Home

by Manju Kapur

Book by Manju Kapur

Genres: Fiction, India, Indian Literature, Contemporary, Marriage, Fashion, Cultural

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Manju Kapur is the author of four novels. Her first, Difficult Daughters, won the Commonwealth Prize for First Novels (Eurasia Section) and was a number one bestseller in India. Her second novel A Married Woman was called 'fluent and witty' in the Independent, while her third, Home, was described as 'glistening with detail and emotional acuity' in the Sunday Times. Her most recent novel, The Immigrant, has been longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. She lives in New Delhi.

Reviews

[Ahtims · Rating 4 out of 5]

another awesome book by Manju Kapur. This is the story of a patriarchal north Indian cloth merchant family. A well-to-do family whose patriarch had fled from Lahore during partition and who set up a small cloth shop in Delhi. This novel depicts their rise, the growing joint family, their adjustments,the small (occasionally mammoth) desires and hopes, the sacrifices, the growing tiffs, the way they manage to live together inspite of constant day-to-day power struggle among the women. The typical patriarchal mentality towards women is well depicted here. It spans two generations, with the third generation making its appearance towards the end of the book. I devoured this book. I love reading such books. The stark reality of small town Indian life (though perhaps a bit glamorized) has been captured fully in this book. This definitely demands a reread from me.

[Stephen Clynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Home is a 3 generation family drama set in Delhi involving a traditional cloth merchant. Follow the life of the Banwari Lal family as it changes with the times.

This novel starts off with the family tree and a brief synopsis of their family dynamics. This sets the reader off on the right foot and then, like a fly on the wall, you grow up with the family as you read through the chapters. This structure and writing style makes Home an easy read and you can imagine that you are growing up with them in Delhi.

Home is about family life with all it's ups and downs. It tells the story of fashion and the demands for clothing. Home tells a lot about the cultures living in North India, class, education and marriage. Because of it's strong local colour, the reader learns a lot about Indian life along the way. The story is told with a lot of love, in a mature, not a sugary sweet way. There is a lot of warmth in this book and you hope that everything turns out right for each and every member of the Banwari Lal family.

I got a lot of joy from reading this book. Manju's story telling is so good that you feel the story is actually unfolding around you rather than being a work of fiction. Her character development is top rate, you really get to know this family as though they were your own. The reading pleasure I got from Home was so high, that I vote it a HIT and the top score of 5 stars.

The flavour of this book also made me smile with it's use of witty dialogue. As an example the grandfather comments "Our customers are loyal to us, beta. If no one buys this ready-made, what will you do? Next year it will be a different fashion. Look at the sari - one size for everybody - no stitching, no tailoring, no fitting, no complaints, everything beautiful and simple."

Home was written in 2006 and has 337 pages.

[Shreya Vaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

A saga of a joint Indian family, Home by Manju Kapur is pretty different from her other books. Till now, I've only read immigrant stories from Kapur. Home was a fresh change for me, where the author has explored depths of an Indian traditional family, based in the famous Karol Bagh of Delhi. But what makes Home so unique and pleasing in a surprising way?

Banwari Lal, the head of the family comes to India after partition, broken in spirit. With the help of his wife's jewelry, he opens a sari business in Karol Bagh which becomes a life turning point for him. The sari shop becomes his only goal and dream, and he wants to witness it reach new heights, but not at family's cost.

In the initial years, he is forced to marry off his daughter Sunita to a man of confusing character. On one hand, he is loving and hospitable towards his in-laws. On the other hand, he is an abusive husband. Even as the family gets richer, Sunita's ordeal seems no end, ultimately leading to her death, which may have been a murder only. Only a son is left behind, Vicky, to be taken in by Banwari Lals and the responsibility comes on Sona, their daughter in law who cannot have children of her own

Vicky becomes a bone of contention for the family, hence being ignored and rejected by Sona. Though a doting grandfather, Banwari Lal feels guilty to what happened to his daughter. His sons and their growing family cannot make space for Vicky.

Years go by, and one-day Banwari Lal passes away. 1980's, the family is rife with tensions, With the death of Banwari Lal, the shop is now being modernized to live up to the modern times of ready made salwar kameez and jeans, and even the house is now being transformed into a bunch of self-contained flats. Each member bears the brunt of the family tensions, especially Yashpal and Sona's daughter Nisha, making home a site of emotional manipulation and sexual abuse.

Kapur's previous novels for me have always dominated the immigrant world. And Home was a really fresh change for me. The previous novels have been good when it comes to women despising other women for their personal reason, and in Home to Kapur has lived up to the expectation. This, in turn, made the novel even more relatable to the Indian audience especially as we have seen such families around us, or kids from such families hanging out with us with their own set of restrictions.

I also loved how Kapur, this time gave a more meaningful voice to the male characters, something that I didn't come across in her previous work. I really loved the whole joint family and business setting, wherein apart from home, members of the family are always together, even when they are snacking on lip smacking samosa and chutneys during their evening break and the Sari Shop.

"All day the Banwari Lal men nibbled something. Mid-morning snack, evening snack, feeling stressed snack, visitor snack. They worked long hours, six days a week. Their pleasures lay in discussing what to eat, in anticipation as the order was sent out, in the stimulation of the olfactory senses as the packets unfolded, in the camaraderie of sharing. They unwound over fresh, crisp kachoris with imli chutney ...

Home has the tendency to carry its readers along with it. It has tender humor, which keeps you light when you are reading it. I also really admired the way Delhi's middle-class English has been used by Home's characters. However, the only thing that I wasn't able to digest was the climax. I was expecting that Nisha may turn out to be a successful independent woman, but instead was the complete opposite of it. This was one small disappointment for me in the overall entertaining novel.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh change of Manju Kapur's writing via Home. Make sure to read this one if you are an ardent fan of Kapur's work.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is set in Karol Bagh, an area of New Delhi that’s probably familiar to most backpackers or budget travellers as the place with all the cheap hotels and the fabric shops. To the locals, it’s a solidly middle-class shopping area. The Banwari Lal family have a fabric and sari shop which employs most of the family and is the sun around which their individual planets resolve, exerting its gravitational pull on all the extended family. Banwari Lal, the patriarch of the family, had to flee his home during Partition and sold his wife’s jewellery to set up the business. To describe it as a traditional business would be an understatement. He and his wife have three children – two sons who work in the business and a daughter whom he effectively ‘sold off’ in a bad marriage to a violent man in order to raise money for his business. The sons, of course, got a better run of things – Yashpal, the eldest married a pretty girl, Sona, after seeing her with her mother visiting the shop. The younger, Pyare Lal, made a good marriage to the daughter of another wealthy shop keeper.

Sona has a sister, Rupa, who made a happy but less wealthy marriage to a minor civil servant and lives very much in the shadow of her prettier sister. There’s a clear message of ‘big family = happy; husband and wife alone = failure’.

Sona, the beautiful wife, struggles to have children in order to establish her place in the family hierarchy and is palmed off with taking responsibility for Vicky, the orphaned son of the daughter of the family. When she finally succeeds in having a child of her own it’s ‘only’ a daughter and one with a cursed horoscope at that – clearly, this one’s going to be trouble. A son follows a couple of years later and Vicky, the orphan, is cast aside and left to his own devices to fester and find various ways of taking revenge on the family. Rupa also has problems to have a child and throws herself into her pickle business (clearly only barren women can be successful in business!) before taking on responsibility for bringing up Sona’s daughter, Nisha. Nisha has plenty of problems of her own, abused, over-educated, under-valued, she brings disgrace on the family through an inappropriate relationship that the family can’t condone. Her brother marries a more ‘modern’ woman who’s less inclined to toe the line and introduces further conflicts.

Manju Kapur is a professor of English at Miranda House, a prestigious girls’ college in Delhi and contrary to the trend of Indian or Non-Resident Indian writers who write with one eye on the overseas market, I would describe her as a writer who writes about Indians for Indians. Her first novel 'Difficult Daughters' won her a Commonwealth Writers Prize but she’s less well known outside her country than many of her contemporaries. I think this is largely because she doesn’t pander to Western sensibilities. She doesn’t give in to the temptation to give ‘Home’ a western ending in which everything worked out the way we’d expect it to – instead the outcomes are very Indian.

‘Home‘ is Kapur’s third book and even with its tough themes, it’s possibly the least controversial of the books she’s written. The first, ‘Difficult Daughters’ describes a young girl involved in a taboo relationship with her much older and very married neighbour; the second “A Married Woman” focuses on inter-religious bigotry and lesbianism (definitely not a typical topic for an Indian novel); and the latest ‘Home’ is quite pedestrian by comparison. Yes, we get a bit of incest, a bit of self-harm and even unmarried sex but it’s all set in a moral framework where transgression is punished either directly or indirectly. Live by the rules or suffer – that’s the clear message.

There are many multi-generational sagas on the shelves of the bookshops and this is pretty typical in covering three generations – the old patriarch and his sour-faced wife, his two sons, their wives and children and the son of the deceased daughter. Clear hierarchy and status are used to keep the family together, to defend the family business, uphold business ethics, and squeeze everyone into the home to ensure that the money, effort and manpower are all directed to the communal good. It’s a bit like an ant colony, all working away to keep the anthill stable. Children are political pawns in this game – to be married for the good of the family ahead of their own wishes. But strangely, with the exception of the deceased daughter, it seems to work.

At times it’s hard to keep up with all the characters and hard to find a central character to cling to. If you aren’t familiar with Indian writers you’ll possibly get frustrated by the use of local words and you’ll not find a glossary at the back to explain what’s what. But if you are into Indian writing, there are few words that you won’t have seen before.

'Home' starts out looking like a simple tale of ‘compare and contrast’ with the lives of the two sisters. Next, we’re hanging around listening to the bickering of the second generation and grudgingly inviting the outsider son of the dead sister into the family – inviting but far from welcoming. Just as we develop a sense of sympathy and empathy for Vicky he’s abusing the family's trust. In the third generation, there’s hope for a central character in Nisha and for a few chapters, she’s carrying the story – falling in love with an unsuitable boy, going further than a nice girl should, losing her reputation and gaining a nasty skin condition. As Elvis Costello once sang ‘ The wages of sin are an expensive infection’ but I don’t think it was eczema that he had in mind. Nisha has the potential to be the modern heroine but will she just fall in line with the expectations of the family eventually and will fighting against it ever be worth the effort?

There are shades of Jane Austin in the ‘poor sisters married well’, the family interactions, the bitching and conniving, the gossip and superstition and the ruination of reputation – no wonder others have commented on the similarities of modern India and Austinian England. In this context you don’t marry a man, you marry his entire family and who better to choose that family for you than your own family. Kapur writes beautifully and draws the reader compellingly into the everyday lives of the family and their business. For me this was an excellent exploration of the pros and cons of extended family, exposing the good and the bad, the benefits and the challenges in a way that previous family sagas had failed to do. It’s a very different life from my own, but as a window on another way of living, I recommend it highly.

[Sandhya · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://sandyi.blogspot.com/2009/06/bo...

I've always felt the best time to read is when one is on vacation, preferably while traveling. And a long train journey is particularly conducive and appealing in this regard. Also, a great deal gets read, unlike other times when there are too many distractions. Much of course depends on the choice of the books. Heavy duty reading is out of question, because I'm certain I want to have a good time without stressing myself. So the idea is to take along books that are simple to read, but not simplistic. Manju Kapur's Home - which a friend recommended and gave to read - was my clear choice recently on a trip. I knew it would be an easy read, but hopefully with some literary merit also.

Thankfully, the book made the cut for me, even if the story is all too familiar --- portraying the kind of exaggerated reality of North Indian joint families that some of Ekta Kapoor's serials peddle (I'm surprised neither she or Karan Johar haven't bought the copyright to the book still). It's a quick read and pretty engaging for most part - how many books can claim to be that!

Here, in this Karol Bagh family in Delhi, every kind of tradition - no matter how outdated--- is followed. Honour comes above all individual aspirations and a woman's status in the family is solely judged from her ability to give heirs.
Frankly, at a time when joint families are fast fading, Kapur's choice of subject is a bit suspect. Sure, the book looks at at least two generations of people but still to look at it as a microcosm of what Indian homes represent, would be a mistake. The long explanations of Karwa Chaut, the mythological tale of Savitri and how she brings back her husband Satyavan's life back from Yama and so on - all weaved within the story - gave me the uneasy feeling that Kapur is trying to cater to a foreign gaze or expatriates who staunchly preserve the idea of India being untouched by time and still rooted in age-old traditions.

Yet, for all its familiarity and a certain feeling of datedness, Home manages to sustain as a narrative purely because of the vivid characters that are introduced and enumerated in such colourful details. Also, being a woman, Kapur can penetrate better into the petty jealousies, insecurities and compulsions that play a major part in the joint-family set up. The author is acutely conscious of the complex mental make-up of her women characters and reveals the many unsaid emotions that they experience. Compared to the women, Kapur is less preoccupied with the men, so they largely remain in the sidelines.

Even if joint family as a concept is fading, Home's appeal is retained somewhat because all said and done, many of the values and conventions that it upheld haven't entirely disappeared. Also, it's an interesting character study or sorts, in a setting where human proclivity is understood better than anywhere else.

The story kick starts well with Kapur tracking the fortunes of two sister - Sona and Rupa. The former gets married into a well off trader family, Banwarilals, while Rupa marries modestly to a junior government officer. Each one believes the other is luckier, with Sona especially whining about the step-motherly treatment she receives for being childless. The first 100 pages or more are free flowing, with standard descriptions of how newly married life would be in a joint family. The entire premise of this family life (as well as the book) is based on a woman's ability to bear a child, preferably male - so every daughter-in-law who comes into the Banwari family finds her status judges according to this one standard alone.
This obviously becomes repetitive after a point, and it's a surprise how the novel still manages to keep you glued.
There are a some bright spots for sure. Kapur cleverly overturns situations just when you think you know what's going to happen next. And it works because the rest of the novel doesn't shy away from stereotyping. So Sona's childless state is coincided with the death of Sushila- the daughter of the house and she leaves behind Vicky, her only son. One would imagine Sona to be delighted but she shows disdain towards the boy and finds it painful to accept him when he is thrust upon her by the elders. Here, one can't fully comprehend her emotions and you guess Vicky would turn out to be the dark horse of the family. But none of that happens. And in fact, Sona's fears of the boy's nature are justified. This is one of the plus points of the novel. It overturns a lot of things both the characters (and the readers) take for granted.

The best and most poignant part of the novel is the character of Nisha - the prized daughter of the family --- who is the only one to put up a mild battle against the regressive nature of her family.
For most part, Kapur presents the joint family system as both the preserver and destroyer or an individual but in Nisha's case, the irony is heightened, as her life takes an unexpected turn for the worse. Fate delivers a cruel blow to her, first when her love is thwarted by the family, as the boy is low cast and poor and second, when she suffers from a peculiar skin deceise that robs her of her initial good looks. Meanwhile, from being the centre of the family's attention, Nisha is suddenly relegated to a inferior position because other younger daughter-in-laws come into the family. Nisha is unmarried, not as pretty as earlier and this is the time when the joint family set-up especually seems to crush her spirits.
The ending again beautifully brings out how life can look up again - with a slight readjustment of one's expectations after suffering a blow. Nisha finds her happiness when she least expects it. But this is a conditioned 'happiness' and she succeeds in the terms she has been taught to believe in. The system wins.
Manju Kapoor's attempt throughout the novel is only to 'show' but never 'tell', so the whole book is pretty much descriptive of what goes on, rather than any incisive, ironical commentary. The authorial voice is hardly there, so you are left to gather what you want from it. This is somewhat disconcerting - because it makes the narrative dispassionate and detached even at places which could do with some sharp satire. This makes the tone of the book very flat and it's only in the second half -with Nisha's character - that the irony gathers some steam.

Yet, personally, I give the book a thumbs up - primarily because it holds your attention and you are keen to follow the fortunes of all the characters - vividly described. Also, I rather liked the simple language Kapur uses, with the understanding that her characters are actually speaking in Hindi. No frills, nothing. It's basic English, but adds a nice texture to the setting.

Finally, I'd say it's a good masala read, with a few sparkling episodes.

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this wonderful book providing a delightful insight into the complicated workings of a joint family.

[raj dasani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely recommend it. Pick it when you’re in the mood for a good desi family drama.

[Bhargavi Balachandran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Home is the story of a typical middle-class joint family of cloth merchants living in Delhi.It has all the ingredients of an Ekta Kapoor serial- horrible mother-in-laws, sulking daughter-in-laws, selfish children, pompous relatives ,obscenely lavish weddings and the works. None of the characters were really likeable.And that is not because Manju Kapur paints everyone in shades of Grey;I've liked grey characters before.Home is filled with really boring, vile grey characters that really grate on one's nerves and one doesn't really bother if these characters have a valid reason for being mean after a point.The most irritating among the lot being Sona.

The story might be representative of the middle class , but realism alone is not enough to make one like a book. The writing was very ordinary and the narration extremely jumpy.To be fair to the book,the last hundred-odd pages were infinitely more engaging the the first two hundred. Maybe this had to do with the fact that the story more or less revolved around Nisha's life by this time. I've read Immigrants and A married woman before and found them a lot better than this one. Now I doubt if i'll ever pick up her other book Difficult daughters. A thoroughly disappointing read!

[Himanshu]

Oh! I know so many Punjabis who fit into these characters. A good insight into the life of a Punjabi shop keepers in Delhi who came from Pakistan during independence / partition . A story full of mediocre characters who are involved in mundane pursuits. There is nothing heroic in any character but still the plot and the characters are very close to the truth.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is similar to watching a drab hindi soap opera..The writing is not great..and the overall feeling while reading it is negative..could not find anything interesting or positive in the story telling.

[Idea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book after going through COVID twice in two months and struggling to finish reading a page. And I stayed up most of the night reading the book. It is just that absorbing.

There is a simple fluidity to the storytelling, that follows the way of Indian languages more than English. But the stories are accordingly more complex, interlaced with partition trauma, gender politics, the shifting changes of a brand new country coming of age over and over again in its capital. And amidst all this, fortunes are created and lost, unanticipated troubles creep up even under the sharp scrutiny of astrologers and dozens of relatives. The lives are small & intimate, happening inside crowded gullies & cramped kitchens but also magnificent in the unimaginable traumas of colonialist violence, gender wars, cultural storms & endurance. It's very subcontinent.

I loved the book.

[Natalie Awdry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got through this book pretty quickly. It was entertaining and an easy read, but wasn't anything particularly special or different. It's certainly a story which has been told countless times before, although that doesn't mean that it wasn't enjoyable.

I question the description of the novel as a "tale of three generations". Although I liked the way that Kapur jumped between different characters and, due to the novel being told in third person, you frequently got a glimpse into the thoughts of many of the different family members, I really felt that the book just centred on two characters - Sona, and her daughter Nisha. In fact, one of the characters (Vicky) left so abruptly and was so immediately forgotten about that I had to go back and re-read the middle of the book to understand why he never appeared in the book anymore. I had completely forgotten his departure because there was so much more focus put upon Nisha from that point onwards. I think I would have preferred Kapur to keep with the narration frequently varying from character to character, rather than becoming absorbed into these two main family members.

All this being said, if you haven't read any novels about life in modern-day India then I would definitely recommend. It's an easy read and offers a great (and realistic) perspective on the cultural trials and tribulations of Indian women.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Manju Kapur's first book that I got to read. I had no knowledge of her existence as an Author and it's a wonder that I have missed out on such intricate writing.
Home, is a story told across three generations all seeking to live their lives to the fullest through a family business, enhancing blood ties and having good marriages that would bring forth children.
It is told from the third person's perspective, a form of writing that I have always admired for it sets the narrator apart from the characters more like outside looking in. The story starts with two sisters: Rupa and Sona, both married but childless and after a decade Sona gives birth to a girl, Nisha and this is where the story continues.
I was taken by the way the characters valued marriage and how this was enforced on the females in the story, and Rupa, though childless, comes off as very sober and firm in her decisions.
It was my first book, and it saddened me that Vicky got away with molesting Nisha as a young girl, and sometimes during the story I almost threw the book aside, my rage getting the better of me.
It's a great story.

[Mansi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be such a perfect book to understand Literature and stories from India. The characters and the stories have such a symbolic meaning to it; breaking down patriarchy with the birth of a girl in the house. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it..and finished it on the same day.

[K YB · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book, made me feel all types of emotions, anger, sorrow, disgust, love, intimacy, etc. The author portrays the characters multidimensionally, not only showing good or bad sides but both which I appreciated much. This book had so many aspects and thoughtful social dilemmas and issues, the context it was played out in showed the patriarchal society where women had little or no say in decisions. The internalized patriarchal norms also showed in the traditions and culture which women themselves upheld. This I could relate to a lot since internalized misogyny is common in many cultures. It was interesting following the generations of family and the dynamics of joint family living.
The book first started with Sona who had a love marriage, the mother-in-law not liking her, and her sister (Rupa) being poor, getting help from Yashpal (Sona's husband). Sona did not get pregnant for ten years, during that time she reluctantly took care of Yaspal's nephew Vicky. She did many routines and prayers and got pregnant with Nisha. Fast forward, Vicky took advantage of Nisha sexually when she was a child which resulted in her being sent away to her aunt Rupa since she cried and screamed all night. Although no one suspected this could be the reason at first, her aunt came to suspect something but this was brushed under the carpet. Vicky was not well-liked in general, not being a son of a son and being a social and economical burden on the joint family. Colorism was also shown through the descriptions of how beautiful and fair Nisha was however she developed eczema, which doctors pointed out many times could be due to distress, here would have been a good time to bring up what may have been the cause of her distress. It was sad that eczema could have such an effect on a woman's life, her worth decreasing due to it. Nisha started a company that thrived under her care but when she married, there was no time or acceptance for her to go to her former home where the company location was. Pooja her sister in law who I did not like took over since Nisha became pregnant etc. However, it was nice reading that Nisha felt relief when giving it up, instead of planning to open it in the future. I did not like how the family so quickly set aside her accomplishments just because she was a wife and mother. I enjoyed the end, it was realistic, not being too much of a happy ending which would not fit the rest of the book.

Topics: patriarchy, social class, gender discrimination, sexual assault, power relations, colorism, etc.

[Shruti Chhabra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Home is my second read by the author Manju Kapur.
In a nutshell it is the story of an affluent trader house hold in Delhi. Their tradition, their practises, thought process and lifestyle. She gets into the underbelly of the traditional house hold where main motive of the parents is to get their kids married at an early age and settle them work wise. The studies hold little or no relevance in such household..
Miss Kapur has an indepth knowledge of the trader families in North India or she has done her research extremely well..The little incidents and an elaborate dialogue mouthed by the character, tell us that these are the families we have seen or experienced around. The story is very well framed, the anticipation of what is coming next doesn't let you stop turning the pages until you reach the end. The characters are very well portrayed, it gives you an insight into their mental state too, that indicates that she knows her subjects well. The story is extremely ordinary and thats what makes it special.
There are certain parts where she elaborates way too much painstakingly so. As a reader it starts to bore you in a while , so you skip a page or two. Living in North India the two page vat savitri katha or karwachauth tale made me rush through those pages. Also , Nisha i found in a way was the main protagonist of the story. She has a mind of her own, she is smart and has proved her business prowess as well. She tells his future groom that she would like to work in the future. In nutshell she is the only Lal out of Banwari Lal's clan who does the unthinkable and unimaginable. She is neither domesticated like her sister in laws, aunt abd mother nor she is a feeble weakling. The end did not feel justified to me, she has established a brand independent of her father and brothers. I would have felt better if she stood her ground and kept working, thus expanding her business. I would have liked her father to strongly stand by her career and husband to be a contributor to it, unfortunately none of this happened in the end. Therefore in my mind i gave it a different ending while enjoying the journey of a marvellously crafted story.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Home' tells the story of a middle class merchant family, the Banwari Lals, who specialize in the creation and sale of saris and and other traditional Indian garb. The story begins when Sona, the beautiful teenage daughter of another merchant family of somewhat lesser standing, enters the store with her mother, and the eldest Banwari Lal son falls immediately in love with her. Reluctantly, his family agrees to arrange a marriage. Theirs is a love match, and the couple are happily married with one not-so-small problem: after 10 years, Sona has been unable to conceive. Her sister Rupa is in the same situation.

The first half of [Home] focuses on Sona's adjustment to living with her in-laws and, later, the other sons' new wives and children. As the only childless wife, she is forced to "mother" Vicky, son of her husband's sister whose unhappy marriage ended when she burned to death in a suspicious "cooking accident." Sona dislikes the boy because he is dark-skinned and sullen, and Vicky isn't treated much better by the rest of the family. When Sona finally gives birth, Vicky is more or less left on his own. At this point, the book shifts attention to her daughter, Nisha, a beautiful child who (for reasons left unstated here) falls victim to violent nightmares and is sent to live with her aunt, Rupa, and her husband, who care for her as if she were her own child. As she reaches adulthood, Nisha's longing to be a modern woman clashes with her family's traditional values.

The book started out slowly slowly for me, and I had a hard time empathizing with Sona and her many complaints. Things got better when Nisha was the focus, but unfortunately, the ending was a real disappointment, one that I wasn't expecting and that knocked my rating down by a full point. On the positive side, 'Home' provided some insight into traditional Indian families and their values and how both are being forced to adapt to social change.

[Nimisha Lall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Banwari Lal owns a cloth shop in New Delhi where he lives with his two sons. His sons get married where his elder son's wife Sona is unable to conceive in ten years of marriage. She is often looked down upon her mother-in-law. After several prayers she is gifted with a daughter Nisha and a year later with a son Raju. Thus, Sona believes that her duty as a girl is finally finished after getting married and having children. She is also told to look after her dead sister-in-law's son, Vicky after being barren for years. He abuses Nisha who is a minor. The family upon learning the situation tries to dissolve it after sending Nisha to Sona's sister house who is also devoid of children.

While Nisha turns out to be educated, Raju is uninterested to study further. He knew his future will be serving the customers in their cloth shop and is satisfied with his choices. Meanwhile, Nisha moves to college and falls in love with a boy. Thus, the story leaps forward to the workings of a joint family in Karol Bagh in Delhi. The family upholds the traditional values of being together in every circumstance even when there are minor disputes which hinders their bonding.

However, the end for Nisha is something which I particularly didn't liked. I thought she would turn out something different in her life, but she doesn't. Manju Kapur's traditional saga is a realistic depiction of a middle class family living in India. The marriages at a certain age, joining family business as a god written future, and having children are the ultimate choices of an individual in a joint family. The prose moves with simple language where every page turn is about different issues being dealt. Some of the characters does not get a proper ending but some lives come in full circle at the end of Kapur's work.

[Christiane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is the story of three generations of a traditional extended Indian family of cloth merchants in Karol Bagh, Delhi. Kindly but firmly kept under control by the patriarch everyone feels happy with their place in the Banwari Lal universe or so it seems. However, as the story unfolds it becomes clear that not everything is as harmonious as it appears on the outside.

Pampered, served and obeyed by the female members of the household, wrapped up in their business, working hard in the shop and providing a very comfortable life for them all, the men are impervious to the power struggles simmering - and sometimes boiling over - among their women, the vying for position, the jealousies, the unspoken resentments, the barbed comments, the flattery and hypocrisy. At the death of old Mr. Lal conflicts threatening family unity come to the surface.

The story touches on the usual themes of Indian family life : arranged marriages to further business interests and status versus love marriages, illicit affairs, dowry versus no dowry, the treatment of favoured, tolerated or despised relatives, tradition versus modernity, the caste system, male freedom versus restricted female lives, tyrannical mothers-in-law and sycophantic daughters-in-law, an “accidental death” due to an exploding kitchen stove, kind husbands, indifferent and brutal ones and lots and lots of cooking and eating of delicious, mouth-watering food.

It’s a satisfying if not outstanding novel written with great warmth, humour and psychological insight.

[Aakanksha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up Home by Manju Kapur expecting a nostalgic glimpse into the dynamics of family life in the 80s—something warm, layered, and reminiscent of old joint-family values. While the book started off with promise, touching upon the complexities of living in a large family, it quickly veered into a repetitive narrative that focused heavily on conflicts, complaints, and constant bickering. What I found surprising was the complete absence of any chapter that celebrated the beauty or positivity of family bonding. There was little emotional payoff—no moments of joy, togetherness, or redemption that usually balance out the everyday struggles in a joint family setup.

As the story progressed, it began to feel monotonous. The narrative dragged, and I found myself skimming through sections in hopes of finding something deeper or more engaging, but it never quite came. Overall, Home had potential, but for me, it lacked emotional balance and ended up being more exhausting than enriching.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason Nisha’s part of the novel reminded me of Marjorie Morningstar. Both characters were expected to follow a traditional path of marriage within a certain set of approved people, both became embroiled with an unsuitable love, both went through a period of breakdown before finding a cause that brings them back to life. Ultimately they end up doing exactly what their families had hoped for them in the first place.

There is more to this novel than just Nisha’s story though. It is a family saga with aunts, uncles and cousins all thrown in because this is a traditional joint family where the extended family lives and works as one unit. “Home” is a peek into their way of life and the various personalities that make up the family unit, and how they adjust to get along, or not!

[Judith Ring · Rating 3 out of 5]

Home is a very easy, brilliantly written book and I enjoyed the authors style which transported you to India. However I didn't feel her descriptions allowed me to truly picture all of the characters. I also needed to constantly refer back to the family tree at the beginning to recall who was who; so I was very grateful that she included the tree.
I would describe this as a simple story from which you can learn a lot about indian family life, but I felt the story lacked something and halfway through I considered abandoning it. I persevered and my interest in the storyline picked up again in the last third of the book which was much more engaging.
Lastly I get very frustrated with books which have a weak ending: that was not the case with Home.

[Mavipo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha parecido una lectura maravillosa. Un trato muy humano en los personajes.curiosa por el contexto en el que se desarrolla ( costumbres en la India, las castas ...).
Unos sentimientos perfectamente plasmados en los personajes( luchas interiores, obligaciones sobrevenidas de generaciones, idea de familia ...) y lo que más me ha impresionado es la perfecta armonía de la novela en la que parece que nada cambia , que todo es estático pero no. Los personajes crecen y crecen ante sus propias reflexiones y las de los demás.
Leedla!

[Montse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historia de una saga familiar, en India, desde los años 60 hasta un presente más o menos reciente. Las normas sociales, familiares, la situación de la mujer, los usos y costumbres, todo eso está en la novela. Es entretenida, describe un mundo que nos es un poco ajeno, las normas sociales son bastante distintas de las nuestras. En la traducción se han mantenido muchas palabras originales, y hay que consultar el glosario continuamente, si no se hace tampoco se pierde el sentido de la frase pero enriquece bastante. Es interesante para conocer una poco la cultura.

[Deepa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well-observed account of a conservative, patriarchal family of women with ghunghats, women with predestined duties, where a woman's only place is in the kitchen. Sona is a sharp look at the bitter, vile, insecure woman we all know in our lives, or are related to, or even were ourselves, made that way because she is squashed by the patriarchy. But I'm reducing a whole star because what on earth was that ending? It's one of the most underwhelming I've ever read. You think it's all building up to something but it isn't!
Also, trigger warning for child sexual abuse.

[Anshul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and easy read with nothing too redeeming about it. A realistic presentation of a way of life at best and a sloppy Indian soap opera at worst.
Despite a story that traversed through three generations of a conservative family from Delhi it lacked that depth which was to be expected. The book quickly turned its focus on Nisha and with that left many other characters behind in its wake to follow her story.
Had good expectations when I picked it for its synopsis and the famed author but in the end it only served its purpose as just another quick read.

[Dilisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay read.. the beginning upset me a bit as I wasn't expecting it but glad the theme of physical abuse was nto carried forward. It seems very ordinary, a very real account of life in delhi, and although based many years ago not to indifferent to today.
It ended suddenly for me, all that was missing "and they lived happily ever after" i feel there could have been more to it
overall an okay read not on my must read list.

[Rajat Narula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Home is a brilliant collection of scenes that don't add up to a compelling story. Never figured out what it was - a family saga, or a woman's life story - either way, it doesn't work. Threads are lost, inconsistencies crop up, and the books seems written sort of hurriedly. However, the scenes are real, relatable and life like. Vicky's marriage, the shop in Karol Bagh, and the tension at home, all captured beautifully. Delhi comes alive in the book.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provokes curiously, but falls short of satisfying

Home is chock full of conflicts specific to Indian culture. However, characterization is weak in several characters, and the use of unexplained, unfamiliar terms from India's culture makes some passages obscure. The problems of the characters make one wish for clearer writing in order to properly engage.

[Riti K · Rating 2 out of 5]

it’s actually stupid how slow this book is. maybe slow is not the right word- it’s uninteresting. why does sushila disappear halfway through? why does vicky not get any retribution? why does nisha get that ending? the questions are endless but i think im just going to focus on the fact that it’s finally over