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Atlas of Unknowns
Deckle Edge Hardcover with Dustjacket. 319 pages. A Humorous Novel about Sisterhood, the Dream of America, and the Secret Histories and Hilarious Eccentricities of Families. Stated First Edition, First Printing 2009.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published April 21, 2009
43 people are currently reading
1320 people want to read
About the author
Tania James
11 books282 followersTania James is the author of three works of fiction, most recently the novel The Tusk That Did the Damage (Knopf). Tusk was named a Best Book of 2015 by The San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, and NPR, and shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. Her short stories have appeared in One Story, The New Yorker, Granta, Freeman's Anthology, Oxford American, and other venues. James is an associate professor at George Mason University, and lives in Washington DC. Her forthcoming novel, Loot, will be published by Knopf in June 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 170 reviews
November 16, 2021
This is a story which had potential as it follows the lives of two sisters from a Christian family in Kerala, with their interactions & experiences with multiple cultures. As a debut work of the author, I suppose there will always be some learnings for the next one. For me, this one fell short, largely due to the lack of adequate character development.
Linno and Anju are sisters, part of the Vallara family in Kerala. Their mother Gracie has passed away and their dad Melvin works as a driver. As a result of a fire accident in childhood, Linno loses her hand. This tragedy limits her potential, but she finds her own in the arts. Anju gets an opportunity to go to the US on a scholarship, but she uses some misrepresentation to gain an advantage. Anju stays with an Indian American family (their son Rohit is an extremely silly character) to start with as she attends college. Linno, on the other hand in India, starts small with some paintings on windows & walls but soon starts getting more rewarding work. Anju is keen to get permanent residency in the US, but after getting into trouble, it becomes an uphill battle to even maintain her status in the US. However, a lady called Bird, treats her like a daughter, and her support gives Anju hope.
The settings have an authentic feel as there are sprinklings of words & mannerisms which are appropriate to the culture and location. However, this is largely sketchy, including some political & cultural references which have no follow-up or depth. The characters are flat & listless, and it is almost as if they are hiding themselves from the reader. There is a twist regarding Linno & Anju’s mother Gracie’s death at the end, which further weakens the story, rather than strengthening it.
I found it disappointing, but then for a first book, the writing is pretty decent.
Linno and Anju are sisters, part of the Vallara family in Kerala. Their mother Gracie has passed away and their dad Melvin works as a driver. As a result of a fire accident in childhood, Linno loses her hand. This tragedy limits her potential, but she finds her own in the arts. Anju gets an opportunity to go to the US on a scholarship, but she uses some misrepresentation to gain an advantage. Anju stays with an Indian American family (their son Rohit is an extremely silly character) to start with as she attends college. Linno, on the other hand in India, starts small with some paintings on windows & walls but soon starts getting more rewarding work. Anju is keen to get permanent residency in the US, but after getting into trouble, it becomes an uphill battle to even maintain her status in the US. However, a lady called Bird, treats her like a daughter, and her support gives Anju hope.
The settings have an authentic feel as there are sprinklings of words & mannerisms which are appropriate to the culture and location. However, this is largely sketchy, including some political & cultural references which have no follow-up or depth. The characters are flat & listless, and it is almost as if they are hiding themselves from the reader. There is a twist regarding Linno & Anju’s mother Gracie’s death at the end, which further weakens the story, rather than strengthening it.
I found it disappointing, but then for a first book, the writing is pretty decent.
March 3, 2021
Sometimes, just for a change of pace, I like to take a side trip into an author's back catalog. That's how I happened upon Atlas of Unknowns—it was an impulse, after I heard about James's latest novel, The Tusk That Did the Damage, which sounded quite good but not exactly what I was in the mood for. I decided to see if James had written any other books, and if (even better) I could check one out from the library for a full four weeks without waiting on a holds list.
When I read the publisher's blurb for Atlas of Unknowns, I was intrigued. Two sisters, Linno and Anju, live with their father and grandmother in the Indian state of Kerala. The girls' mother is dead, though the cause and circumstances aren't clear at first because the family doesn't discuss it. When Linno suffers a disfiguring accident and withdraws within herself, it is as if the sisters' relationship grows into a tangle of thorns, too sharp and dense to pass through without pain. Anju escapes to the US on a student visa obtained on the basis of a lie, setting in motion a reckoning for both sisters, forcing them to grapple with their individual guilt and confront the truth of what happened to their mother.
James's prose is lovely, dense, not the kind you can easily speed through. The undeniable connection between Linno and Anju resonated within me, and the way their regret and shame from the past threatened to separate them broke my heart.
I love books like this, that bring the invisible fissures between family members into focus, that make the tiniest detail into something that looms large with meaning. Atlas of Unknowns is one back catalog excursion I'm glad I made time for.
When I read the publisher's blurb for Atlas of Unknowns, I was intrigued. Two sisters, Linno and Anju, live with their father and grandmother in the Indian state of Kerala. The girls' mother is dead, though the cause and circumstances aren't clear at first because the family doesn't discuss it. When Linno suffers a disfiguring accident and withdraws within herself, it is as if the sisters' relationship grows into a tangle of thorns, too sharp and dense to pass through without pain. Anju escapes to the US on a student visa obtained on the basis of a lie, setting in motion a reckoning for both sisters, forcing them to grapple with their individual guilt and confront the truth of what happened to their mother.
James's prose is lovely, dense, not the kind you can easily speed through. The undeniable connection between Linno and Anju resonated within me, and the way their regret and shame from the past threatened to separate them broke my heart.
I love books like this, that bring the invisible fissures between family members into focus, that make the tiniest detail into something that looms large with meaning. Atlas of Unknowns is one back catalog excursion I'm glad I made time for.
May 27, 2009
Atlas of Unknowns is one of those rare, perceptive books that effortlessly tackles a battery of issues ranging from the benign to the tragically consequential and still manages to keep a sense of humor. There is no one narrator. Instead the plot follows the lives and voices of the Vallara family from Kumarakom, Kerala, India: father Melvin, grandmother Ammachi, and daughters Linno and Anju. Gracie, Melvin’s wife and mother of his daughters, is gone, her death shrouded in mystery and never spoken of in the beginning of the book except by way of insinuating it as a suicide.
After a terrible accident involving a live firecracker, older sister Linno has her hand amputated, leaving her with feelings of hopelessness and despair as she is forced to learn how to write all over again and use her left hand as seamlessly as she had her right. The worst of it is Linno is an artist and can draw beautifully--a talent she resorts to in idle moments of unease and boredom. However, her artistry is of little solace in the face of the insurmountable obstacles of her handicap and her femininity. She is bleak as she drops out of school, already far behind her peers and resigns herself to staying at home and helping her grandmother as she works to transfer the magic of her drawing to her remaining left hand. Without an education, and perhaps, even with one, Linno realizes her options as a woman are few and an insufferable marriage lies waiting for her.
Anju is a different story, the sister with the brains who sees her future integrally linked with her studies and imagines a life in New York on a full paid scholarship to attend The Sitwell School for her “Senior” year. Those ten months have the potential for a student visa to transform itself into a green card, the golden ticket for her family’s poor luck in India to make a better life for themselves in America. But after Anju applies for the scholarship and receives an interview, she flails miserably against the surging tide of other cookie cutter applicants and resorts to the unthinkable: a lie that threatens to ruin her relationship with Linno forever. In an attempt to shine, she claims Linno’s drawings as her own and immediately warms herself to her American teacher.
After winning the scholarship, it doesn’t take long for Anju’s guilt to collide with her seemingly selfish machinations; her lie catches up to her quickly and the blow it delivers is disastrous. But both her and Linno begin journeys of self discovery that revolve around the death and absence of their mother, their relationship to each other, the kind strangers they meet, and their families separated by continents and long stretches of time and misunderstanding.
For Linno: a chance to exercise her artistic talents and ease the financial burden of her father who works as a personal driver. For Anju: an apparent chance meeting with an old friend of her mother and the development of an uneasy partnership with Rohit, the son of her American Indian host parents who is determined to make a film about an American immigration system, “Outdated, unwieldy, unable to enforce its own rules” (p 273 UK trade edition).
Tania James writes beautifully and with delicate perception. She captures the quirks of families everywhere perfectly and humorously through a revealing cultural lens that is both insightful and heartwarming. I really loved reading this book for the kind of prose that makes writing look easy and enchanting. The story is really about so many things, it’s hard to pick just one. Anju’s Catholic Indian upbringing brings a jolt of culture shock juxtaposed against her American classmates and assimilated host family. Linno’s card business is rife with her efforts to navigate the foreign symbols of other cultures and religions. Rohit’s frustration and selfish persistence to stand for a culture he’s largely rejected is exemplary of the divide between him and Anju: products of the countries they were raised in with completely different languages and values.
The book is also about family and self-discovery. Linno and Anju both face the tremendous obstacles of shame and self-doubt. They are forced to look at themselves and the consequences of their actions, but grow into incredibly self aware and perhaps even self assured young women who both, by the end of the book, assert themselves, and confront and embrace the truth of their lives.
The difficulty of families is that sometimes we feel, despite the best of intentions, that they get in the way of dreams or aspirations. As a result, people leave to find themselves and on the journey wind up discovering more about themselves in terms of the relationship to those they left behind. Tania Smith handles this very well and I was impressed with how everyone found their way back to each other less confused and more willing to confront their demons, warts and all.
I’m very glad Anju stopped her immature and frightened habit of lying so much to so many different people, even after she thought she was doing what was right. She was incredibly believable, though, as were the other characters, although I am a little disappointed with how Birdie and her loss faded into the monotonous of the every day. Thinking about it now, I suppose that just means she was finally able to heal and move on. I guess I just wanted a little more of a happy ending for her and some kind of resolution other than, “she’s gone, live goes on, get over it.”
Rohit was an annoying character whose feigned compassion spawned from a selfish desire to fluff his own feathers and I was half disappointed that he (spoiled child I see him as) got to tag along with mom at the end, but was relieved the trip turned out to be more of a learning experience to temper his ego.
Overall this was an amazing book. I didn’t expect it to be so engrossing. I love books that explore multicultural issues and Tania James was phenomenal integrating Anju and Linno’s complicated relationship across continents. It almost makes me wish I had a sister to share such a profound connection with!
After a terrible accident involving a live firecracker, older sister Linno has her hand amputated, leaving her with feelings of hopelessness and despair as she is forced to learn how to write all over again and use her left hand as seamlessly as she had her right. The worst of it is Linno is an artist and can draw beautifully--a talent she resorts to in idle moments of unease and boredom. However, her artistry is of little solace in the face of the insurmountable obstacles of her handicap and her femininity. She is bleak as she drops out of school, already far behind her peers and resigns herself to staying at home and helping her grandmother as she works to transfer the magic of her drawing to her remaining left hand. Without an education, and perhaps, even with one, Linno realizes her options as a woman are few and an insufferable marriage lies waiting for her.
Anju is a different story, the sister with the brains who sees her future integrally linked with her studies and imagines a life in New York on a full paid scholarship to attend The Sitwell School for her “Senior” year. Those ten months have the potential for a student visa to transform itself into a green card, the golden ticket for her family’s poor luck in India to make a better life for themselves in America. But after Anju applies for the scholarship and receives an interview, she flails miserably against the surging tide of other cookie cutter applicants and resorts to the unthinkable: a lie that threatens to ruin her relationship with Linno forever. In an attempt to shine, she claims Linno’s drawings as her own and immediately warms herself to her American teacher.
After winning the scholarship, it doesn’t take long for Anju’s guilt to collide with her seemingly selfish machinations; her lie catches up to her quickly and the blow it delivers is disastrous. But both her and Linno begin journeys of self discovery that revolve around the death and absence of their mother, their relationship to each other, the kind strangers they meet, and their families separated by continents and long stretches of time and misunderstanding.
For Linno: a chance to exercise her artistic talents and ease the financial burden of her father who works as a personal driver. For Anju: an apparent chance meeting with an old friend of her mother and the development of an uneasy partnership with Rohit, the son of her American Indian host parents who is determined to make a film about an American immigration system, “Outdated, unwieldy, unable to enforce its own rules” (p 273 UK trade edition).
Tania James writes beautifully and with delicate perception. She captures the quirks of families everywhere perfectly and humorously through a revealing cultural lens that is both insightful and heartwarming. I really loved reading this book for the kind of prose that makes writing look easy and enchanting. The story is really about so many things, it’s hard to pick just one. Anju’s Catholic Indian upbringing brings a jolt of culture shock juxtaposed against her American classmates and assimilated host family. Linno’s card business is rife with her efforts to navigate the foreign symbols of other cultures and religions. Rohit’s frustration and selfish persistence to stand for a culture he’s largely rejected is exemplary of the divide between him and Anju: products of the countries they were raised in with completely different languages and values.
The book is also about family and self-discovery. Linno and Anju both face the tremendous obstacles of shame and self-doubt. They are forced to look at themselves and the consequences of their actions, but grow into incredibly self aware and perhaps even self assured young women who both, by the end of the book, assert themselves, and confront and embrace the truth of their lives.
The difficulty of families is that sometimes we feel, despite the best of intentions, that they get in the way of dreams or aspirations. As a result, people leave to find themselves and on the journey wind up discovering more about themselves in terms of the relationship to those they left behind. Tania Smith handles this very well and I was impressed with how everyone found their way back to each other less confused and more willing to confront their demons, warts and all.
I’m very glad Anju stopped her immature and frightened habit of lying so much to so many different people, even after she thought she was doing what was right. She was incredibly believable, though, as were the other characters, although I am a little disappointed with how Birdie and her loss faded into the monotonous of the every day. Thinking about it now, I suppose that just means she was finally able to heal and move on. I guess I just wanted a little more of a happy ending for her and some kind of resolution other than, “she’s gone, live goes on, get over it.”
Rohit was an annoying character whose feigned compassion spawned from a selfish desire to fluff his own feathers and I was half disappointed that he (spoiled child I see him as) got to tag along with mom at the end, but was relieved the trip turned out to be more of a learning experience to temper his ego.
Overall this was an amazing book. I didn’t expect it to be so engrossing. I love books that explore multicultural issues and Tania James was phenomenal integrating Anju and Linno’s complicated relationship across continents. It almost makes me wish I had a sister to share such a profound connection with!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2018
I enjoyed this book well enough. We are following the Vallara family--a Christian family from Kerala, India. Was interesting to get that perspective of Christians interacting with the larger Hindu and Muslims communities. (Scant attention was paid to the limited amount of Jews, mostly when Anju was abroad and encountering American Jews.)
Anju's sister, Linno, is a talented artist, and Anju steals that skill in order to win a prestigious scholarship to a US school. I'm not sure enough attention was paid to the repercussions of that--not so much what she did to Linno, but what she did by "cheating" and denying more deserving candidates. Then again, I'm not interested in moralistic stories and there were definitely real world consequences for her actions.
When Anju is found out and expelled from the school, she runs away to live with an Indian woman who befriended her...unbeknownst to Anju, this woman, Bird, was an old friend of her deceased mother. Bird keeps this pretty close to the chest, but as the close third person narrative moves between several characters, we get a range of feelings and motivations.
The main, present part of the story has to do with the two sisters--Anju struggling to maintain legal status in the States and Linno making a name for herself as an artistic designer back home. Lots of beautiful imagery. And intriguingly flawed characters, perhaps, like Anju and Bird, who are impulsive and perhaps willfully ignorant, Anju's father Melvin, who struggles with his working class life and the memory of a not-so-romantic marriage, and lesser characters like well-meaning but out of touch Sonia and her aggrandizing, self-absorbed son, Rohit.
The backstory uncovers the mother, Gracie's, fuller personality and untimely death. Seven year old Linno was a witness to that, and James starts us out with the usual sorts of vague hints of hidden depths--most strikingly, how Linno lost her own hand in an accident, perhaps as a form of retribution. But when it came time for the big reveal, I think James flubbed it. I mean, I'm writing a story where there's some dramatic reveals at the end, but I tried to set up the dominoes beforehand. In this story, it's like James realized she was running out of real estate, so suddenly Linno has a "divine revelation" that she should confess the truth.
Still, all in all this story has intriguing, complex characters living in the well-realized and multicultural worlds of New York and Kerala. And hey, James is now a local-to-me author, so extra biased kudos to her! :P It's not a favorite, but I'm glad I gave her debut a go.
Anju's sister, Linno, is a talented artist, and Anju steals that skill in order to win a prestigious scholarship to a US school. I'm not sure enough attention was paid to the repercussions of that--not so much what she did to Linno, but what she did by "cheating" and denying more deserving candidates. Then again, I'm not interested in moralistic stories and there were definitely real world consequences for her actions.
When Anju is found out and expelled from the school, she runs away to live with an Indian woman who befriended her...unbeknownst to Anju, this woman, Bird, was an old friend of her deceased mother. Bird keeps this pretty close to the chest, but as the close third person narrative moves between several characters, we get a range of feelings and motivations.
The main, present part of the story has to do with the two sisters--Anju struggling to maintain legal status in the States and Linno making a name for herself as an artistic designer back home. Lots of beautiful imagery. And intriguingly flawed characters, perhaps, like Anju and Bird, who are impulsive and perhaps willfully ignorant, Anju's father Melvin, who struggles with his working class life and the memory of a not-so-romantic marriage, and lesser characters like well-meaning but out of touch Sonia and her aggrandizing, self-absorbed son, Rohit.
The backstory uncovers the mother, Gracie's, fuller personality and untimely death. Seven year old Linno was a witness to that, and James starts us out with the usual sorts of vague hints of hidden depths--most strikingly, how Linno lost her own hand in an accident, perhaps as a form of retribution. But when it came time for the big reveal, I think James flubbed it. I mean, I'm writing a story where there's some dramatic reveals at the end, but I tried to set up the dominoes beforehand. In this story, it's like James realized she was running out of real estate, so suddenly Linno has a "divine revelation" that she should confess the truth.
Still, all in all this story has intriguing, complex characters living in the well-realized and multicultural worlds of New York and Kerala. And hey, James is now a local-to-me author, so extra biased kudos to her! :P It's not a favorite, but I'm glad I gave her debut a go.
June 14, 2012
Overall, I'm disappointed in this book.
I enjoyed the beginning a lot and was interested in the characters and the story but by page 160 or so I was getting a little tired of it. The characters became kind of static and there was no real movement of the plot.
Somehow I missed everything the jacket flap said I would find ("gifts of an old-fashioned storyteller - engrossing drama, flawless control of plot, beautifully drawn character, surprises around every turn - ..." Really?) I also missed all the sister/mother/female bonding that many other readers seemed to find so integral to this book. All of the women in this book seem selfish and weak. Every one of them gains any level of "success" by relying on or using someone else and they don't really seem that invested in each other.
The "drama" is so anti-climactic as to be non-existent. For example, there's a lot of build up around money and an immigration lawyer and then suddenly he's in jail and we just forget that was ever part of the plot. Even the pivot point (which I will try not to spoil) is just handed over. It's like James is thinking "eh, they've figured out how this is going to go - let's just get it over with." Trust me, there are no surprises.
In addition, I'd hoped that maybe there would be a lot of cultural reference to Indian traditions since the author is clearly trying to make a contrast between India and the United States - but there really isn't. So the sari shop reminds Anju of home. So they eat food that's hard to pronounce. None of this really gives insight to the non-Indian reader. Even the most ignorant of Indian culture won't find anything to make them get a feel for the country or its people.
I guess I'm frustrated that I found this read to be the exact opposite of all it was purported to be - but I won't deter you from reading it and finding out for yourself.
I enjoyed the beginning a lot and was interested in the characters and the story but by page 160 or so I was getting a little tired of it. The characters became kind of static and there was no real movement of the plot.
Somehow I missed everything the jacket flap said I would find ("gifts of an old-fashioned storyteller - engrossing drama, flawless control of plot, beautifully drawn character, surprises around every turn - ..." Really?) I also missed all the sister/mother/female bonding that many other readers seemed to find so integral to this book. All of the women in this book seem selfish and weak. Every one of them gains any level of "success" by relying on or using someone else and they don't really seem that invested in each other.
The "drama" is so anti-climactic as to be non-existent. For example, there's a lot of build up around money and an immigration lawyer and then suddenly he's in jail and we just forget that was ever part of the plot. Even the pivot point (which I will try not to spoil) is just handed over. It's like James is thinking "eh, they've figured out how this is going to go - let's just get it over with." Trust me, there are no surprises.
In addition, I'd hoped that maybe there would be a lot of cultural reference to Indian traditions since the author is clearly trying to make a contrast between India and the United States - but there really isn't. So the sari shop reminds Anju of home. So they eat food that's hard to pronounce. None of this really gives insight to the non-Indian reader. Even the most ignorant of Indian culture won't find anything to make them get a feel for the country or its people.
I guess I'm frustrated that I found this read to be the exact opposite of all it was purported to be - but I won't deter you from reading it and finding out for yourself.
May 6, 2010
Apparently a lot of people ate this book up and out came stars. I never felt I was in the story and the characters didn't touch me. While I understood the quest for identity and the cultural shock, I just didn't feel the story flow inside of me. I read a review on Amazon, and they stated that the 'soul' (I sometimes call it the meat) of the story was missing and I think that alone is what left me disinterested in the characters. I believe we will see more from this novelist, and likely she will create great things. But this first effort left me wanting. It was worth reading, but if you enjoy novels that blossom inside your being, this isn't it.
November 17, 2013
It's hard to believe that this is Tania James' debut novel. I loved the plot, and the writing was absolutely top-notch. Dark at times, downright funny in parts, on the whole, this is a wonderfully poignant story.
Anju and Linno Vallara are sisters from Kumarakom in Kerala. Anju, the younger one, is a brilliant student, always top of her class. Linno, on the other hand, has lost her right hand due to an accident while playing with fireworks, and drops out of school under the pretext of helping at home, when she finds she cannot deal with the torment she faces at school due to her 'handicap'. But Linno soon turns this to her advantage- she learns to paint using her left hand, becoming an artist in her own right. In the absence of their mother who died many years ago, their lives move on, with their father, Melvin, who works as a driver for Abraham Chandy, and spends his evening drowning a drink or two at the local bar, and their Ammachi. A turning point occurs when Anju gets a chance to spend her senior school year at The Sitwell School in New York. The competition for the scholarship is intense, and in a desperate bid to present herself as 'you-neek', Anju claims one of Linno's paintings to be her own, and it is this act of betrayal that ultimately gets her to New York.
A few months later, in New York, the terribly guilty Anju blurts out the truth to her friend, and gets expelled. Too ashamed to return home, she runs away, and ends up with Bird, who happens to be a dear friend of Gracie, Anju's mother. In order to survive, Anju gets a job as a bikini waxer in a beauty parlor. Meanwhile in Kumarakom, Linno tries to make a living in Anju's absence, all the time thinking of how she can reach across to her sister, lost in the other side of the globe.
I loved how real the characters in this book were- Anju, although cunningly selfish, is not presented that way; in fact, even in her act of betrayal, she seems only human. Linno, determined and focused, does not succumb to a single moment of self pity. I think I liked Bird's character the most. The story of Bird and Gracie took me by surprise, and I wouldn't want to reveal it here.
The book perfectly describes life in a small Kerala village by the backwaters. The church and the boring sermons by Anthony achen , listened to by nobody except the kapyar , the local bar and and its bar man, Berchmans, the Malayalam adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House ... they all seemed so real; you could almost see Bird performing on stage, perfectly portraying Neera's anguish, as she suffers from living with the insensitive Tobin. (Neera and Tobin, originally Nora and Torvald in Ibsen's play, modified to suit the audience in Kerala.) I also liked how parts of the book were interspersed with history, myths and legends, and even references to popular culture. For example, there's a part in the novel where Ammachi talks about the Coonan Cross and how the Christians of Kerala were the Christian Christians (i.e the 'real' Christians), and in the words of Ammachi , 'not like the latecomers over in Goa, all those Hernandos and Fernandos'. Then, there's the legend of the Czechoslovakian priest, Yohannan Nepumocianos, patron saint of floods and confessions, and how the churches in Kumarakom hold two annual Perunals in his honour. With reference to popular culture, I liked how James created a scene where Gracie hums to the tune of Neela Ponmaane , a popular Malayalam song of that era.
The end of the story is poignant, with the truth behind Gracie's death finally revealed. And yet, as the Kapyar says to Linno, 'Nothing is the end'.
Highly recommended!
Anju and Linno Vallara are sisters from Kumarakom in Kerala. Anju, the younger one, is a brilliant student, always top of her class. Linno, on the other hand, has lost her right hand due to an accident while playing with fireworks, and drops out of school under the pretext of helping at home, when she finds she cannot deal with the torment she faces at school due to her 'handicap'. But Linno soon turns this to her advantage- she learns to paint using her left hand, becoming an artist in her own right. In the absence of their mother who died many years ago, their lives move on, with their father, Melvin, who works as a driver for Abraham Chandy, and spends his evening drowning a drink or two at the local bar, and their Ammachi. A turning point occurs when Anju gets a chance to spend her senior school year at The Sitwell School in New York. The competition for the scholarship is intense, and in a desperate bid to present herself as 'you-neek', Anju claims one of Linno's paintings to be her own, and it is this act of betrayal that ultimately gets her to New York.
A few months later, in New York, the terribly guilty Anju blurts out the truth to her friend, and gets expelled. Too ashamed to return home, she runs away, and ends up with Bird, who happens to be a dear friend of Gracie, Anju's mother. In order to survive, Anju gets a job as a bikini waxer in a beauty parlor. Meanwhile in Kumarakom, Linno tries to make a living in Anju's absence, all the time thinking of how she can reach across to her sister, lost in the other side of the globe.
I loved how real the characters in this book were- Anju, although cunningly selfish, is not presented that way; in fact, even in her act of betrayal, she seems only human. Linno, determined and focused, does not succumb to a single moment of self pity. I think I liked Bird's character the most. The story of Bird and Gracie took me by surprise, and I wouldn't want to reveal it here.
The book perfectly describes life in a small Kerala village by the backwaters. The church and the boring sermons by Anthony achen , listened to by nobody except the kapyar , the local bar and and its bar man, Berchmans, the Malayalam adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House ... they all seemed so real; you could almost see Bird performing on stage, perfectly portraying Neera's anguish, as she suffers from living with the insensitive Tobin. (Neera and Tobin, originally Nora and Torvald in Ibsen's play, modified to suit the audience in Kerala.) I also liked how parts of the book were interspersed with history, myths and legends, and even references to popular culture. For example, there's a part in the novel where Ammachi talks about the Coonan Cross and how the Christians of Kerala were the Christian Christians (i.e the 'real' Christians), and in the words of Ammachi , 'not like the latecomers over in Goa, all those Hernandos and Fernandos'. Then, there's the legend of the Czechoslovakian priest, Yohannan Nepumocianos, patron saint of floods and confessions, and how the churches in Kumarakom hold two annual Perunals in his honour. With reference to popular culture, I liked how James created a scene where Gracie hums to the tune of Neela Ponmaane , a popular Malayalam song of that era.
The end of the story is poignant, with the truth behind Gracie's death finally revealed. And yet, as the Kapyar says to Linno, 'Nothing is the end'.
Highly recommended!
August 23, 2015
The story opens on Christmas eve of 1995 in Kumarakom in the state of Kerala, India. Melvin the father, Linno, 13, and Anju, 9, the daughters and Ammachi the grandmother are the first characters the reader gets to meet. Gracie their mother had died when the girls were just 7 and 3. Linno took to her artistic inclinations, sketching on the sides of newspapers. Anju was smart and competitive - her success at school is a testimony. That morning Melvin wakes up with a bad feeling in his stomach, one that seems to be foretelling a future mishap, one that is not unfamiliar to Melvin. Night comes and the family sets off fire crackers, which was the Christmas eve tradition in Kerala. But when everyone thought the day was about to draw to a close something unexpected happens, confirming Melvin's fears from the morning. (What had happened, I refuse to tell because I think it is one of the pivotal points of the novel, even though it's only the beginning, and revealing it would completely ruin the suspense.)
Anju is ecstatic at her luck and cannot imagine the endless opportunities that this will open for her – soon she may apply for permanent residency and later on even citizenship? But all the while she holds on to a guilty secret, something that will make her resent her win, repent for her actions and leave her fighting it on her own in New York and drive her to run away from her host family's home.
Fast forward to 2003, Anju is 17 and Linno 21. Anju wins a scholarship to study at Sitwell School in New York, U.S.A., after impressing Miss Schimpf from the school at their inerview conducted at their humble home in Kumarakom.
Anju is ecstatic at her luck and cannot imagine the endless opportunities that this will open for her – soon she may apply for permanent residency and later on even citizenship? But all the while she holds on to a guilty secret, something that will make her resent her win, repent for her actions and leave her fighting it on her own in New York and drive her to run away from her host family's home.
Meanwhile back in Kumarakom, Linno and the family face battles of their own but eventually Linno rises above her circumstances. Still she feels empty... nothing seems to matter without her sister by her side.
I must say this book was simply a breath of fresh air. It contains carefully crafted revelations of the past, intertwined into the present. It explores themes like immigration, cross-cultural relations, hard work, solitude, guilt and love, which in this case is a love separated by not states, not countries but by continents across oceans.
[The author Tania James is an Indian-American born to immigrant parents from Kerala and Atlas of Unknowns is her debut novel. She paints a picture of the Malayali people through carefully and delicately beaded details. I also love some of the bold statements she makes through delicately stringed words. Like this one:
“... That's the end.” Now it's the Kapyar's turn.... At moments like these he feels his age. He says to her, “Nothing is the end.”
I must add that being a Malayali really enabled me to appreciate the beauty of the nuances of the Keralite culture depicted in this novel. This book is a worthwhile read and I highly recommend it to anyone of any age. Kudos to Tania James!
September 26, 2009
In Atlas of Unknowns, first time novelist Tania James, tells the funny and honest story of two sisters trying to find their places in this world amidst betrayal and haunting secrets. The older sister, Linno, is scarred by an unfortunate accident and the truth behind her mother's death. She's a gifted artist, yet does not shine the way her younger sister, Anju, does academically. Anju is so successful in school that she applies for and receives a scholarship to attend an elite private school in New York. Though she wins the scholarship under false pretenses, she thinks this will be her opportunity to improve her family's situation. There's also a good supporting cast of characters. These include Anju's Hindu host family, the Sankalis, whose matriarch is a cohost on an American talk show that seems to be a caricature of a real life four woman hosted show and a son who defers college to pursue documentary film making. Then there's Bird, who brings Anju some semblance of comfort in the midst of culture shock and has a secret tie to her. Set in Kerala, India and New York, we see two sisters navigate issues like marriage, family, post 9/11 immigration, and self-discovery.
"For such a small world, the space from person to person can span a whole sea."
This describes the relationship between Anju and Linno both emotionally and physically. However, the emotional divide lessens once the spatial divide becomes a factor.
I absolutely loved this book! At first, I thought this was going to be a story about one fortunate, scheming sister and the other talented and woeful. But, this isn't the case. Even though Linno lacks self-confidence early in the story, when Anju stabs her in the back, Linno calls her out. And like you would hope sisters would do, Linno still supports Anju's temporary success and she desperately tries to get to her when everything falls apart. I cheered Linno on through her self discovery and all but spewed venom at Anju, even after she loses everything. I did, however, sympathize with their father Melvin once he finds himself working for the wealthy man who was once betrothed to his deceased wife. James has a keen sense of narrative. Her characters are well developed, relative, and recognizable. She handles the issues of immigration in a post 9/11 America and a young Indian woman challenging marital customs with honesty. I felt very satisfied once finished with this. A small part of me didn't want it to end, and that's when you know you've read something really special.
"For such a small world, the space from person to person can span a whole sea."
This describes the relationship between Anju and Linno both emotionally and physically. However, the emotional divide lessens once the spatial divide becomes a factor.
I absolutely loved this book! At first, I thought this was going to be a story about one fortunate, scheming sister and the other talented and woeful. But, this isn't the case. Even though Linno lacks self-confidence early in the story, when Anju stabs her in the back, Linno calls her out. And like you would hope sisters would do, Linno still supports Anju's temporary success and she desperately tries to get to her when everything falls apart. I cheered Linno on through her self discovery and all but spewed venom at Anju, even after she loses everything. I did, however, sympathize with their father Melvin once he finds himself working for the wealthy man who was once betrothed to his deceased wife. James has a keen sense of narrative. Her characters are well developed, relative, and recognizable. She handles the issues of immigration in a post 9/11 America and a young Indian woman challenging marital customs with honesty. I felt very satisfied once finished with this. A small part of me didn't want it to end, and that's when you know you've read something really special.
April 14, 2016
It is about the experience of Indians in India and in the U.S., and their perception of America, from the perspective of India, and when they are here. It is about the traumas that befall and connections that sustain family, the senses of responsibility and guilt for what we do to others in our families. It is about the notion of success, as perceived by Indians caught between tradition and the modern world.
I thought it was both more interesting as a story, and more sophisticated in style, texture and conception than I had anticipated. I got caught up in the travails of the two sisters,and was amused by the way they perceived as strange what we take for granted in American society.
I will remember various scenes--of Anju in the high school, flirting with Sheldon Fish, or Shell Dun Fish, as Linno hears it. I will remember the Indian TV personality who takes Anju in, and ends up bringing her back home. I will remember how Linno gets involved in art as a career, and her intuitive grasp of pop-up card design, and how she stumbles into success with it.
I thought it was both more interesting as a story, and more sophisticated in style, texture and conception than I had anticipated. I got caught up in the travails of the two sisters,and was amused by the way they perceived as strange what we take for granted in American society.
I will remember various scenes--of Anju in the high school, flirting with Sheldon Fish, or Shell Dun Fish, as Linno hears it. I will remember the Indian TV personality who takes Anju in, and ends up bringing her back home. I will remember how Linno gets involved in art as a career, and her intuitive grasp of pop-up card design, and how she stumbles into success with it.
June 18, 2014
I think, realistically, I would give this book about 4.3 stars, but because I got it from Poundland (yes, a POUND!) I have rounded it up on the basis of value-for-money. It was a lovely tale of sisterhood, coming of age, cultural differences, hardship, secrets, love and friendship. It was really well written and some of the language to describe things is beautiful.
It focuses on sisters Anju and Linno. Linno loses her right arm in a firework-related accident when she is young, and so begins to struggle at school. However she teaches herself to draw with her left hand, and becomes very talented. Her younger sister Anju overtakes Linno at school and then puts her name forward to win a scholarship to a school in New York. To give her an "edge" Anju steals Linno's drawings and presents them as her own - thereby winning the scholarship and heading off to New York. The story is involving right from the beginning and once I started I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend!
It focuses on sisters Anju and Linno. Linno loses her right arm in a firework-related accident when she is young, and so begins to struggle at school. However she teaches herself to draw with her left hand, and becomes very talented. Her younger sister Anju overtakes Linno at school and then puts her name forward to win a scholarship to a school in New York. To give her an "edge" Anju steals Linno's drawings and presents them as her own - thereby winning the scholarship and heading off to New York. The story is involving right from the beginning and once I started I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend!
September 26, 2012
Tania James’ Atlas of Unknowns is first on the list for this weekends’ reads. It’s a fairly hefty novel about an Indian family, but mostly revolves around the sisters’ discovery of themselves and their family history.
The older sister loses an arm in a freak accident, declines a marriage to a wealthy, blind suitor, and is a fantastic artist. The younger sister is brilliant, and in an attempt to win a scholarship to a school in the U.S., lies at the expense of her sister. The novel goes on to show the sisters, one in the New York and one back in their small Indian town, and how they seek to reunite and the obstacles in their way. Throughout, we learn more and more about the family history, including the death of their mother.
Overall, it was a decent read but nothing I’d go out of my way to recommend.
The older sister loses an arm in a freak accident, declines a marriage to a wealthy, blind suitor, and is a fantastic artist. The younger sister is brilliant, and in an attempt to win a scholarship to a school in the U.S., lies at the expense of her sister. The novel goes on to show the sisters, one in the New York and one back in their small Indian town, and how they seek to reunite and the obstacles in their way. Throughout, we learn more and more about the family history, including the death of their mother.
Overall, it was a decent read but nothing I’d go out of my way to recommend.
April 13, 2014
This seems like the type of book I should love. A rich family story that spans continents, with compelling characters and occasional flashes of brilliant writing. Yet somehow it didn't quite resonate with me. The sense of place was not as vivid as I had hoped: the portions in Kerala or the Upper East Side or Queens just didn't feel that different to me. The pacing is uneven, with early parts of the story slow to get going, followed by a headlong rush to an unsatisfying conclusion in the final pages. I enjoyed parts of it, but if you are looking for a compelling story of the South Asian immigrant experience, try The Namesake instead.
January 18, 2021
This was a vey interesting story. The author understands both cultures extremely well and is very good at showing us the clashes between the two. These two sisters have such difficult lives (emotionally), which was very compelling to read.
December 6, 2018
What a great book to read as my 100th! I really enjoyed this book. It is a coming of age novel of two sisters, Linno and Anju. Linno and Anju are as close as any two sisters can be till fate leaves Linno in bucolic Kumarakom, Kerala while Anjuleaves for New York - by fair means or foul. From then on we follow the parrallel paths of the two sisters oceans apart and marvel at the progress Linno makes despite her handicap. The author slips bit of their history while spinning a fascinating yarn of current events. Time takes its toll and both sisters want their parrallel lives to converge and to this end we encounter the various interesting characters such as Anju's host parents and their son; and Linno's employer. Will their lives ever converge again? It is well wort ha read to find out.
July 15, 2016
I am not sure why I finished this book. Maybe it's just because I love stationery and enjoyed the invitation card subplot. Because I wasn't really engaged with the characters, most of whom I found flat, and much of what happened I found either overdone (like the documentary film thing and the points about immigration, which were excellent points but were handled in too heavy-handed a fashion to feel very poignant to me).
And the ending was a particular disappointment. Characters acted in ways that I found inconsistent, and the portrayal of seven-year-old Linno didn't seem realistic to me. Based both on my experience of seven-year-olds and on the way James wrote her parents, I find it highly unlikely that Linno would have been aware of the America debate, much less reflecting on it to the depth that she did.
Two things I found interesting:
1. Near the end, James writes, "a person is more important in her absence than in her presence." (315) This is a theme that features prominently in Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, which I read (and loved) earlier this year. It was interesting seeing it here because it's an idea that I particularly enjoy turning over in my mind, and its brief mention in Atlas of Unknowns has given me a chance to reflect on why it worked well for me in Robinson's novel but not in James's. I think the difference is that Robinson allowed the theme to weave itself throughout the story---Ruthie and Lucille's mother's absence is present all the time, even when it's not mentioned directly (which it rarely is)---while James just mentions it briefly in that one direct statement. It seems almost like an afterthought rather than an integral part of James's novel.
2. Linno's confession reminded me of a scene in Lauren Groff's Fates and Furies in which a main character reflects on the long-term effects of something that happens as a child. I didn't particularly enjoy Groff's novel, but after reading James's novel, I have a greater appreciation for that scene and her handling of it and the surrounding theme. I had thought that Groff's scene was overly shocking, but now I appreciate both that she just went for it and that she circled around it a few times before she did so. If something really, really affects someone as a core part of her life, it's not just going to suddenly resurface as a whole all at once. It's going to come back in bits and pieces triggered by daily occurrences---smells, sounds, actions, the slant of the light. We really have no inkling of this memory of Linno's before she confesses it; I find that not only unrealistic but lacking in punch.
I wouldn't say that I regret finishing this book, but I probably could have stopped about a third of the way through and not suffered any ill effects. Tania James has some very good ideas and has the capacity to write a scene that's both sensorially and emotionally vibrant, especially in the beginning of the novel, like in the telling of Linno's accident. But I got the sense that she tried to do too much in Atlas of Unknowns. She seemed not to really have a strong sense of what the novel was about at its core. Is it about immigration? Is it about sister relationships? Is it about arranged marriage? Culture's effect on our actions? Religion? Friendship? Parental loss? Cultural or dispositional disorientation? In the novel, James touched on a lot of these things but never delved in deeply enough for my taste.
And the ending was a particular disappointment. Characters acted in ways that I found inconsistent, and the portrayal of seven-year-old Linno didn't seem realistic to me. Based both on my experience of seven-year-olds and on the way James wrote her parents, I find it highly unlikely that Linno would have been aware of the America debate, much less reflecting on it to the depth that she did.
Two things I found interesting:
1. Near the end, James writes, "a person is more important in her absence than in her presence." (315) This is a theme that features prominently in Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, which I read (and loved) earlier this year. It was interesting seeing it here because it's an idea that I particularly enjoy turning over in my mind, and its brief mention in Atlas of Unknowns has given me a chance to reflect on why it worked well for me in Robinson's novel but not in James's. I think the difference is that Robinson allowed the theme to weave itself throughout the story---Ruthie and Lucille's mother's absence is present all the time, even when it's not mentioned directly (which it rarely is)---while James just mentions it briefly in that one direct statement. It seems almost like an afterthought rather than an integral part of James's novel.
2. Linno's confession reminded me of a scene in Lauren Groff's Fates and Furies in which a main character reflects on the long-term effects of something that happens as a child. I didn't particularly enjoy Groff's novel, but after reading James's novel, I have a greater appreciation for that scene and her handling of it and the surrounding theme. I had thought that Groff's scene was overly shocking, but now I appreciate both that she just went for it and that she circled around it a few times before she did so. If something really, really affects someone as a core part of her life, it's not just going to suddenly resurface as a whole all at once. It's going to come back in bits and pieces triggered by daily occurrences---smells, sounds, actions, the slant of the light. We really have no inkling of this memory of Linno's before she confesses it; I find that not only unrealistic but lacking in punch.
I wouldn't say that I regret finishing this book, but I probably could have stopped about a third of the way through and not suffered any ill effects. Tania James has some very good ideas and has the capacity to write a scene that's both sensorially and emotionally vibrant, especially in the beginning of the novel, like in the telling of Linno's accident. But I got the sense that she tried to do too much in Atlas of Unknowns. She seemed not to really have a strong sense of what the novel was about at its core. Is it about immigration? Is it about sister relationships? Is it about arranged marriage? Culture's effect on our actions? Religion? Friendship? Parental loss? Cultural or dispositional disorientation? In the novel, James touched on a lot of these things but never delved in deeply enough for my taste.
February 23, 2016
For starters, this book is more like a 4.5 star rating. It was much better than I expected and I'm glad I picked it up, however long ago that was.
Atlas of Unknowns follows the story of two sisters, Anju and Linno, who live very different lives. Anju, the youngest, is the star pupil and outshines her older sister in school. Linno is a victim of a firework incident and lost her right hand, but despite this disability, she is an incredible artist. Anju and Linno lost their mother when they were young and were raised by their father and grandmother. Anju is offered an opportunity to study in New York and is desperately grabs at this opportunity that may not only help her but her entire family. Anju is awarded the scholarship but at a devastating cost to her relationship with her sister. The novel follows Anju's experience in New York city as well as Linno's continued existence back in India.
For James' debut novel, her style of writing is exquisite and a delight to read. Her way with words crafted characters that were utterly realistic and gave you an open invitation to this family saga. I loved the subtle slides into flashbacks that contrasted with the main plot excellently. I was so glad that we got to know their mother, as well as her relationship with Bird. I did wish there was a more satisying conclusion that included Bird but I understand that the ending that occurred was more realistic and it doesn't often occur in reality that goodbyes are as perfect as they should be.
Both Anju and Linno were undeniably realistic and relatable characters and I loved Linno with her stubbornness as well as modest talent. Anju seemed, at some times, selfish, but as she is sixteen during the novel, it is realistic for a sixteen year old to not think things through. I thought Anju reacted to each situation understandably and I just loved her. The ongoing comparisons between both Anju and Linno, and their mother were artistic and well placed. This book felt like a piece of art to digest.
Now onto the plot. This isn't a particularly fast paced novel but it wasn't predictable, which is what I liked about it. For the most part of the book, I was thinking that it would end a specific way, but in retrospect that would've been like glossing over the little hardships. Like tying a ribbon around an impossible situation so that the audience would sigh and go 'isnt that just wonderful'. It is not common that storytellers opt for the more realistic endings over a pretty ending and I'm so glad that this was the situation in Atlas of Unknowns. Life doesn't always work out the way we plan but that doesn't mean it won't work out. This realistic theme made the book relatable and wonderful.
This book is a pleasure to read and I would recommend it to anyone.
Atlas of Unknowns follows the story of two sisters, Anju and Linno, who live very different lives. Anju, the youngest, is the star pupil and outshines her older sister in school. Linno is a victim of a firework incident and lost her right hand, but despite this disability, she is an incredible artist. Anju and Linno lost their mother when they were young and were raised by their father and grandmother. Anju is offered an opportunity to study in New York and is desperately grabs at this opportunity that may not only help her but her entire family. Anju is awarded the scholarship but at a devastating cost to her relationship with her sister. The novel follows Anju's experience in New York city as well as Linno's continued existence back in India.
For James' debut novel, her style of writing is exquisite and a delight to read. Her way with words crafted characters that were utterly realistic and gave you an open invitation to this family saga. I loved the subtle slides into flashbacks that contrasted with the main plot excellently. I was so glad that we got to know their mother, as well as her relationship with Bird. I did wish there was a more satisying conclusion that included Bird but I understand that the ending that occurred was more realistic and it doesn't often occur in reality that goodbyes are as perfect as they should be.
Both Anju and Linno were undeniably realistic and relatable characters and I loved Linno with her stubbornness as well as modest talent. Anju seemed, at some times, selfish, but as she is sixteen during the novel, it is realistic for a sixteen year old to not think things through. I thought Anju reacted to each situation understandably and I just loved her. The ongoing comparisons between both Anju and Linno, and their mother were artistic and well placed. This book felt like a piece of art to digest.
Now onto the plot. This isn't a particularly fast paced novel but it wasn't predictable, which is what I liked about it. For the most part of the book, I was thinking that it would end a specific way, but in retrospect that would've been like glossing over the little hardships. Like tying a ribbon around an impossible situation so that the audience would sigh and go 'isnt that just wonderful'. It is not common that storytellers opt for the more realistic endings over a pretty ending and I'm so glad that this was the situation in Atlas of Unknowns. Life doesn't always work out the way we plan but that doesn't mean it won't work out. This realistic theme made the book relatable and wonderful.
This book is a pleasure to read and I would recommend it to anyone.
April 12, 2019
I'm going to start this review with a disclaimer that this probably wasn't the best book to follow up Min Jin Lee's Free Food for Millionaires, but I selected it because I liked Lee's novel about the Korean migrant experience in the USA and thought it would be interesting to read a novel about Indian migrants, too.
Unfortunately, Atlas of Unknowns left me wanting.
The plot primarily follows two sisters, Linno and Anju, and their Christian family from Kerala, India. As a child, Linno suffers a tragic accident that leaves her with a disability, of which she is intensely ashamed. She leaves school at a very young age and discovers a love and talent for creating pieces of art.
Her young sister, Anju, is academically clever and ambitious. She lies in order to secure for herself a scholarship to a prestigious school in the USA.
The story is set between two starkly different locations: Kerala, India and New York City, USA. It tries to portray the Indian experience in both India and the USA post-9/11, but in all honesty, I felt is was a bit flat, cliche, and unsurprising in its delivery. The characters in the novel have a constant, unwavering preoccupation with obtaining Green Cards, and it is this underlying theme that mostly drives the plot.
But in hindsight, it wasn't really a story about immigration at all, and that is somewhat confusing. Just exactly what point the novel is trying to make remains unclear to me. Is it about race and a clash of cultures? Or familial relationships and female bonding? Or the loss of hopes and dreams? Perhaps it's about lies and their consequences? Broken promises? Regrets? Maybe it's all of these things, but I cannot say for certain. The manner in which the story jumps from India to the USA, from the past to the present is a bit haphazard. Sometimes there is no clear connection between one passage and the next.
Although not particularly lengthy, it took me an entire month to read this book. A MONTH! I wanted to see it through, mostly because I was curious to see how the author would tie everything together in the end. But I was also completely unenthusiastic at the thought of having to read it. I had serious issues with the author's style, and in particular her over-use of analogies, metaphors and similes that more often than not made no sense at all. Simple descriptions would have sufficed in most instances.
Overall, a disappointing and confusing read. I had hoped for so much more.
2 out of 5 stars.
Unfortunately, Atlas of Unknowns left me wanting.
The plot primarily follows two sisters, Linno and Anju, and their Christian family from Kerala, India. As a child, Linno suffers a tragic accident that leaves her with a disability, of which she is intensely ashamed. She leaves school at a very young age and discovers a love and talent for creating pieces of art.
Her young sister, Anju, is academically clever and ambitious. She lies in order to secure for herself a scholarship to a prestigious school in the USA.
The story is set between two starkly different locations: Kerala, India and New York City, USA. It tries to portray the Indian experience in both India and the USA post-9/11, but in all honesty, I felt is was a bit flat, cliche, and unsurprising in its delivery. The characters in the novel have a constant, unwavering preoccupation with obtaining Green Cards, and it is this underlying theme that mostly drives the plot.
But in hindsight, it wasn't really a story about immigration at all, and that is somewhat confusing. Just exactly what point the novel is trying to make remains unclear to me. Is it about race and a clash of cultures? Or familial relationships and female bonding? Or the loss of hopes and dreams? Perhaps it's about lies and their consequences? Broken promises? Regrets? Maybe it's all of these things, but I cannot say for certain. The manner in which the story jumps from India to the USA, from the past to the present is a bit haphazard. Sometimes there is no clear connection between one passage and the next.
Although not particularly lengthy, it took me an entire month to read this book. A MONTH! I wanted to see it through, mostly because I was curious to see how the author would tie everything together in the end. But I was also completely unenthusiastic at the thought of having to read it. I had serious issues with the author's style, and in particular her over-use of analogies, metaphors and similes that more often than not made no sense at all. Simple descriptions would have sufficed in most instances.
Overall, a disappointing and confusing read. I had hoped for so much more.
2 out of 5 stars.
March 2, 2014
This is a wonderful novel, with tales of loves lost, loves regained, emigration, repatriation, betrayal, disappointment and reconciliation.
Anju Melvin is a studious little girl growing up near Chennai, India. Her father is a chauffeur, and her mother died when she was too young to remember. She lives with her father, her grandmother and her older sister Linno.
As a teen, she wins a scholarship to an exclusive school in Manhattan -- but only because she falsely claims that the brilliant drawings done by Linno are hers. Once in America, she lives with a wealthy Indian-American family in which the mother is a TV host on a program like "The View," and the brash son fashions himself a documentary filmmaker. All goes well until she confesses her false pretenses to the one boy in the school who seems to like her.
When the deed is discovered, Anju is expelled, and rather than face her shame, she runs away to the one other person she has met -- a woman named Bird who works in a hair salon in Queens and who takes her in. Unbeknownst to Anju, Bird has sought her out because of a deep connection she has to Anju's family. And unbeknownst to anyone else, Linno harbors her own dark secret about her mother's death.
Anju believes her family will be shamed by her presence. They vow to find her no matter what, and it is these conflicting currents that lead to the dramatic climax of the book.
In this first novel, James raises questions about affluence, poverty, assimilation, what we give up to pursue other dreams, what we gain when we go home. Well worth the read.
March 19, 2010
‘But the water, having no memory, moves on.’
After the death of their mother Gracie, Linno and Anju are raised in Kerala by their father, Melvin, and their grandmother Ammachi. Anju wins a scholarship to a prestigious school in America, and lies, thus betraying her sister to accept it. Anju’s lie is uncovered a few months into her scholarship, and her life changes. Fleeing from her host family, Anju works in a beauty salon and tries to obtain a green card. Linno, seeking to travel to America to find her sister, earns money by creating handmade invitations.
The stories of Linno and Anju are not the only stories in this novel which provides both strength and weakness. The mystery of Gracie’s death, the differences between life in Kerala and New York City, and the role of Bird who becomes Anju’s protector in New York City add layers to the story. The strength is that this provides a depth and complexity to the story, the weakness is that the stories of the sisters become overshadowed at times by the events of the past. While this detail enriches the story and provides cultural context and colour, I am ambivalent about the way it shapes the journey. I enjoyed the novel: the stories of Linno and Anju caught and kept my attention. But at the end of the novel I wondered about all of the other characters who had been involved.
This is an impressive debut novel and I’ll be looking out for other novels by Ms James.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
After the death of their mother Gracie, Linno and Anju are raised in Kerala by their father, Melvin, and their grandmother Ammachi. Anju wins a scholarship to a prestigious school in America, and lies, thus betraying her sister to accept it. Anju’s lie is uncovered a few months into her scholarship, and her life changes. Fleeing from her host family, Anju works in a beauty salon and tries to obtain a green card. Linno, seeking to travel to America to find her sister, earns money by creating handmade invitations.
The stories of Linno and Anju are not the only stories in this novel which provides both strength and weakness. The mystery of Gracie’s death, the differences between life in Kerala and New York City, and the role of Bird who becomes Anju’s protector in New York City add layers to the story. The strength is that this provides a depth and complexity to the story, the weakness is that the stories of the sisters become overshadowed at times by the events of the past. While this detail enriches the story and provides cultural context and colour, I am ambivalent about the way it shapes the journey. I enjoyed the novel: the stories of Linno and Anju caught and kept my attention. But at the end of the novel I wondered about all of the other characters who had been involved.
This is an impressive debut novel and I’ll be looking out for other novels by Ms James.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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August 15, 2018This book was a hand-off from a favorite, book-loving guest. When she arrived she didn't even say 'hello.' Instead, it was simply a big hug and "I have a GREAT book for you!" One of the things I liked best was that by the time she gave it to me it looked as if she had dropped it in the bathtub, at least twice. :)
Anyway, I really liked this book - I really liked the characters, loved the story telling method, and loved the ending. All the pieces fit together, and yet I never really knew where exactly we would go ahead of time, so that it was like being taken on a lovely ride. It also made me realize, once again, how rich and fortunate and priveledged we are here in the US.
My favorite passages from this book:
Linno accompanies her father to the Fancy Shoppe, riding sidesaddle on the back of his bicycle, her heels held away from the spokes. They cut through mingled smells of dung, earth, freshwater, pesticides. They bump along between paddy fields, that, in stillness, reflect the sky’s blue with such clarity that grass seems to spring from liquid sky. At the water’s edge, a medley of palms bends low, each falling in love with its likeness, while webs of light spangle the dark undersides of the leaves.
(Rappi’s mother)…smiles with what teeth she has left, both of them stained brown like a guava slice left out in the sun.
Anyway, I really liked this book - I really liked the characters, loved the story telling method, and loved the ending. All the pieces fit together, and yet I never really knew where exactly we would go ahead of time, so that it was like being taken on a lovely ride. It also made me realize, once again, how rich and fortunate and priveledged we are here in the US.
My favorite passages from this book:
Linno accompanies her father to the Fancy Shoppe, riding sidesaddle on the back of his bicycle, her heels held away from the spokes. They cut through mingled smells of dung, earth, freshwater, pesticides. They bump along between paddy fields, that, in stillness, reflect the sky’s blue with such clarity that grass seems to spring from liquid sky. At the water’s edge, a medley of palms bends low, each falling in love with its likeness, while webs of light spangle the dark undersides of the leaves.
(Rappi’s mother)…smiles with what teeth she has left, both of them stained brown like a guava slice left out in the sun.
August 6, 2015
An intricate and beautifully written story of how a young woman embarks on a new life in the U.S. The main character, Anju, is impetuous, single-minded and selfish at times. She's a complicated person and repeatedly alters the course of her life through lies and impulse decisions. Her sister, Linno, is hard-working and doggedly loyal to her family. The novel looks at how their lives develop when they separate. There is a thought-provoking examination of immigration into the U.S. from the characters' points of view.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and became engaged with the main characters and their family. I admire the author's subtle consideration of the way in which life stories develop in a manner very specific to each narrator or beholder, and the corrections and modifications made through the course of the book to update these.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and became engaged with the main characters and their family. I admire the author's subtle consideration of the way in which life stories develop in a manner very specific to each narrator or beholder, and the corrections and modifications made through the course of the book to update these.
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August 23, 2021Weaving fluidly between past and present, a village in India and New York City, this is a story of two sisters who dream of bettering their lives by seeking freedom and new opportunities through immigration. This is the author's debut novel and she is quite a storyteller! It is a complex story and the central characters are all three dimensional. I got a better understanding of what it is like to get permission to come to this country.
The book is warm and funny as well, and some of the language is so interesting and original. The depictions of the culture clash feel true.
The book is warm and funny as well, and some of the language is so interesting and original. The depictions of the culture clash feel true.
May 27, 2021
I loved the storyline, its layers and originality, but I found one or two characters so unlikable, and that wouldn’t be a problem since not all characters should be liked, but their actions and reactions just seemed so unrealistic or illogical to me that I was left confused and slightly frustrated. Overall, an interesting read, and perhaps others would find these characters’ actions not so bothersome.
February 9, 2014
I really enjoyed reading this book which was so beautifully written with very full and rich characters. Of particularly interest was the insight it offered into the experience of an Indian girl in New York juxtaposed with great detail about one family's life in rural India. Thanks to Jodi for recommending it to me.
May 28, 2015
So good! Another book full of powerful everyday misses and things that aren't at all what they seem. I loved the way that Tania James told this story, unweaving and reweaving history. This book shows an understanding of family and communication that is deep and full of wounds. I loved it.
February 23, 2022
A beautiful debut - as lush and tangy as the best kinds of fruit.
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March 3, 2013I'm a sucker for a good novel about the Indian experience.
January 30, 2015
utterly boring novel..lacks depth, was a hard task to finish it
May 2, 2011
If you have a sister I think you might love this book.
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