The Space Between Us

Between Us #1

by Thrity Umrigar

Set in modern-day India, it is the story of two compelling and achingly real women: Sera Dubash, an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the shame and disappointment of her abusive marriage, and Bhima, a stoic illiterate hardened by a life of despair and loss, who has worked in the Dubash household for more than twenty years.

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

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 10, 2005

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

[Crumb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book ravaged my soul and kidnapped my heart. I don't believe I will ever be the same upon finishing this masterpiece of a novel. This book rocked me to my core; It changed every fiber of my being. The premise of this book is simple. However, what transpires over the course of this novel, is anything but. Morals are tested; lines in the sand are drawn.

Now.. I need to talk about the writing, or, maybe artistry is a better word. I am definitely having an "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy" moment. The words were as powerful and as meaningful as a torrential downpour of nails, screaming at my heart. Thrity Umrigar, a masterful wordsmith, expertly wove and threaded her words into my heart. I've never felt more at home than I did reading The Space Between Us.

The ending of the book delivered a cruel and bludgeoning blow, but it was real. It was like a punch to my gut and a hammer to my heart. The finality of it all was overwhelming and I felt such immense solitude and longing at the prospect of never spending time with these characters again. This book will always have a place in my heart long after the last pages have been turned.

UPDATE: Since writing and publishing this review, it has been brought to my attention that there will be a sequel, The Secrets Between Us. I feel like this was a serendipitous occurrence, having read the book over ten years after it was released.. only to find that there will be a sequel released in a couple of months! If I had read the book when it was released, I would have had to wait 10+ years for the sequel.. and now I only have to wait a short amount of time. Needless to say, I am tickled pink and anxiously awaiting it's debut on June, 26th.

Further Update: I finished the sequel, The Secrets Between Us and it was as wonderful as I had hoped. Please visit my review here

[Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite quote from this book:
"...How, despite our lifelong preoccupation with our bodies, we have never met face-to-face with our kidneys, how we wouldn't recognize our own liver in a row of livers, how we have never seen our own heart or brain. We know more about the depths of the ocean, are more acquainted with the far corners of outer space than with our own organs and muscles and bones. So perhaps there are no phantom pains after all; perhaps all pain is real; perhaps each long-ago blow lives on into eternity in some different permutation and shape; perhaps the body is this hypersensitive, revengeful entity, a ledger book, a ware house of remembered slights and cruelties.

"But if this is true, surely the body also remembers each kindness, each kiss, each act of compassion? Surely this is our salvation, our only hope - that joy and love are also woven into the fabric of the body, into each sinewy muscle, into the core of each pusating cell?"

[Will Byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Bhima smiles. “Beti, the past is always present,” she says. “No such thing as bringing it up. The past is like the skin on your hand—it was there yesterday and it is here today. It never goes anywhere. Maybe when you’re older you’ll understand this better.”

Bhimi is a servant in contemporary Bombay. She works for Sera Dubash. The class divide between them is vast. Yet there are similarities to their lives that bind them across these lines. Bhima is an old woman with calloused feet, mildewy armpits and an affection for chewing tobacco. She is raising her granddaughter, Maya, by herself, her daughter and son-in-law having died of AIDS, her husband having left with their son, Amrit, many years back. Maya, a promising collegian, has dropped out of school on finding that she is pregnant. Seraba Dubash is relatively well-to-do. Her children are faring well in the world. A child is on the way to her daughter Dinaz and her husband, Viraf, but this one is welcome. In learning of the history of the two central women we see that they have both suffered. Both had abusive husbands. Sera married into a family in which her mother-in-law was a maniac, constantly criticizing her when she lived with her husband’s family. Her husband turned out to be a true child of his mother, shielding his cruel side from her until after the marriage. Gopal, Bhima’s husband was the light of her life in the beginning of their marriage. But after an accident took three fingers and an unscrupulous company accountant tricked her into signing away all his rights, drink, depression and rage overcame him and he became a dark force, abusing her, blaming her for his misfortunes and ultimately leaving.


Thrity Umrigar - image from the Washington Post

Through the eyes of these women we get a taste of how life is lived on either side of the class tracks in India today. Sera cannot expunge her class biases, her racism. Bhima always seems to fall back on low class subservience even when she is in the right.

The shame of Maya’s pregnancy is mirrored by Sera’s pride in Dinaz’s. Maya has an abortion, with the help of Sera, who had already rewarded Bhima’s care of and loyalty to her and her children by paying for Maya’s education.

Although they are from opposite worlds, it is clear that the two women need each other, but their interaction is not quite healthy. Sera never gets past seeing Bhima as a dumb, filthy prole. And while she is more than eager to see the worst in Bhima, who is clean in body and soul, she is blind to the corruption in her own household.

The story comes to a logical conclusion, with a wonderful final sequence in which Bhima unties herself from her anchor of a situation and lightens her emotional burdens, in a magical metaphor. It was quite moving. This is a wonderful book, with moving characters, payload re class and ethnicity in India, a tale with much feeling, nifty book club fodder.


=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal, Twitter and FB pages

Items
-----Interview – June 28, 2018 - Caroline Leavitt’s blog
-----Article by TU – May 5, 2016 – Huffington Post - Bernie Bros Made Me Finally Recognize Misogyny in America
-----Washington Post - I’m not Salman Rushdie and other assumptions I’m tired of hearing at book events - by Thrity

Reviews of other books by Thrity Umrigar
-----The Weight of Heaven - 2009
-----The World We Found - 2011
-----Everybody’s Son - 2016
-----The Secrets Between Us - 2018
-----Honor - 2022

[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ · Rating 1 out of 5]

#NotAReview #JustAnOutlierRant

Recipe for making your “Indian” novel an international success:

Prep:
Decide which part of India you want your book to be based in. Make a list of all stereotypes of that location. These will form your ingredients. For today’s recipe, we shall use the city of Mumbai and hence take the ingredients from Mumbai’s local specialties.

Ingredients: (quantity of each, entirely up to you. This recipe is quite customisable.)
👉 Beggars
👉 Slums
👉 Traffic
👉 Garbage and Filth
👉 Poverty
👉 Corruption
👉 Illiteracy
👉 Class differences
👉 Caste differences
👉 Crowds
👉 Unhygienic street food. (This ingredient has to be carefully planned as this is what makes your work seem authentic. For our recipe today, we will stick to "Battatawada" [Notice the wrong spelling? Touch of genius - adds exotica!] and Bhel Puri, as these are two of Mumbai's street specialties.)

Method:
Just throw together the above ingredients in as much quantity as you desire and whip them into a mash such that they all blend together somehow. Season it with some health hazards, social issues, and sexual infidelities. If you really want that extra splash of spice, throw in some herbal remedies and massages. Tie everything together in a loose plot so that everything seems connected. And there you go, you have your instant international “Indian” bestseller.

Pro Tips:
1. Don’t add any positive element about the short-listed city lest your dish loses its strong flavour of dismay and misery. It is important to portray a negative picture if you want to earn dollars abundantly. The more the stereotypes, the better the business. As the song goes, 'Ganda hai par dhanda hai ye!'

2. Make sure you incorporate a lot of incorrect language. So your illiterate lead character can know a word like “fornication” but can still use “mens” as the plural of “man”. A doctor can just say “bleddy” instead of “bloody”. The college clerk can have worse English than the vegetable vendor. The Maharashtrian granddaughter can call her mother by the Hindi word “Ma” and her grandmother as “Mama”, even though “Mama” actually means 'maternal uncle' in Marathi and she should have used “Aaji” instead. Use plenty of wrongly spelt “Indian” words to make international readers feel like they are reading something fancy, even if your spellings appear ridiculous to those who know the actual words. Don’t worry about consistency; just mix it up. This motley medley is how you add masala to the story. Correct English is so boring, hai na?

3. If you want to further jazz up the exotica, don’t mention the time period your story is set in. This gives plenty of leeway for creative thinking and flexible storylines. For instance, you can make a mention of the Bombay Telephone Exchange, which hasn't been in existence since 1986. At the same time, you can add a reference to onions being sold in paper bags. Who cares if paper bags aren't common even in 2021 in Indian supermarkets, forget about small local mom-and-pop stores? The key is in creating a cohesive mixture of the past and the present, even if it doesn’t match up to reality.

4. The final tip, and this is what will lend the ultimate literary quality to your work. Don’t forget to add at least 50 flowery adjectives in every single chapter. Pepper the adjectives with some philosophical musings for further pizzazz.

Hope this recipe helps. In case of any doubts in the process, feel free to contact the author of this book, or even the authors of “The Henna Artist” and “Slumdog Millionaire”. They are all pioneers of this tried-and-tested method.

Bon Appétit!
NOT!





***********************
Join me on the Facebook group, Readers Forever! , for more reviews, book-related discussions and fun.

[Annet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that makes a deep impression....
Sometimes I just had to stop reading. So much sadness and misery, there's only so much I can take.
Poverty, illness, death, abuse, rape, abortion, disrespect, distinctions of class, condescension, it's all in this book. But it is also about a grandmother fighting to make a life for her granddaughter. And that's tough to say the least, living in the slums of Bombay and facing grim reality and poverty every day. She's a fighter.
Impressive, but to be honest I'm glad I finished this. Hard to read.
But: This book is really well written and is food for thought. I would like to read more of this author, but need to take a break first...
A very sad story but in the end it does have a shimmer of hope....

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fitting title for this book! The story is a shattering account of the soul crushing poverty of an Indian servant juxtaposed alongside her employer, an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife. Bhima lives in a slum; but for over 20 years she has worked in the household of Sera Dubash. Over time, their lives become enmeshed in an unlikely friendship in spite of the ritualized “space” that can never be bridged…class divisions that that holds each woman in their destined positions.

It’s a lyrical, spellbinding and heart-wrenching tale…unbearably painful for me to read at times. Even though the two women formed a kind of bond over the years, Sera drinks tea in a chair at a table, but she expects Bhima to crouch on the floor to drink her own tea. Sera is disgusted by Bhima's physical attributes and she is forbidden to use the family dishes or sit at the table. So despite the similarities between the two women, they couldn't be farther apart because of class.

Umrigar weaves together the narrative with colloquial expressions that authenticate the dialogue and create a unique sense of place. Even though I didn’t always understand, I always got the gist.

Thrity Umrigar wrote a touching afterword in my book. She included personal reflections of her own middle-class childhood and their servant…treated in much the same way as Bhima was in this novel. Her Indian editor coined a phrase “Indian apartheid” to refer to the attitude that middle-class Indians have toward domestic help. I was reminded of Kathryn Stockett’s novel, “The Help”.

I highly recommend reading this beautifully written, devastating story.

[Dem · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deeply affecting novel and a real page turner.

This book has been on my TBR list for some time and I finally downloaded it on my kindle as I am trying to get a few older books off my list and what a lovely reading surprise this was.

Set in Bombay, The Space Between Us tells the story of a wealthy widow and her maid, who form a bond across the gulfs of class and status in modern day Bombay. It’s a story of women, endurance, heartbreak and the family ties that bind.

I really enjoyed this novel, it’s beautifully written, I loved the characters and felt I formed a bond with them by the end if the novel. An easy read but a deeply moving story that readers can identify with on many levels. This author has a real talent for story telling and creates a terrific sense of time and place. I was a slightly disappointed with the ending until I realised that the book does have a sequel and I can happily continue my journey with Bhima.
A really enjoyable novel and a new author for my real life bookshelf. This would also make a good bookclub discussion book.

I think readers who enjoy authors such as Diane Chamberlain or Kristin Hannah may well enjoy this novel.

[Angela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written story telling the side by side yet intertwined stories of two women from different classes in Bombay , India . It's sad , really heartbreaking at times as we come to know the stories of Sera , a wealthy woman, and her loyal servant , Bhimi , whose life in the slums is a stark contrast .

In spite of the class difference and the deeply rooted societal space between them , these women are bonded somehow as they share their personal heartaches . Yet , the space remains .

Umigar's writing not only takes you into the hearts and souls of these women , she takes you to the place where they live . You can vividly see the marketplace where Bhimi shops and the horrid conditions of the slum where she lives .

This book is extremely moving and so well written and I wish I could say something more but I'll leave it at that I highly recommend this book and will certainly be reading Umigar's other books .

[Agnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This is the kind of novel I used to like - exploring gender and class issues in a foreign setting - but I found it unsatisfying. The author describes the crushing powerlessness of illiteracy and poverty well, but the rest of the book I found overly dramatic.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The one redeeming feature of the book to me was the fact that the two women characters in the book whose lives are profiled, do NOT find a way to bridge the class gap between them. However, the flashbacks employed by the author were sophomoric and the very fact that this gap is not bridged is not explored nearly fully enough. Instead, she ends with a terribly trite "epiphany" by the sea on the part of one of the characters. The novel gives a flavor of the class differences in Bombay, but not much more.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when the book first came out.

There are other more recent reviews...(wonderful reviews written on this site)

The story takes place in Bombay (before the name change, Mumbai) --during a time when I visited myself. 'Contemporary' -present day India (when it this was written).

Two women: one upper class. The other a servant.

One of the things that this book brought up for me --is the reminder that no matter how different two people might be (educated or not -wealthy or poor) --
emotions of love and loss are universal.

I have a few wonderful woman friends who are very different than me --yet "The Space Between Us"...seems to be just the ingredient that has us turn to each other during the greatest times of need.

Inspiring themes in this novel!

[Debbie "DJ" · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down from the moment I began to read. The characters are beautifully drawn out, and the writing superb. It's one of those books where the story just stays with you. Life in Bombay with it's sharp lines between poverty and wealth. The significance of the educated over the uneducated. The trials and hardships of women dominated by men. The main character of this book has been a servant to a higher class and well educated family for so many years the ties become as strong as family. Yet with their class discrepancies do they really know one another? When one is betrayed are blood ties more meaningful than family ties? This book tackles so many deep questions while also being a simple story of daily life.

[DeB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nearly ten years have passed since this The Space Between Us was first published and it continues to be printed and carried on library shelves. With nearly 30,000 reviews on Goodreads, my contribution will be a tiny drop in an ocean of years of thoughts, but as the novel is actively in current circulation I'm happy to add a few "bon mots" to the pile.

The caste system in modern India continues to be represented significantly in literature, as the improvements in the economy have not been able to bridge the rigidly divisive, prejudicial and entrenched cultural beliefs. The relationship between servant and household mistress are examined here, an oddly out of sync friendship where the wealthy Sera is emotionally dependant on the servile Bhima, but holds all of the power. Bhima and Sera both spend a great deal of time with the memories of their lifetimes of discord and sorrow, each suffered in distinctly different ways. Bhima's granddaughter is in crisis; Sera's daughter is pregnant and with her husband, living with her mother. These two situations converge tragically, and resolve with the same quiet tenacity that each woman has accepted as part of life.

The writing is measured, thoughtful and without bias. It brought to mind frequently "A Fine Balance", with a smaller cast of characters and scope but no less affecting. I finished the novel with the realization that even though Western society's social welfare system is not ideal, it spares a large group of people from becoming reduced to the level of poverty in Third World countries. It supports the philosophy of individual achievement, does not force servility to the moderately wealthy as cheaply paid servants nor in factories at slave labour wages and conditions and uplifts the quality of wages and life for a large segment of the workforce. The great disparity between castes will continue to perpetuate the tragic story of The Space Between Us, unless there is a major social change.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous story about friendship, family relationships and the artificial barriers created between the classes in India. From the first page, I was sucked into the life of Bhima, a hardworking servant to an upper middle class, Parsi housewife named Sera. Bombay is powerfully present as the book opens with Bhima awakening to the sounds and smells of the slum around her. I felt I was right inside her head and eavesdropping on the constantly fluctuating emotions of these two women was wonderfully raw. Moving from compassion to resentment and love to hate in a flash, the author effortlessly weaves together the painful family histories as well as the current day story of these two women.

This book deals with a number of issues beautifully. How prejudices keep us apart. How it’s possible that people who work extremely hard can barely feed themselves or keep a roof over their heads. How we create stories about others who appear different in order to give ourselves a false sense of superiority. What happens to the human spirit when life beats you down? How do people have courage in the face of so much suffering?

I really loved this book.

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Thrity Umrigar's transportive novel, we come to know Bombay, as well as its residents, in its ugliness, its evocative beauty, and its uniqueness; and find how rare and difficult it is for people to transverse different parts of it, geographically and culturally.

Throughout The Space Between Us, there are details presumably unfamiliar to the reader not conversant with the colloquial language of Bombay; the rhyming, the slang; yet, it hardly matters, as the thrust and emotional meaning of each line are apparent, even if not immediately so, and Thrity's ability to communicate the emotional essence of thoughts and conversations rarely leaves doubt about what is happening.

The book delves deeply into the sufferings of women, of any caste, at the hands of men. Men, who either by their comfortable assertions of patriarchal power or by their own dissolution become neglectful, make the lives of the women in “The Space Between Us” a trial, no matter how egalitarian the relationship appears to the outside world. And the men who are not "evil," are merely ineffectual, even their kindest gestures too little to salve the wounds that other men have created.

And yet there are throughout The Space Between moments of intense passion and sensuality between the men and woman portrayed within. Strong feeling that keeps rising up, memory at once healing, wounding, reminding.

We come to see the loyalties between people of different classes. How individuals can be convinced that they have conquered the unavoidable distances that money and station can create, and how the removal of that illusion can be an unforgiving destroyer. And how the instinct for self-preservation may be strong, but without the means to preserve oneself, all the intent in the world can mean nothing.

Even when detailing the worst circumstances, the beauty and the power of the prose drives the reader onward. This is writing with movement, small, and broad, of astonishing economy and painful, precise splendor.

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Truth under Disguise


Let’s fly to India and learn a bit about family relations, social relations and, most of all, about women’s social status.

Being a woman in India can be hard, painful, revolting...

Being a woman in India?!
☠️Thanks, but no thanks ☠️

https://www.theguardian.com/global-de...

The Space between Us is a novel. However, since Thrity Umrigar is a journalist, it will probably be the truth under disguise!!!


Nota: A edição em português intitula-se Bombaim a um Mundo de Distância

[J.L. Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You felt a deep sorrow, the kind of melancholy you feel when you're in a beautiful place and the sun is going down”



The story of an upper class housewife, Sera, and her servant, Bhimi, in Bombay, Thrity Umrigar's The Space Between Us is undoubtedly compelling, but not a fun book to read. Though they come from markedly different worlds, Sera and Bhimi are bound together by a misery and oppression that seems impossible to break. Both women put their hopes for a better life into their daughters, but that hope seems a fragile thing. The lack of agency for women in this novel also makes this a difficult read. I had a problem with the ending, but this is still a book I'm glad I read. 3.75 stars

“Or perhaps it is that time doesn't heal wounds at all, perhaps that is the biggest lie of them all, and instead what happens is that each wound penetrates the body deeper and deeper until one day you find that the sheer geography of your bones - the angle of your head, the jutting of your hips, the sharpness of your shoulders, as well as the luster of your eyes, the texture of your skin, the openness of your smile - has collapsed under the weight of your griefs.”

[Britany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story...

Bombay, India-- Bhima is living in the slums, raising her granddaughter- seemingly all alone. You can tell by her actions, movements, and words that she's lived a difficult life- just how tough we learn throughout the book. Bhima works as a servant for Sera Dubash- a wealthy Indian woman, who also has lived a tough life bound with secret pain. Bhima & Sera come together to survive the abusive familial relationships in their respective lives.

The book is mostly set in present day with flashbacks for us to relieve the painful events of the past. The characters are sharply drawn, some of them grow, some of them don't. I knew where this book was going before we got there, but was not expecting the evilness of the ending. How quickly someone privileged can throw another soul to the ground based on allegations that are unfounded. My heart broke for Bhima by the end and I was frustrated with the way the author left it-- Bhima made me realize hope can be found even in the direst situations. I found this book for a challenge looking for an author from Southeast Asia, and I'm so glad I read this one.

[Tea Jovanović · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this novel as uncorrected proof, i.e. before publishing... and liked it... but the agency representing the rights for Serbia always asks too much money and that's the reason why I didn't buy the rights... For the same reason many good books will never be published in Serbia... :(

[Paul Lockman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great way to start the new year with a 5 star read. The people and the streets of Mumbai come alive in this delightful and at times heartbreaking story. Thrity Umrigar emigrated to the USA from India at the age of 21 and her in depth experience of living in Mumbai is so evident in the beautiful and raw descriptions of life in this teeming city of 10+ million people.

We follow the lives of poor, illiterate Bhima who lives in the slums of the city and the rich Dubash family she works for. A firm friendship has developed over the years between Bhima and Sera, the matriarch of the Dubash household, but there is always that cultural, religious and socioeconomic divide that separates them and prevents them from becoming truly close and best friends. Bhima has looked after her granddaughter Maya since she was a small child but now, at 17 years old, Maya has become pregnant and refuses to disclose the identity of the father. It’s only natural that Bhima would turn to Sera for advice and assistance. Sera and her wealthy family are educated and have connections and will surely know the best course of action.

Thrity Umrigar’s writing is simply outstanding. I was totally engrossed in this story and can’t wait to read the follow up book, The Secrets Between Us which came out last year.

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

⚠️ Ser Mulher na Índia ⚠️


Quando agredidas, molestadas, violentadas.. calam e consentem!

Porque não se unem? Lutam? Revoltam?...
Afinal o que seria uma sociedade sem mulheres, sem mães?!...

O patriarcado molda-as como submissas e as castas dividem-nas.
Vêem-se socialmente debilitadas e desconhecem a força que têm!

Ser Mulher na Índia é duro, penoso, indignante...

Mulher na Índia?
Obrigada, mas Não!⚠️

https://veja.abril.com.br/mundo/india...

A autora de Bombaim é jornalista, e o que nos conta, embora ficção, é bem capaz de rasar a dura verdade! Recomenda-se — 💖🌟🌟🌟🌟💖

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Space Between Us is a novel about the relationship between two Indian women, the upper-middle class Serabai, and her lower class servant, Bhima. The lives of these two likable women have parallel experiences that connect them, but there is always that "space between them" due to class differences. Poverty, education, family, and gender roles are also explored in the story. In India's patriarchal society men hold the power, and abuse of women of all classes is often overlooked.

The author also wove in descriptions of Bombay (Mumbai)--the slum where Bhima and her granddaughter resided, Sera's apartment, the markets, the beach, the traffic, the food. Umrigar based the book upon her experiences growing up in Mumbai. There was a real domestic servant named Bhima who worked for her family. She served as a model for the hard-working, stoic character in the book.

[Elena May · Rating 5 out of 5]

HELP!!! Goodreads is broken! It doesn’t let me give this masterpiece six stars 😭

I wonder if I should now go back and reduce all my ratings by a star because close to nothing I’ve rated 5-star in the past comes anywhere near this pure quality.

“All the tears shed in the world, where do they go? she wondered. If one could capture all of them, they could water the parched, drought-stricken fields in Gopal's village and beyond. Then perhaps these tears would have value and all this grief would have some meaning. Otherwise, it was all a waste, just an endless cycle of birth and death; of love and loss”

If I have to describe this book in one word, it’s catharsis. Like an Ancient Greek tragedy, it grabs your heart, tears it to pieces, squeezes the life out of each single piece and stomps what’s left into the dirt. And then, out of all this pain, your soul flows out cleansed and unburdened, lighter than it had ever been.

Real, vivid, relatable characters, their pain raw and true, their struggles and relationships rendered in mindblowing complexity.

When I worked in London, I had an Indian manager, an incredibly intelligent, educated woman. And yet, once she said something that shocked me:

“Everyone in India has servants.”

My immediate reaction was, “Umm, and what about the servants??? Do the servants have servants?”

I’ve heard similar sentiments from multiple Indian colleagues. Somehow, to the wealthy, the servants become invisible. But not in this book!

In this book, we see those who have servants, and those who are servants. We see their relationships, and, as the book title says, the space between them. The book couldn’t have been more aptly named. In the end, it all comes down to this narrow but unbreachable space.

Sera and Bhima, the mistress and the servant, are as close as any two people could be. They know each other’s deepest secrets, have witnessed each other’s darkest pain, have helped each other through everything. And yet, there is this invisible, yet painfully tangible, space between them that neither can cross. And acknowledging this space is the only way to freedom.

The only problem I have with this book is that it ends. I could read about these characters until the end of the world. Jumping on to the sequel!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Srivalli (Semi-Hiatus) · Rating 2 out of 5]

**Rant**

How to write a story set in India to please the colonial masters and give the illusion of being an intellectual and a realist?

• Start and end with heavy metaphoric prose
• Stereotype caste division
• Stereotype class division
• Insert as many instances of racism as possible
• Take a wafer-thin plot
• Add all possible social injustices (domestic violence, oppression, alcohol abuse, worker abuse, teen pregnancy, torture by MIL, AIDS through a partner... I hope I didn't forget any)
• Go back and forth to insert the above-mentioned tropes
• Sprinkle heavy prose at random
• All men are evil (except the refugee from another country)
• Women should be passive-aggressive (yeah, like my review) and continue to suffer
• Remove all chances of hope or positivity
• Mercurial main characters to tick off the checklist
• Present the worst version of India and win accolades for writing realistic hard-hitting fiction (where did all the kind people vanish!?)

*****

Don't need to be a genius to figure out how much I liked the book, right? I already had an inkling about how the book would be. Even then, I expected something less dramatic and more balanced. Makes me wonder why I even bothered.

The narration did start well but soon felt like a drive through a construction site. You never know when you'll need to step on the brake because there's a sudden diversion ahead.

It didn't help that I guessed the crux of the plot within the first 50 pages but had to wait until the last 50 pages for the reveal.

One of the reviewers called the book misery porn, and I'm inclined to agree. Why is it that there is hardly anyone good in the book, except for a young boy, Haider? Even Dinaz is a stereotyped social justice crusader from an affluent family (think of rich girls joining campaigns to take selfies for Instagram).

Not sure if others didn't find it odd, but I got annoyed by Bhima's obsession with Pathan (the Afghan balloon seller). Leave the poor man alone!

Maya plays such a vital role in the book and doesn't get a chance to share her POV. We see her through Bhima and Sera's eyes. It looked like she had it in her to be a strong character but the author didn't bother to develop her arc. She ended up more as a plot device.

I know the book has a sequel, but the metaphorical ending felt totally off. I'm not surprised by the events towards the end. That was the only way the book would go. Yet, I expected a much-rounded ending, something more grounded or even hopeful. Got neither. :/

[Jo Anne B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a well told story about the lives of two women from different classes in modern-day India. Bhima is a servant to the upper middle class Serabai. Even though they have vastly different economic incomes, both have had their share of unhappiness. This book is about their unhappiness and also about the injustice done unto the uneducated lower class by those above them. 

Despite being there to witness each other's pain and suffering, Bhima and Serabai will never be close because they are from different classes. Bhima was there to witness Serabai's bruises after the many beatings she suffered at the hand of her husband Feroz. Serabai and Feroz were there when Bhima's husband Gopal was in the hospital after a work-related accident and paid for him to have the best of care. Serabai paid for Bhima's granddaughter Maya's college education. But still Bhima was always treated as nothing more than the servant that she was. She was not allowed to use the same glassware and dishes when she ate at Serabai's house, nor could she sit on any chair or couch. Feroz made sure of this so that servants would know their place and not demand more pay. Serabai continued this tradition even after her husband passed away despite her daughter Dinaz's requests not to.

 The problem with this book was the same problem everyone in this book had with their relationships. No one knew who each other was. The reader never knows any of the characters. I am not sure which came first. But it makes it hard to feel anything for the characters in the book. The story of their lives and what they went through were wrong and tragic, but because of the lack of depth to the characters I was never sad about it or teary eyed. What I knew for sure about all the characters in this book was that they were all out for themselves and they were all unhappy. How at the end of the book Bhima could find the strength and desire to look forward to another day is beyond me. By the end of the book you are left feeling so hopeless about the state of humanity you just want it to end.

I have read many books like this one but you got to know the characters, not just an account of their actions. It added so much more to the experience of reading the book and left you fulfilled. This book lacked all of that and you just were left feeling empty, regardless of what the author's intentions were. 

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

“She would notice how people’s faces turned slightly upward when they stared at the sea, as if they were straining to see a trace of God or were hearing the silent humming of the universe; she would notice how, at the beach, people’s faces became soft and wistful, reminding her of the expressions on the faces of the sweet old dogs that roamed the streets of Bombay. As if they were all sniffing the salty air for transcendence, for something that would allow them to escape the familiar prisons of their own skin.”

Story of two women living in Bombay. Sera is an upper middle-class widow, and Bhima, is her long-term domestic employee. Sera’s daughter and son-in-law live with her. Bhima lives in a slum with her pregnant teenage granddaughter. The novel tells of their daily lives and the vast differences in class between the relatively wealthy and the poor. The women are connected by a long-standing relationship but separated by ingrained customs regarding treatment of the lower castes.

The book is structured in alternating perspectives between Sera and Bhima, providing their backstories and current situation. Sera and Bhima have both experienced marital problems – Sera was abused, and Bhima was abandoned. The primary story arc involves the granddaughter’s unplanned pregnancy. Bhima is illiterate, and deeply concerned that her granddaughter should continue her education.

The city of Bombay (called Bombay in the book, not Mumbai) plays a large part. We see the many religions, diverse population, and regions of the city – slums, seaside, and affluent areas. It is elegantly written, and the characters are well-developed. This is a well-crafted book from an obviously talented writer. I will definitely be reading more of her works.

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 STARS.

I'll be honest- I used to read every book that came out that took place in India. I found them so fascinating but ultimately very depressing. So I stopped reading them till this one- I picked this one up because of all the great reviews plus earlier this year I read "Everybody's Son" by this author and loved it.
In this earlier book (pub 2005), we are in Bombay pre 1995 (became Mumbai in 1995). This book is about 2 women Sera and Bhima- master and servant- who develop an underlying friendship that will never be a true one because of the class separation.
We learn about both of them- their lives, their loves, their families and their heartaches. There are many heartaches!!
The author really demonstrates the distinction between the haves and have nots; the power of education versus being illiterate; the authority of the male figures.
Both women's stories tugged at my heart. Both were well captured. The author is a beautiful writer and I will definitely be reading the sequel!
Highly recommended!

[Cynnamon · Rating 4 out of 5]

For English version please scroll down

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Dieser Roman beschreibt die fast lebenslange Beziehung zwischen zwei Frauen in Indien, die sich einerseits so nahekommen und so vertraut miteinander werden wie kein anderer Mensch, andererseits aber die durch ihren unterschiedlichen Status definierte riesige Kluft, die zwischen ihnen besteht, nie überwinden können.

Die fast 70-jährige Bhima arbeitet seit Jahrzehnten als Haushaltshilfe für die ca. 10 Jahre jüngere Sera, die dem wohlhabenden Mittelstand angehört.
Obwohl Sera Bhima erheblich besser behandelt als man in ihrer sozialen Schicht üblicherweise mit Hausangestellten umgeht und sie sich der Ungerechtigkeit gegenüber dem Personal durchaus bewusst ist, schafft sie es nicht, ihre Vorurteile und ihre anerzogene Arroganz zu überwinden.

In Kapiteln mit zwischen Sera und Bhima wechselnden Perspektiven beschreibt die Autorin das Leben dieser beiden Frauen ab dem Zeitpunkt ihrer jeweiligen Eheschließung bis zur Jetztzeit.

Wie erwartbar war Bhimas Leben, die schließlich in einem Slum lebt, ein wahrer Albtraum. Aber auch Seras Leben, das in schönen, ökonomisch weich gepolsterten Bahnen verläuft, macht Sera alles andere als glücklich.

Indien ist anscheinend ein Land, wo man insbesondere als Frau mit unmäßig viel Schmerz und Leid rechnen muss, egal welcher Gesellschaftsschicht man angehört.

Das Ende des Buches entwickelte sich genau wie von mir erwartet. Dennoch war ich sehr traurig und frustriert, als ich das Buch zugeschlagen habe.
Für diese zutiefst beeindruckende Geschichte vergebe ich 4 Sterne.

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This novel describes the almost lifelong relationship between two women in India who, on the one hand, get so close and become more familiar with each other than any other person, but on the other hand can never overcome the huge gap that exists between them, defined by their different social status.

The almost 70-year-old Bhima has been working for decades as a housemaid for Sera, who is around 10 years younger and belongs to the affluent middle class.
Although Sera treats Bhima much better than her social class usually treats domestic workers and she is well aware of the injustice towards the staff, she does not manage to overcome her prejudices and her acquired arrogance.

In chapters with perspectives alternating between Sera and Bhima, the author describes the life of these two women from the time of their respective wedding to the present.

As expected, Bhima's life, who ends up living in a slum, was a veritable nightmare. But also Sera's life, which runs in beautiful, economically soft padded tracks, makes Sera anything but happy.

India is apparently a country where, especially as a woman, you have to reckon with an inordinate amount of pain and suffering, no matter what social class you belong to.

The end of the book worked out exactly as I expected. Still, I was very sad and frustrated when I closed the book.
I rate this deeply impressive story with 4 stars.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Space Between Us is set in Bombay, India. It is very far away. I am familiar with it only through literature and TV news snippets. Thrifty Umrigar, the author and a seasoned journalist, draws an exacting picture of the two Bombays that the middle class Sera, a Parsi and Bhima, a Hindu servant inhabit.

The middle class family lives much like a middle class family in the U S. They have a car, a multi room apartment , a bathroom,a college educated child, disposable income, and a sick and ornery grandmother .

The servant is of servant class, though not an Untouchable . Bhima is illiterate . She lives in a slum with no plumbing and a long line to get water each day for cooking and washing. Bhima's living quarters remind me of the dwellings of homeless people or street people. But Bhima goes to work every day and pays rent.

Sera values Bhima because she is a good maid, cook, nanny, nurse and confidant. Bhima values Sera because she pays her and has, in the past come to her aide, by providing financial support during crises. Yet when Sera asks Bhima to share tea, Bhima must sit on her haunches, not on a chair.

This novel reminded me of The Help, only with a more hopeless conclusion . It is more hopeless because India is so heavily populated that even when a few million people move to the middle class it doesn't make much of a difference for India as a whole and no difference for the 100's of millions of poor.

I feel like I know the two main characters too well. Sera has so much and Bhima has so little and has given so much. At the end, Sera's family which has eaten Bhima's food for over 20 years eats into Bhima. She has cleaned Sera's family's dishes, floors, bathrooms, linen, furniture ,even Sera's abused body, yet they, in the end dirty Bhima's reputation and her daughter's. The middle class family does not plan to foul their trusted servant, but they do to preserve their middle class facade.

I can't say that I enjoyed this book. It told the story of a country which is so corrupt that doctors need to be coerced or bribed to treat patients. It told of a society which allows men to abuse women. This is still true. Think of the rapes taking place on buses this past year. In The Help, the maids were left still poor in de facto ghettos. But, in the end, their story was published and put fear in pushy, overbearing white families. Bhima is still illiterate and can not share her story.

[Book Concierge · Rating 5 out of 5]

In present-day Bombay, Bhima leaves her slum each day to work as a domestic in a wealthy widow’s home. She has faithfully served this woman, Sera Dubash, for decades and prides herself on caring for the family. Sera is an upper-middle-class Parsi, but her social status has not protected her from an abusive husband and mother-in-law. In Sera’s home Bhima has witnessed the intimate details of the family’s life, and cared for Sera’s injuries; in return Sera has helped Bhima deal with the hospital when her husband was injured, and is paying for Bhima’s granddaughter, Maya, to attend college. What Bhima doesn’t fully realize, however, is that she remains an outsider to the Dubash family. An unplanned pregnancy will shatter the illusions of both women.

The two women at the core of the novel share one very important characteristic – blindness. The beautifully dressed, elegant and graceful Sera does not want to see the truth of her husband’s cruelty or the despair of Bhima’s life. Bhima, a stoic illiterate, does not see that her blind faith in this family she “loves” is not returned. Time and again she fails to recognize the reality of her situation until it is too late. Intimately connected over time with one another, neither one of them truly sees the yawning chasm that separates them.

There are scenes of tenderness, love, joy and happiness which give the reader occasional relief, but the novel is at times emotionally difficult to read. I am appalled at the treatment both these women endure: Sera because she cannot face the shame and humiliation of admitting to anyone that her husband beats her; Bhima because her lack of education and status make her such an easy target for anyone more powerful (and virtually everyone she encounters is more powerful than she). My heart breaks for both these women, and at the end I am not sure which I am more worried about.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book, and like everything by this author. But so far, this one is my favorite.

There is a relationship of long service (and obligation too that is connected) between people of different classes here in this book. And that exists in other cultures, as well- besides Thrity's. Very similar, if not identical fusion of a mindset for "our" welfare.

In this PC age, those multifaceted bonds are almost all completely lost. Either within individuals' whims or "rights" or employee/employer defined and regulated entitlements.

This writer knows much about womens' lives and who they have needed to please. And still do, yet continually treading the practical over the idealistic. And creating comfort for themselves in the process.