everything that's taking place in the present day. This is definitely a good book club book. I'm looking forward to reading more of Thrity's books.

[Dana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. FINALLY, after too many weeks, finished THE WORLD WE FOUND, by Thrity Umrigar. Dull, anticlimactic, annoying. The premise was great: 4 women who were great friends in college in India 30 years ago, are about to be reunited at the request of the one of the 4 who moved to America. That 1 has a terminal brain tumor and wants them all to be together again. The book ends before they are all together in America, and we are left not knowing when or if she dies. One of the women in India, a former hindu radical, is now married to a very conservative muslim who forces her to wear a burka and to cut off all ties with her past. Her only hope to get to America (will she stay there forever?) is to escape in a dangerous cat and mouse scene. Another of the women has a modern marriage but fears she is the cause of her friend's brain tumor. I could go on, but won't bother. I normally LOVE the Indian writers. Not this time. I forced myself to finish, but there was no satisfaction in doing so.

[Tessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
This book was just okay. I really enjoyed reading Umrigar's other book (The Space Between Us) and it's stuck with me, even a year later. Compared to SPU, this book felt kind of light and simplified. The characters were not as compelling--possibly because there are so many of them--and the plot took a long time to get off the ground. I thought that this was going to be about their time in America but it really is not: the book ends when they are just getting on the plane. It instead focuses on the time leading up to the trip, which was okay but not what I was expecting.

I'm not expecting to remember this book or really think about it again. It held my interest while I was reading it but it was not as hard-hitting as The Space Between Us.

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

a middle-aged woman who immigrated from india to the u.s. for college has been diagnosed with an inoperable terminal brain tumor. she decides that she wants to see her three best friends from her youthful days as a socialist revolutionary again before she dies. two of the friends are easily found. one is a successful, if closeted, architect. the other seems to have no job other than a weekly volunteer gig at a women's shelter, but she is all feisty & independent & leading a very comfortable life of privilege with her husband, whom everyone calls mr. fixit because he can fix any problem.

the big problem the women have is tracking down the fourth friend, nishta. they know she married her revolutionary boyfriend iqbal, & it was a big deal because iqbal was muslim (although secular) & nishta was hindu. but no one has heard from nishta in years.

the two women still in bombay, kavita & laleh, visit nishta's parents' house to ask if they have heard from her. nishta's parents were very disapporiving onf her marriage to iqbal & when they say they cut off ties, they really mean it. but nishta's mother does give them an envelope nishta sent her, with a return address.

they find nishta living in a muslim slum, living with a muslim name (zoha), still married to iqbal, who has become extremely religious. he makes her wear a burkha & adhere to muslim customs. they explain about the sick friend, but nishta says iqbal would never allow to her to go. lelah decides it is their duty to help free nishta from iqbal so they can all go to the united states & see their friend. she sends her husband to convince iqbal to let nishta go, but instead iqbal explains why he has become so pious & protective (some might say abusive) toward nishta. it has to do with all the discrimination he faced as even a secular muslim, & i guess i am missing something big about religion & indian culture because i don't understand how someone would know someone was "born muslim" unless they said so. i mean, it's a religion, right? maybe names are a signifier? i don't get it. a lot of what iqbal describes as "unbearable abuse" he suffered for being muslim doesn't really sound like that big a deal either. mostly people saying stuff like, "hey iqbal, did you sacrifice a goat before you came to work today?" i mean, that's definitely not cool, it's really ignorant, but it doesn't really seem worth quitting your job & moving your entire family, including parents & siblings, to a slum, forcing the women to wear burkhas, & forcing your sister into an arranged marriage with a man fifteen years older than her. iqbal was apparently also traumatized by riots in which many muslims were slaughtered by hindus. that is a lot more understandable...but everyone else in his family was also traumatized by the riots & they weren't forcing anyone to live in slums as a result. he keeps harping on how he was just trying to keep everyone safe, & everyone is alive, so i guess he accomplished his mission, but...

the bottom line here, i think, is just that the writing isn't that good. the whole narrative hinges on the fact that iqbal has made a remarkable transformation, from a freewheeling young revolutionary to a pious & controlling islamic stereotype. this is contrasted against the transformations other characters have made, from determined & idealistic young activists to wealthy, privileged middle aged liberals, i guess. iqbal's tranformation was supposedly triggered by the fact that he was of a marginalized identity that couldn't be overcome through sheer force of will, while the others were able to drift back into their safe, comfortable lives because they were privileged already. i totally get what the author was going for; i just don't think it was entirely earned. the way iqbal treats his wife & his sister is justified again & again by the discrimination he has faced as a muslim, but...his wife & sister are muslim as well (nishta converted) & are arguably facing the same degree of discrimination on that front, plus they're putting up with iqbal's rather breathtaking levels of abuse.

at the end of the book, when laleh's husband invokes his privilege in order to thwart iqbal in pretty much the most fucked up possible way, i found myself less taken with the contrast & death of idealism among these characters & more just kind of disgusted with everyone & all out of sympathy. & although the book starts with the premise that a woman has a brain tumor & wants to see her friends one last time (with many asides about how kavrati was always secretly in love with this friend & may finally admit it & see what happens), the book ends before the friends are reunited. in fact, many loose ends are left dangling, which makes it even more difficult to invest in the characters & their journeys.

& the writing...oof. i haven't read metaphors this labored since the last time i checked out some of the bulwer-lytton fiction contest entries. it reads rather like an undergraduate creative writing assignment before the first round of workshopping. give this one a pass.

[Radhika]

We are of the thought that India has turned modern in the turn of this century. Ms Umrigar's story relates to the India of the 1960 and it was amazing to know that the problems that exist now did exist then too but the manifestations were different. It had a different hue to it. People who were rich enjoyed the privileges and had the power and the right circumstances to make decisions and the middleclass still struggling to uphold values over anything else.

Five friends Armaiti who left behind her ideology when the crassness of reality made her abandon her idealistic ideas to bring about change in India and went to America.Laleh marries her college sweetheart from her own community and leads a real good upscale life. Nishta from a conservative society rebels and marries across culture. Kavita who is the brillant of all, is an succesful architect but hides her sexual preference has her own tale to tell.

These four friends had a real wonderful realationship of the soul.They lose contact when life takes them on their journeys and seperate ways only connecting when Armaiti is diagonised with brain cancer and has just few months to live

The power of their relationship still holds as each tries to look out for the other friends and there a beautiful tale is weaved by the author of a changing and not so changing India, of values , religions, uncertainities, circumstances. A very vivid description of the warm India. Friends who go all the way and ready to take risks to get life better. A story of love, religion, family and all the dynamics that make India what it is!!!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years friends have pressed books by Indian authors on me and my resistance has been firm and unyielding. I think I feared tales of poverty and oppression and just didn't want to face subjects that I perceived to be total downers. But this week the light turned on; the earth moved; and my unreasonable bias lifted--all thanks to the grace and charm of Thrity Umrigar's physical presence and luminous writing.

I attended an author lunch (featuring her new book) with reserve. I enjoy hearing any author talk about their work, but often choose not to read their book. This was different. She spoke easily and colloquially about her upper middle class life in India, but also about her life in America and the absolute joy she experienced as a graduate student in this country. I knew from her talk that the book would be warm and accessible and it drew me in from the first chapter.

The book is full of both pain and pleasure as she draws together an estranged group of best friends from college who have seen little of each other in the past 25 years. Umrigar writes about the enduring gift of true friendship while also introducing the far more explosive themes of power and control---in society and in family.

I was totally engaged in this book from the first chapter to the end---and, finally a cover quote that you can believe: "her memorable characters will live on for a long time." Certainly they will for me.

[Kali · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't look to this book to teach you anything authentic about India, Bombay or even young college-going youth in the 1970s which is where the four women Laleh, Kavita, Nishta and Amraiti are supposed to have forged their bond. Characters seriously lack dimension and the story-line is silly. The two Parsi protagonists are very (upper) middle class Mumbai and imho pretentious.

The characters go to college (and presumably obtain a nondescript 'degree') only as a waystation en route their ordained position in the social strata of the city.

Provides some insight into Parsi life-style and customs since the author is Parsi but none at all into Hindu (or Christian) except for silly remarks about Parsis being the best of the Indian 'minorities". Yeah, right!

The Muslim community in Mumbai has hatred and prejudice (and again ignorance) poured on it although this is done somewhat cleverly to hide the inherent bigotry . This is done to pander to Indian and US readership at this point in history, no doubt. Ka-ching!

Also gratuitous, ignorant insults towards Germans and a caricature for "Ingrid" the German lesbian. Give me a break...

[Alison Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the usual Indian novel. It explores the adult results of four idealistic students in Bombay, confronting modern dilemmas 30 years on : impending death by brain tumour / lesbian sexuality in conservative India / Muslim/Hindu conflict in India / enforced purdah on Muslim wives; Muslim fundamentalism. Despite the list of heavy topics, novel was engrossing and very readable. see full review on my blog http://despatchesfromtimbuktu.wordpre...

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this lady can really write! This is the second book of hers that I’ve read and there are 2 more on my shelf. I can't wait to get to them. I agree that it’s a dazzling masterwork. She has a great writing style, is wise and so real. I can’t stop thinking about the different characters and the choices they made. I highly recommend this book.

[l · Rating 3 out of 5]

liked the book though had issues with the portrayal of Iqbal given that the other major male characters in the book were presented as almost ideal. something to think about.

[Charlotte Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Ms. Umrigar's books and this was one of her best to me. My 5th book of hers to read and it wasn't a dissapointment. Loved the book loved the characters, everyone of them.
The story is mainly about four good friends that in growing up have lost touch with each other until one who has terminal cancer wants to see her friends one more time. The story then takes off and you hear the stories of all the characters fleshed out and how they come to terms with their lives and all the years in between. I loved this story sad but revealing the innermost thoughts and feelings of friends and family. The loyalty the coming of age as an adult. Even the two men characters were engaging. It is not just a womans story.
Highly recommended.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hindu vs Muslim conflict both in war and in personal lives is highlighted here in this story of love lost and freedom found. The author certainly has a way with words that brings her characters and India alive page after page.

Lesbians again find their way into this group of women she writes about, my only objection is her intimate detail of their sexual liaisons. TMI

This is my second book by this author and I’ll be looking forward to reading more. Both books seemed to me that they were just crying for a sequel to be written. 😢

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Four college friends who were social and political activists in India now lead vastly different lives. They reconnect when one reaches out for their support after decades apart. The story focuses largely on Nishta, who converted to Islam and now finds herself trapped by the restrictions of her religion and demands of her devout husband. As always, the author paints subtle portraits of each character with their conflicts and flaws and gives insight into the culture and times. I didn’t find this book as compelling as several others she wrote, but it’s still good.

[Sana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 if this book was 300 pages longer then it would be 5/5 but otherwise it was perfect.
im going to cry i miss my college friends so much!!!! friendship is beautiful

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. An engaging read, but I wanted more at the end.

[Sabina Feder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please read this. I’ve never read a book with such fully rounded characters. Umrigar did an insanely fantastic job at making everyone intensely human- their thoughts, flaws, relationship to the world. Also a nuanced portrayal of the politics in India in the 1970s. I will be reading every other book she has written

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lalah, Kavita, Nishta and Armaiti were inseparable all during their college years when they worked together in India on socialist and humanitarian causes, played the guitar and sang, demonstrated, and flirted with boys. Together, they went from being girls of seventeen to young women of twenty-two. It is now thirty years later when this book opens and Armaiti is in the United States and dying. She has just found out that she has an inoperable brain tumor and her last wish is to have her three friends fly to the U.S. from India and be with her before she dies. Though they have not been in touch much over the last decades, the memories and bonds of friendship have remained strong and infused with love.

Lalah has married Adish, a successful businessman of her own class. Together, they have built a family and remain much in love. Lalah was a true spirit to be reckoned with when young and she retains that impulsivity and idealism that were her currency in youth. They live in a luxurious high-rise in Bombay and have two teen-aged children. Lalah has regressed into some magical thinking. When they were young, she did not participate in a march that Armaiti was in and during that march, Armaiti got hit in the head and suffered a concussion and some amnesia. Lalah thinks this is the reason for Armaiti's brain tumor and that if she'd been at the march as planned she could have somehow protected Armaiti. She blames herself.

Kavita is single and a successful architect in Bombay. She had a long-held crush on Armaiti that she never told Armaiti about and she is still pretty much in the closet. She does have a German lover who she does business with and they are in love. For most of the world, however, Kavita, plays the role of the successful single woman and a spinster, caring for her mother who is ill.

Nishta married Iqban, a Muslim. In their early years together, she had high hopes of transcending social taboos in India and making this marriage work despite the fact that she is a Hindu and comes from a higher class. Marrying Iqban cost her her parents and they have not talked to her for thirty years. Iqban has forced Nishta to convert to Muslim and wear a burqa, even getting her name changed to a more Muslim sounding one. Her life is like a jail. She cares for her mother-in-law who watches what she does and where she goes. She is terribly unhappy.

Armaiti went to graduate school in the U.S. and met her husband, Richard, there. Five years ago they divorced because Richard had an affair though they remain the best of friends. They have a college age daughter, Diane, to whom both Richard and Armaiti are very close. Armaiti is in love with life and coming to terms with dying is very difficult for her. What keeps her going is looking forward to the reunion of the four friends at her home.

There are some wonderful scenes of India and the novel provides information about the classes, religions, political uprisings, employment and educational system. My only quibble with the book is that it is too repetitive and some of it would be better off edited out. The novel is interesting, the character development fine, and I enjoyed it very much. I did not like it as much as The Space Between Us: A Novel (P.S.) but it's a close second.

[Vaidya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this work. A story of four middle-aged people, four friends from college, thrown back once more as one of them lies dying in the US. Their lives collide changing them, and in some cases, changing their lives forever.

The story of Iqbal was interestingly handled. Liberal, atheist, in love with a Hindu woman. But soon realises that how sees the world has nothing to do with how the world sees him - as a Muslim man who's committed the biggest sin of marrying a Hindu woman. Hounded by society, traumatised by the '93 riots he retreats into his community, into his religion, which works fine for him. Except that, along with him he drags his wife along, who had married him assuming he wouldn't do exactly that.

The novel starts moving like a thriller towards the end, which is a bit of a complaint from me. It starts off as a sensitive tale of 6 young folks, their relationships, the way they see their worlds and are shaped by it, as much as they start out young and wanting to shape the world around them as per their views. Although the ending doesn't take much away, it could've been a bit more sensitive and less of a pot-boiler.

This is my first book of Umrigar. I hope to read more of her next year.

[JudithAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Armaiti, an Indian woman who moved to the US years ago and is married with a daughter, discovers that she has a brain tumor and not long to live. She invites her old friends to come and visit before she dies. The friends haven’t been in contact with each other for about twenty years. Since they went to university together and were all involved in student protests, these are the people Armaiti would most like to see again.

The three friends, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta, live in India. The former two are independent women, rich enough to afford the trip. They have some trouble locating Nishta, but find her in a Muslim neighbourhood, in difficult circumstances. Her husband, in his student days a liberal-minded man, turned Muslim fundamentalist after the riots in 1992 in which many Muslims were killed. After the first contact, her husband doesn’t allow Nishta to talk to her friends again, let alone come to the US with them (at their cost).

The book covers Armaiti and her attempt at coping with her illness, and Laleh and Kavita in India, who keep trying to find a way to get their friend to come with them.


I loved this book! The writing style is easy, but not lazy. The story is very fluent and satisfying.

Since both Laleh’s and Nishta’s husbands had also been involved with the group of friends at university, Laleh’s husband, Adish, goes to talk to Nishta’s husband Iqbal about the trip (not having seen each other for years) but the difference between them is now so enormous. It was a pity that they didn’t part as friends. In hindsight each of the men didn’t think badly of each other, but they didn’t want to show their real feelings. This rang very true of how people deal with each other.

I thought it was a bit unlikely that the women would be great friends again straight away after 20 years of not having met up. On the other hand, it was heart-warming and I loved how they cared for each other.

As in The Space Between US, Umrigar doesn’t spend too many words explaining what India is like, the customs of the people or what the streets, houses, etc. look like: it’s all “normal” and doesn’t need any explanation. I love that. In this book, the reader is not a visitor to India, looking in from the outside, but is treated just as anyone else and doesn’t get a lot of explanation. Also, sometimes Indian (Hindi?) expressions are used, none of which aren’t translated. This made it all very real and very personal.