Serving Crazy with Curry

by Amulya Malladi

Between the pressures to marry and become a traditional Indian wife and the humiliation of losing her job in Silicon Valley, Devi is on the edge–where the only way out seems to be to jump. . . .

Yet Devi’s plans to “end it all” fall short when she is saved by the last person she wants to see: her mother. Forced to move in with her parents until she recovers, Devi refuses to speak. Instead, she cooks . . . nonstop. And not the usual fare, but off the wall twists on Indian classics, like blueberry curry chicken or Cajun prawn biryani. Now family meals are no longer obligations. Devi’s parents, her sister, and her brother-in-law can’t get enough–and they suddenly find their lives taking turns as surprising as the impromptu creations Devi whips up in the kitchen each night. Then a stranger appears out of the blue. Devi, it appears, had a secret–one that touches many a nerve in her tightly wound family. Though exposing some shattering truths, the secret will also gather them back together in ways they never dreamed possible.

Interspersed with mouthwatering recipes, this story mixes humor, warmth, and leap-off-the-page characters into a rich stew of a novel that reveals a woman’s struggle for acceptance from her family and herself.

Genres: Fiction, India, Chick Lit, Food, Contemporary, Book Club, Indian Literature

251 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Amulya Malladi is the bestselling author of eight novels, including The Copenhagen Affair, A House for Happy Mothers, and The Mango Season. Her books have been translated into several languages, including Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Danish, Romanian, Serbian, and Tamil. She won a screenwriting award for her work on Ø (Island), a Danish series that aired on Amazon Prime Global and Studio Canal+. Currently living in California, she is a Danish citizen who was born and raised in India.

amulyamalladi.com
facebook.com/authoramulya

Reviews

[D.G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best things about this book are the title and that it's short (234 pgs.)

I don’t know that I’ve ever read a book with so many unappealing, self-serving, spiteful, uninteresting characters. I definitely wouldn’t wish any of them as members of my family or friends because I’d be bound to get stabbed in the back and then get blamed for it.

The problem I had with this story was not the shitty characters – the world is full of nasty people, after all – but the way the conflict was resolved. The book dealt realistically with difficult relationships in marriages and between mothers and daughters so there was a LOT of unpleasantness, cruelty and deliberate viciousness. But at the end, everything was tied with a bow and they were all closer, even though one of the sisters betrayed the other in one of the worst ways you can think of. No matter the circumstances, I could never imagine instant forgiveness, especially between two sisters that were really envious of one another - at one point the main character is happy the sister she betrayed can’t have children, something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. What a great sister!

So if you feel tempted to pick up this book anywhere, just slap your own hand and run in the opposite direction.

[Manman821 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book. I just can't even formulate a response.

Something about this was just the perfect mix of everything. Maybe it's because I'm Indian, too, but really, all the problems, all the characters, even the dialogue resonated with me.
This somehow answered a lot of the questions I formulated myself, and the characters' ambition, hopes, attitudes were like putting a mirror up to myself.

The story starts with a young Indian girl who attempts to suicide but fails upon her mother finding her and 'saving her'. (Honestly, this was one of the best suicide scenes I've ever read. The feelings were captured almost perfectly, as were the conflicts in the narrator's head. Her actions, such as registering the heat of the bathtub and then realizing it doens't matter anymore. Or her feeling that her failure at life extends to her failure to end life because she failed to die. It was all so well written, something I could definitely understand even if I don't agree with her course of action.)

However, instead of trying to show directly how wrong Devi was in trying to suicide and giving up a life she could have had, the character does not immediately bounce back - instead there is a bout of escapism, where Devi returns to her childhood response of refusing to communicate while she sorts out her emotions. Through a long, incremental process, Devi sees her screwed up family in a new light, appreciating her mother, understanding her grandmother who breaks all social norms, and breaking through her sister's tight facade of a successful VP who is driven by her work life. She takes up cooking to stream her identity and create a fusion of food, a mix of culture that represents her.

Shoba's ambition is literally what I want for myself in the future, and I constantly battle the fear of losing my social life and everything else I value by pouring myself into the drive for this. Reading this, I answered some questions, raised others, and otherwise really thought about where my life can go from here.

In terms of the Indian culture throughout the book, I felt that the honor, values, traditions, and attitudes were all portrayed very well. Usually, reading these books, I'm wary of how exaggerated the culture is, or I feel insulted to be related to such whiny, uptight peole and want to scream out that not everyone is like that. The stereotypes, however, managed not to permeate this book. It was uniquely its own, something that showed individual people, the life of an Indian living in the Silicon Valley, constantly struggling to maintain her roots and keeping face with some of the more conservative views of the older generation, while acknowledging that after living here her whole life, she truly is an Indian American.

The cultural identity helped me look into myself and realize some things that I couldn't contemplate previously. Divorce, a negatively connoting shame to an Indian, is addressed through Shoba's relationship to her husband and the loveless marriage. Meanwhile, arranged marrianges, a long-standing tradition that continues to baffle me, manifests in Saroj's relationship and it truly shows the effect of perseverance, trying again, and enduring. The judgmental older generation and the importance of impressions in the Indian community makes more sense to me.

Overall, this book just makes sense to me, and holds great personal value, a trove of vicarious experience. I definitely recommend this for the depth of the novel, the accurate portrayal of a culture, and the general values beyond the culture, including suicide, family, recovery, love, lineage, passion, etc. Well-written, polished, and enjoyable, this book has entered my list of favorites, and hopefully it will enter yours too!

[Rehan Abd Jamil · Rating 5 out of 5]

i simply love this book!

[Gohnar23 · Rating 5 out of 5]

#️⃣5️⃣1️⃣2️⃣ Read & Reviewed in 2025 💔🩸
Date : 🚀 Saturday, September 27, 2025 🚫🔻❌
Word Count📃: 66k Words 🧨🔪🎈

⋆⭒𓆟⋆｡˚𖦹𓆜✩⋆ >-;;⁠;⁠;€ᐷ °‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡

( ˶°ㅁ°) !! My 86th read in "READING AS MANY BOOKS AS I CANNN 😢 cuz smth....happened.....irl.........😥" September ⚡

5️⃣🌟, Serving CUNT 💅💅💅 💫👑🏳️‍🌈.,..,i mean Suicidal Ideation 😔✊😢😞🚫🛑
——————————————————————
➕➖0️⃣1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣🔟✖️➗

*Cough* this is somehow a suicide book....✊ why is that even the title in the first place. This is a perfect mix of everything because it integrates many real world problems and many different toxic people & culture where survival can turn to a point of suicidal ideation. There are many times where even the main character does some toxic things to inevitably cope with her trauma because her environment is just not enough for her healing. The fear of losing people you care about even though they are not necessarily good people in the eyes of everyone still hurts because even people can be connected to bad people. Some people have toxic family members and they just let it be because they are....family. It is a very depressing book but there are still some hopeful and beautiful parts where some values truly matter. I do wish that the main character can find an even greater community and a better family and because she definitely needs a better one.

[Pattie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book, and then the last third was more than disappointing! I liked the whole idea of the old culture meeting the new in this Indian family. The added cooking theme was interesting and fun. I knew I was reading a book about a dysfunctional family and was eager to see how some issues would be resolved and some wouldn't. The "whys" of the characters issues were explained but not resolved in a realistic way at all. I was just sooooooo disappointed with the author when the "deep-secrets" came out, and with what she had chosen them to be. Really?? There were so many other directions she could have gone. And if it had been a true story you couldn't of tied that neatly up with a bow!

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book begins with Devi, 27 year old, American-born Indian daughter of Avi and Soraj, writing a list of the pros and cons of committing suicide. The pros win and, with careful consideration and planning, she fills her bath tub, climbs in and equally carefully slits her wrists. All the planning in the world is ruined by her mother, who comes calling, lets herself in with the key Devi has long wished she hadn't given her, and finds her daughter in time to save her life.

On her release from the hospital, Devi goes back to live with her parents and her grandmother Vasu, who is visiting from India. Unable to face the things that drove her into the bath tub in the first place, or the explanations everyone wants of her, Devi simply stops talking. And she soon starts cooking. To Soraj's horror, she invades her mother's perfect kitchen and starts creating her own curious brand of fusion cooking - dishes such as blueberry chicken curry. As she cooks, she begins to heal. And around her, her mixed-up, confused family begins to rediscover itself, from her sister Shobha and her failing arranged marriage to Soraj's hurtful relationship with her own mother and a whole lot more in between.

This come to a head when a stranger arrives at the door to reveal Devi's most painful secret, the one that was the final straw that drove her into the bath tub. As her family faces this, everything cracks apart so that it can come together again in a new, better way.

This sounds like it should be a depressing book. It isn't. It's bright and thoughtful and just a bit crazy like its title. I truly can't remember how I found out about it, but I'm sure it came from browsing around the internet. One of my nice librarian friends tracked down a copy for me and I devoured it in a couple of days. Now I want to share it with everyone, especially my mother and my Indian "sister" who I think would relate to quite a bit of it.

It's written in an occasionally non-linear fashion, where it can take a moment to work out if the current anecdote is current or in the past. However, I didn't have an real troubles with that. While Devi is the main protagonist, the book doesn't focus solely on her. Instead, all the characters get a share of the limelight, usually giving the reader secret knowledge the other characters don't share and thereby making everyone a little more honest.

The things you might expect to find are in here, especially the clash of cultures and generations as Soraj tries to live her Indian life in America and keep her daughters, who think of themselves as American, Indian. We see how Soraj's own childhood with Vasu has shaped her into the person she is, and how her own raising of Shobha and Devi has shaped them. All in all, this book is about love. The love for one's husband or wife, one's lover, one's family, one's heritage. The different characters have all found different kinds of love to be their first priority and each is show to be neither less nor more than any other, but all their choices gave a profound affect on the people around them.

Then there's the appendix at the end where the author has a chat with her characters, which is just delightful.

This is a delightful book; go out, find a copy, read it and then share it with your friends.

[Copied across from Library Thing; 25 September 2012]

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first work by this author I read, and it started my fascination with American ethnic subculture literature (e.g. the new explosion of Indian literature written for American audiences, exploring themes such as family, change, love, and social acceptance). I think Jane found it at duty free in Canada on the way to Morocco. The story is about a South-Indian family living in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is something I immediately could relate to. A great storyteller once said "stories tell us how to live and why." Malladi's literature not only fulfills those two roles, but give me a peek inside Indian and Indian-American cultures that have real meaning, not just another travel guide or history/sociology book.

[Madhulika Liddle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Serving Crazy With Curry begins with its protagonist, twenty-seven year old Devi, trying to commit suicide by slitting her wrists. Devi’s nagging mother Saroj happens to come by just then and manages to save her daughter, but once Devi is ready to be discharged, the only safe place she can go before she recovers enough to get on with the rest of her life is her parents’ home. To the people she calls family.

And this is a family that is dysfunctional with a capital D. For the past thirty years—since they migrated to the US—Saroj has blamed her husband Avi for her being at a loose end, for her being away from India, for their daughters not turning out the ‘good’ Indian girls she had wanted them to be. Devi herself is an utter failure, losing one job after another, sleeping with one man after another—and now, of course, this failed attempt at ending her own life. Her elder sister Shobha, by contrast, is a success in seemingly every way: a VP at thirty, very driven, married to the quiet, scholarly professor Girish—but the marriage is a mess and Shobha will never have a baby. Presiding over all of them is Saroj’s mother Vasu, a woman who’s lived life on her own terms—and hasn’t been the model parent either.

I had a lot of problems with this book. The biggest was that this bunch of people just did not appeal to me. There was not a single person I liked and was rooting for: each of them was, to some degree or the other, a self-centred, nasty, hypocritical mess. Yes, I know that’s what dysfunctional is all about, but to this extent? Sadly, the ‘heroine’ was the person I ended up liking the least. Devi is guilty of one of the most low deeds I can imagine (and, after the deed is done, she wonders why she did it? And has the gall to fling recriminations at someone else guilty of having done some thing similar, only not quite so awful? Ooh, the hypocrisy).

My second major grouse with this book was that much of the food was all wrong. Firstly, I find it hard to believe that someone who had never cooked before was suddenly whipping up all these fantastic dishes.

A biryani is not a biryani unless it’s layered. You can’t throw meat and rice together and call it biryani.

Sabzi literally means ‘vegetable’ (or, if you want to be even more precise, ‘green vegetable’, since it’s derived from the Urdu/Persian sabz, ‘green’). So, unless you cook it with lots of green leafy vegetables, there really is no such thing as ‘goat sabzi'. Also, near the beginning of the book, Saroj scoffs at Devi’s suggestion of making duck curry, saying that Indians don’t make duck curry. That made me wince, because Indians do make duck curry—especially in Assam, where it’s a much-loved delicacy…

… And guess what? It turns out Saroj spent the early years of her married life in Jorhat (Assam!) from where she has some recipes. How anybody who spent some time in Assam and made good enough friends to learn cooking missed hearing about duck curry beats me.

While on the Assam angle, another quibble: Jorhat in the early 70s (or whenever Shobha was born) is very unlikely to have had ‘baby stores’. I should know; I was born in Haflong (also in Assam) in 1973, and my mother had to get pretty much everything for me from the capital, Guwahati, or even further afield, Calcutta.

But I admit I am perhaps nitpicking because I detested the characters in this book so much that I find even more to hate about the book. At some level, despite the stereotypes (the clichéd Bollywood presence, the arranged marriages, etc), and despite the obnoxious characters, there is some level of realism here, because there are people like this in the world. It’s just that having all of them come together in one book, with each character vying with the other for A*****e of the Year Award… no, this wasn’t my cup of chai at all.

(Which reminds me: how do you make one batch of chai with cardamom for one person and no cardamom for the other? Or do you make two batches? If two batches, why? Why do you let people take you so much for granted?)

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 out of 5 stars Serving up a great read!!, December 3, 2004

This review is from: Serving Crazy with Curry (Paperback)
Amulya Malladi is a master storyteller. This book, the third novel focusing on the lives and times of Indian women in crisis, is a fabulous study of family dynamics. Relationships are at the center of a Malladi novel -- between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, sisters and sisters -- and this one is a powerful discussion of a family reacting to a member's attempted suicide.
Devi is a mess. She has managed to screw up her life and feels that her only way out is through suicide. She chooses the time and the method, plans it all out, and puts her plan into motion -- only to be thwarted at this as well: nosy mom happens to come by and lets herself in with her key to find Devi in the nick of time. Devi does not consider this "saving" to be a favor. She stops talking completely and, after discharge from the hospital, takes over her mother's kitchen -- cooking new dishes that are nothing like those ever produced in her home. Her emotions come out through her cooking -- extra spicy when she is angry, milder when she is mellow. Her family -- mother, father, sister Shobha and brother-in-law Girish don't know what to make of this. Truths long held inside are revealed as the family recovers from Devi's suicide attempt. A dead marriage is revived but another one is abandoned. A mother's love is finally accepted, and the sisters learn how to accept each other. In short, this is a wonderful story and one you will remember long after you put the book down. A reader's circle guide with discussion questions is included as well as a whimsical conversation between the author and her characters. ENJOY!!!

[Esha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Things I didn't like about this book:-

*Its cover. OK I read an ebook but every time I logged into goodreads I had that silly cover staring at me. Note to authors:- You can write a book on Indians without henna/ Indian girl in colourful outfit especially when the book is set in America.

*Its characters. Never have I read of such unrealistic, annoying characters with non redeeming characteristics. Ok maybe 'never' is an exaggeration but I just didn't buy such a hippie Indian grandmother, an annoying/ needy mother, and such stereotypical girls.

*The ending. The book for me dragged on towards the end.

Things I liked:-
* Recipes & food references.

[Irene · Rating 1 out of 5]

Once I start a book, I have to finish it and this one was so painful to get through. To my surprise my husband who is an avid reader thought this book was entertaining - mind you he skimmed through the book. He liked the idea that the story line took place in the bay area.

I found it to be as cheezy and as poorly written as a TV serial/soap opera. The characters are one dimensional, the plot is predictable. The book is made of stereotypes that would make non-Indians cringe. Just plain awful!!!

[Ashwini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh lord, so much drama re baba! Serving crazy with stereotypical curry lives up to its name. There's crazy. There's curry. And the book is a confusing, aggravating mix of the two.

The book looks into the lives and interpersonal (and rather twisted) relationships of an Indian family living in the USA.

The contained, pragmatic Avi Veturi is a successful first generation software entrepreneur, married to the vivacious Saroj, a homemaker with flair, who is the daughter of the unconventional, an ex army officer. They have two children - the ambitious Shobha, president of a tech company who is married to the reticent Girish, a Stanford professor, and Devi. The 27 year old, single, laid off, confused, Devi, who attempts suicide at the start of the book, as she isn't your typical success story.

The story takes off when Saroj discovers Devi lying in the bathtub, and thwarts her suicide attempt by saving her life. Devi stops talking, and starts cooking, taking over Saroj's turf (much to her annoyance.)

The entire family rallies around Devi to aid in her recovery. Secrets are uncovered. Familial dynamics are navigated. Relationships are explored, strained, destroyed and renewed afresh.

Though the book is entertaining in parts and characters are quite vociferous and equally represented, I somehow just couldn't relate to the unlikeable protagonist, and absolutely couldn't wrap my head around the toxicity in some parts. Especially after the grand expose, the way members of the family react to each other glibly and implausibly annoyed me to no end. It somehow climaxed lacking nuance, sensitivity and emotional depth.

Overall, decent writing that keeps you engaged. A storyline that could have been much more. Over the top family drama. Frustrating protagonist. Shallow, insincere equations.

Would I recommend this book? Not especially. Would I read more by this author? Yes.

Rating - 2.9/5

[Teresita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book, it isn't a page turner type of book. Explores the aftermath of what a suicide attempt does to a family. Discusses the complexities of marriage, love, and relationships within a family. Also uses food in an interesting way to bring family closer together. Second book I've read by this author, will probably read some more of her stuff.

[Sheryl Sorrentino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mothers and daughters and lovers, oh my! Serving Crazy with Curry is an entertaining and well-paced read. It's not especially "moving" or "deep" given the subject matter, but I loved the way the family rallied around Devi after her attempted suicide and during her recovery.

The "big reveal" at the end was rather predictable, but the depiction of family relationships and the story's glimpses into Indian culture carried the day. And if you're interested in Indian cooking, you can attempt to replicate Devi's creations with the simple recipes at the end of each chapter.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy alright ! yes there was a lot going on in this book , but I really enjoyed it and it was a great summer read

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Devi feels like a failure. She has no husband, no children, and now she’s lost her job too. She compares herself to her older sister Shobha, who appears on the surface to be the ideal traditional Indian wife, and finds herself wanting. She decides that life is no longer worth living, and carefully plans her suicide, an event that she wishes to proceed as painlessly and neatly as possible. But something goes awry:

“Death was supposed to have happened. She had chosen to die, but now she was alive, a survivor. What exactly had she survived? How was she supposed to deal with the failure to end her life as well as the failure of not being able to live it with any dignity?” [p. 34]

Serving Crazy with Curry is about Devi and her family. When Devi’s suicide plot fails, she adopts a vow of silence, returns home to live with her parents and begins to cook. Saroj and Avi immigrated to California from India many years ago, and Saroj has never truly settled here and still yearns to return to her homeland. Saroj’s mother Vasu comes to visit once or twice a year. The story is mostly about the relationships between these four closely connected women: Devi, Shobha, Saroj, and Vasu. Malladi did a wonderful job of painting these characters individually, giving them each a vibrant personality of their own. She seamlessly weaves in a compelling backstory for each of them that helps us to understand who they are and why they manage their lives the way they do. I was disappointed that the book was set in the U.S. (I was hoping it would be set in India), but Malladi brought plenty of rich Indian culture to the mix. Devi shops, prepares, and cooks fragrant and flavourful recipes, using techniques learned from her mother but always incorporating her own ideas for unusual ingredients. The author deals with Devi’s recovery in a sensitive and thoughtful fashion, delving deftly into the psychology of suicide and the dangers and obstacles that surround a survival. There were numerous times that I felt that the author was so close to grasping onto something truly deep and meaningful in this book, but somehow it quietly eluded her pen each time. Malladi, however, definitely has a talent for description and wordplay:

“She had to go. She could feel it all the way inside her where the small sparks of light were playing, trying to stimulate her heart, which was slowing down making her free, unfettered.” [p. 227]

I enjoyed reading Serving Crazy with Curry, but I frequently felt that this young author fell just a bit short of writing something magnificent, instead of something merely good. There was much to sink myself into, and yet the plot that floated around the main character often felt somewhat contrived and manipulative.

“I feel like a walking mass of pain, unable to understand my actions, yet feeling little remorse, which makes me feel guiltier. This is a vicious cycle I can’t break free of.” [p. 231]

This is the third of Malladi’s five published novels, which she’s been producing more or less annually since 2002. At only 33 years of age, I suspect that she has many more good novels to come, and that her skill will only increase. Definitely an author to watch.

[AngryGreyCat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serving Crazy with Curry is a book about Devi, an Asian Indian young woman who attempts suicide and is saved by chance. The effects of Devi’s suicide attempt ripple through her family and each member deals with it in their own way depending upon their circumstances. Devi’s path to recovery begins in her mother’s kitchen as she starts to cook and prepare meals unlike the food her family has eaten before. There was a lot to enjoy about this book in the cooking sequences and Devi’s thoughts about recovering, however the big “secret” behind Devi’s suicide attempt became obvious rather early on and is not something I sympathize with. I also did not find her sister’s reaction to the reveal realistic at all.

[Moyosore · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know I am 20 years late so let's just dive straight into it.

First of, let's talk about what i liked

1) How the book depicted what happens in a family after a failed suicide attempt. It showed how each character processed their individual guilts and how they thought they contributed to the suicide attempt - It was ugly but it was a necessary story to tell.

2) How loss affects people in different ways - we saw the loss of a lover, an unborn child and a marriage, and all 3 women handled them in different ways

Now, what I didn't like. This is a whole ride.

1) Sleeping with your sister's husband!! Has the world gone mad? The author then made us sit through the "happy reconciliation" between the sisters. Idc if it was a failing marriage, I expected more reaction from Sohban especially since she's usually vocal about EVERYTHING. There was a part where they were joking about her hooking up with Girish again whilst drinking tea with their mother. *cut the cameras* wth!

2) I dislike a cheating trope but I think I dislike a cheating trope that adds nothing to the story more. I get that they were all dysfunctional characters but was this necessary? Girish and Shobha could've easily ended things without him cheating. Devi could have gotten pregnant by another man that's not her sister's husband, and still go through the same grief and hopelessness.

3) How unkind the characters were to each other for the most part of the book. Omg! I could fill a book with how angry this made me. I want the records to show that I do not like Shobha - she was so rude, unkind and downright disrespectful. There wasn't even a cause for the vitriol she was always determined to lash out. She made several nasty remarks about Devi (even when she was in the hospital bed).

I hated how dismissive Avi was to Saroj especially after having to drag her almost dead daughter from a bath tub. Saroj wasn't perfect (and she annoyed me a couple of times) but she deserved better than her "first half of the book" family.

4) The writing itself - it wasn't bad but the way the author portrayed the family made it seem like a fairly conservative Indian family so imagine how surprised I was to see a lot of cuss words and the older and younger women talking about nudity, sex, etc so openly and without any filter. Is this real life?

5) Formatting - There were a couple of formatting issues. Also noticed the author didn't always use a page break when introducing another characters pov - so a chapter could have 4 different people being the narrator of different scenes. Threw me off a bit.

All in all, I finished it so that's saying something but this isn't a book I would recommend to anyone.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devi lost her job, was having an affair with a married man, and had a miscarriage and wanted to end her life. Feeling like she had failed at life, she was ready to die, only she could not even do that right. Her mother comes to her rescue and soon Devi finds herself living with her parents and visiting grandmother with her family all around her offering their support and yet struggling through their own emotions and personal issues. Devi, refusing to speak, turns to cooking to soothe her pain, finding comfort and peace in the kitchen.

Ms. Malladi provides a look into the hearts and minds of each of her characters, allowing readers to better understand them and their motives. As I read, I wished each of the characters could share openly with each other all that they felt and thought in order to clear up the misunderstandings and heal some of the hurt they had caused each other over the years. How much like real life! A book about love and family, this is a story involving complex characters and is written with much depth.

[Jayme · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read the "sample" I thought the author would explore the relationship between Devi, and her unconventional grandmother and I also thought that the author would educate the reader on cooking traditional Indian cuisine but she did not do either particularly well. The author "told" the story more than "showed" the reader what was happening so it was hard to become immersed in it. I was constantly having to look up a description of the foods being cooked and even when the author shared the ingredients, she did so without measurements so a cook would have little success in replicating a recipe described. Great ideas, but poor execution. A weak 3 stars...

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devi can't stand the pressure (to marry and as a result of losing her job in Silicon Valley), so she commits suicide - but is saved by her meddling mother and forced to live with her parents as she "recoveres." She refuses to speak but begins cooking - nonstop - new twists on traditional fare (blueberry curry chicken or Cajun prawn biryani). When a stranger appears her secrets begin to come out. And the entire family's "tradition" of miscommunication further complicates things.

I enjoyed this story and would like to read more of Malladi's work.

[Lavanya Sunkara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! I recommend it to all women out there :)

[Krystn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite authors.

[Jessikah Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

A funny story about a culture I knew little about. Fast-paced, funny and with a strong balance of emotion.

[Camilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like Serving Crazy with Curry more than I did. The characters were initially interesting and reminded me very much of some families I knew when I was in college...at the same place Shobha attended. (Go, Bears!) The parents were immigrants from India; the kids were either American-born or very Americanized. And the clashes of the cultures were palpable in both my memories and this novel.

In the book, Devi is ravaged by immense pressure to marry and become a traditional Indian wife. Her sister, Shobha, had an arranged marriage and, from the outside, has a charmed life. She's a CEO of a company in Silicon Valley with a husband who is a professor at Stanford.

So, Devi decides to commit suicide. Her attempt is thwarted when her mother finds her and she is forced to move back in with her parents and her maternal grandmother who is on an extended stay from India.

As she did when she was a child, as a coping mechanism, Devi refuses to speak. Instead, she cooks constantly. Devi had always questioned the usual way of making dishes. "'Why can’t we add parsley in the dal?' Devi would ask. 'Because Indians don’t use parsley, only coriander', Saroj would say. 'Why can’t we make a duck curry or rabbit curry instead of a chicken curry? Do we always have to have the same kind of chicken curry?' Devi would want to know. 'Because Indians don’t eat duck or rabbit or deer or any of those other repulsive meats', Saroj would respond" (pg. 16).

To help Devi recover, Saroj grudgingly relinquishes the household cooking duties and Devi creates riffs on traditional Indian classics such as curry chicken made with blueberries and Cajun prawn biriyani. "Devi made a ginger, apricot, and mint chutney, along with a good amount of chipotle chili peppers found in a bottle, hidden deep down in Saroj’s everything-is-in-there pantry. The end result was a fiery, smoky, tangy concoction that beat the pants off of Saroj’s mint chutney" (pg. 69)

All of those culinary adventures were inspiring, but I found the book incredibly disappointing. Without spoiling the book, what could have been a poignant story about difficult relationships between mothers and children (G'ma and Saroj, Saroj and Devi), the challenges of marriage (Saroj and Avi, Shobha and Girish), and even sibling rivalry and conflict devolved into a trite tale that was abruptly tied up with a bow.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four women - each very different - brought together by a suicide attempt. Indian grandmother Vasu is a retired army officer who shocked her society with a decades long affair with a married man after her husband killed himself. Indian-born but living in California, her daughter Saroj is a 'traditional' Indian wife, despite having a love marriage. Saroj's two daughters, Shobha and Devi, are American born but each very different from the other. Shobha is an IT specialist, a VP in a tech company by the time she's 30 and she asked for an arranged marriage after messing up a love affair. Her sister Devi has lost a lot of jobs, lost a lot of men and lost something else that drove her to try to kill herself.

The book follows the four women - and two of their husbands - through the aftermath of the suicide attempt. Devi can't explain and won't explain so she becomes an elective mute, communicating with the family through the food she cooks. Her drastic action seems set to either drive the family apart or knit them back together - the book takes us through that process.

I have a loathing of novels that attempt to shove recipes down the readers' throats but Amulya Malladi handles the inclusion of recipes very well by making them barely recipes at all. Devi's recipes are 'a bit' of this and 'some' of that, cooked for 'a while' - no 'half a cup' or 20g at 180C - so it's clear we're not supposed to attempt to emulate them. It was a first for me that I actually READ the recipes as I usually just flick through and fume about the pointlessly over-used technique of using them.

It's a sweet story, one I enjoyed, and I came to like each of the women in their own special ways. Undoubtedly the Indian diaspora does bring inter-generational challenges but Malladi twists these by giving each of the women their own choices of how they break the rules in different ways so it's not a simple case of the young women being too 'modern' and the older ones too 'traditional'.

The shock revelations are not particularly shocking or revealing - I guessed most of the twists - but there was a satisfaction rather than a disappointment in finding I was right.

I've read a lot of AM's books and have a couple more to go. I like this one better than most.

[Athena Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who enjoys cooking and has known people who either attempted or committed suicide, I would say that plot wise, Serving Crazy with Curry does a good job showcasing how complicated suicide and mental health are in relation to the roles of women in Indian culture. I especially enjoy seeing how Devi's relationships with her mother and sister and grandmother changed for the better throughout the course of the novel.

However, structure wise, I feel that the story would be more impactful if it focused only on Devi and expanded through the use of actual recipes, a glossary of all of the terms italicized, and footnotes of all of the shows and movies referenced. When I tried to read this book for the first time, I felt lost because I didn't know ahead of time that the book didn't just focus on Devi overcoming suicide. Had I probably got a notion of the complexity of the novel after reading the tease on the back, I probably would have been more patient reading it and not feel pressured to have to do research while reading it.

Overall, as an introduction to women's expectations and mental health issues in Indian and Indian American communities, I would say that "Serving Crazy with Curry" is a solid one to start off with. Going forward, however, I think that I'll check out more novels that have actual recipes in them and a more linear, but complicated narrative. I will give props to Malladi for showcasing how complicated suicide is because it's true.

[Grada (BoekenTrol) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books gets 4.5 stars.

Another book read that has been hiding in my TBR shelf for ages. And I really have no idea why I didn't read it sooner.
I remember starting the book once before, but with all that was going on in my life, I just couldn't make myself read a book with a first sentence that's about someone (trying to) commit(to g) suicide.
Now I've finally picked it up and read it, I'm touched. Touched by the way the difficult subjects of life are woven into this story with sadness, humour and ... recipes.

Usually I have favourite characters in a book, but this time I can't pick a favourite or even say that I disliked one of the main characters.
All of them have strong sides, all of them have (big) flaws. They all carry their history/upbringing with them and that makes them how they are in that family of father, mother, two daughters and a grandmother.

What I especially liked, was that their history, how things cane to be, was told. In a way that I, non American, non Indian, could understand. Or at least get a bit of an idea on how it all happen. The what came before in this book is a big part of what happens now.

The strong bond between the family members is heart warming, even though the bicker, argue and have their own individual sorrows to carry and overcome.

I'm glad the book ended where it did, that the author chose a (more or less) open ending to the book. I would have hated it, had she chosen to write a cheesy ending.

I hope to find another book by this author!
And, as last remark: highly recommended!

[Syrdarya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had an ebook version of this book for years and never finished it (not a reflection on the book, but rather my difficulty reading ebooks), but I recently won a paperback copy of this book and decided to give it another go.

Devi is the younger daughter of an Indian-American family living in California. She recently lost her job and is in despair over her lack of success in either work or love. She decides to end her life, but is saved by Saroj, her mother who is desperately trying to get anyone to appreciate all she does for her family. After Devi wakes up in the hospital, she refuses to talk, and moves back home to be under the eyes of her parents, Saroj and Avi, her grandmother Vasu, her older sister Shobha, and her brother-in-law Girish.

Even though Devi was never into cooking, much to everyone's surprise she invades her mother's kitchen and cooks amazing dishes which break new ground for the family. As they all try to puzzle out why Devi tried to kill herself, and why she is suddenly cooking, the family begins to examine themselves and their relationships with each other and start to mend not just Devi but also themselves.

I loved this book! The characters all seemed very real, very flawed, and although much of how they behaved might have made them unlikable, they were instead all people that I could relate to on some level. I would highly recommend this novel.

[KP Zikami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the book. I love how empathetic ally Malladi shows the progression of the thoughts of someone contemplating suicide to actually doing it to finding out that she actually couldn't do it. Although in the beginning it felt that the mother's character was treated with disdain, it was nice to understand her better when the narration brought in her POV. I think, I really liked the way the different POVs were brought in together and synergized to give the readers a better understanding of the whole scenario. I had read about the big "secret" in one of the reviews, so that was not a secret for me. But, even knowing about it,didn't feel like a spoiler as the author slowly unfurled the different layers of the story. I think, I would have liked to know why and how Devi fell in love with the person she fell in love with. However, I think, I see why the author didn't delve much into it. That simply wasn't the point of the story. I loved how the evolution of the mothers-daughters or sibling relationships were portrayed with time. How it was shown how our thoughts about relationships change when hit by a sudden event. Overall, a great read about relationships, mental health, and life of Indians in a foreign country. Although the title and a big part of the book was about food, to me that made less of any lasting impression.