Desirable Daughters

Three Sisters from Calcutta #1

by Bharati Mukherjee

In the tradition of the Joy Luck Club, Bharati Mukherjee has written a remarkable novel that is both the portrait of a traditional Brahmin Indian family and a contemporary American story of a woman who has in many ways broken with tradition but still remains tied to her native country.

Mukherjee follows the diverging paths taken by three extraordinary Calcutta-born sisters as they come of age in a changing world. Moving effortlessly between generations, she weaves together fascinating stories of the sisters' ancestors, childhood memories, and dramatic scenes from India's history.

Genres: Fiction, India, Indian Literature, Historical Fiction, Asia, Womens, Book Club

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Bharati Mukherjee was an Indian-born award winning American writer who explored the internal culture clashes of her immigrant characters in the award-winning collection The Middleman and Other Stories and in novels like Jasmine and Desirable Daughters.

Ms. Mukherjee, a native of Calcutta, attended schools in England, Switzerland and India, earned advanced degrees in creative writing in the United States and lived for more than a decade in Canada, affording her a wealth of experience in the modern realities of multiculturalism.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Calcutta in 1959 and a master’s degree from the University of Baroda, in Gujarat, in 1961. After sending six handwritten stories to the University of Iowa, she was accepted into the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she studied with Philip Roth and Vance Bourjaily in her first year. She earned an M.F.A. in 1963 and a doctorate in comparative literature in 1969 at Iowa.

After years of short-term academic appointments, Ms. Mukherjee was hired in 1989 to teach postcolonial and world literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

Bharati Mukherjee died on Saturday, January 28, 2017 in Manhattan. She was 76.

Reviews

[Beata Zwarycz · Rating 2 out of 5]

As fascinating as I find the Indian subcontinent and as much as I want to learn the differences between the cultures, languages and religions of India, reading this book was mostly just frustrating.

Not sure if it's just the fact that the book focuses on the woes of the Bengali elite (ouch, my gold necklace is so heavy, I think I'm developing scoliosis!) or that the heroine of the story never manages to grow a spine (and yet she's suppose to be this independent, modern woman!) or all these surrounding characters who are just so rude, narrow-minded and self-centered, but put it all together and what you get is a world you don't really want to be a part of.

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Onvan : Desirable Daughters - Nevisande : Bharati Mukherjee - ISBN : 786885157 - ISBN13 : 9780786885152 - Dar 320 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2002

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I picked this book up, I couldn't tell you, but after getting through the first portions, it seemed to pick up steam and I liked it more than I would have thought. I enjoyed the gossipy commentary on family and immigrant life, especially on ones who went against the prescribed grain of Indian expectations, but never so far away that there was a total loss of identity. The book is about uncovered truths---ones hidden, others buried deep inside, some menacing, and of gradual uncovering. Some of the storylines seemed contrived, but overall I enjoyed this book, loved the protagonist, a Bengali immigrant formerly married to a wealthy entrprenuer, who now deals with a former-biker Buddhist live-in who makes homes safe against earthquakes and an artistic son with secrets of his own, when she is suddenly forced to face a family secret that throws her world into a spin. I think I liked best the commentary on different aspects of Indian life. . .the prejudices, attitudes, beliefs, customs. It also made me recall sitting with my Indian neighbors once, and watching my always polite and pleasant friend turn almost ash-white when I remarked that "wouldn't it be funny if your daughter ended up falling in love with my son [they were classmates in fifth grade]". I have been blessed to have had several Indian families living nearby over the years, from different parts of the country, and I learned quite a bit from all of them.

[Naheed Hassan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desirable Daughters is primarily the story of Tara Lata, one of three sisters and the namesake of an ancient grand-aunt who became a Tree Bride. The story is slow to progress and doesn't really have much of a plot. What it does do, is paint a fascinating picture of Brahmin elitist life in Calcutta, the bhadralok as they are known. We get a glimpse of a lost time, an age of protected innocence where a 'Loreto school girl' epitomized class and culture and groomed to become a good wife. The story deals with Tara's memories of that time and her slowly fading reverence for her childhood and culture as she is forced to look back without rose-tinted glasses on while she simultaneously tackles with the challenges and stark realities of her new life in America.

beautifully written, the best parts are descriptions of Tara's childhood and her sheltered life as a Silicon Valey wife. But the lack of a plot detracts from the overall book. Still, it is a lovely read all in all and Bharati Mukherjee's storytelling skills more than make up for the deficiencies.

[Karlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fascinating novel involving the lives of immigrants to the US. In this case, 3 daughters grew up in Calcutta where their beauty was praised and where they attended excellent schools. Years later, the youngest is a divorced single mother in CA whose life changes drastically when a conman approaches her and proves to be very dangerous. The exciting plot keeps leaping ahead while one also learns about different ways of thinking for Indians. A terrific book.

[Imas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kisah dibuka dengan acara pernikahan Tara Lata gadis kecil berusia lima tahun yang akan dinikahkan dengan seorang pria muda berumur 13 tahun. Kemegahan upacara menjadi hancur saat kapal yang ditumpangi mempelai pria batal mendarat karena sang mempelai pria telah dijemput maut melalui gigitan ular dikapal yg ditumpanginya.

Ternyata upacara pernikahan di India saat itu juga hrs diiringi doa-doa agar mempelai tidak dipatuk ular yang dianggap sebagai penjelmaan Dewi Manasha, penguasa ular kobra di Benggala Timur.Dia akan selalu menemukan cara untuk memangsa.

Untuk menghindari kutukan dan nasib buruk yang akan menimpa sepanjang umurnya, Tara Lata tetap akan menikah dengan mempelai pengganti yaitu sebatang pohon rindang ditengah hutan. Mempelai pohon akhirnya diresmikan sebagai suami isteri dimalam hari. Rombongan berangkat membawa lampu minyak dengan resiko dirampok oleh bandit dengan pameran kekayaan,emas dan perhiasan yang dipakai maupun untuk mas kawin.Kisah sebenarnya tentang Tara yg memiliki nama yang sama dengan Tara sang pengantin pohon,nenek sepupunya.Tara Bhattacharjee bersaudara, Padma, Parvati dan Tara. Dengan bingkai budaya,tradisi,keyakinan dan kegamangan terhadap jati diri dan kepercayaan dalam lingkungan modern yg terus berubah adalah rangkaian cerita dalam buku ini. Tara yg menikah dan akhirnya bercerai,dengan pemuda India yang sukses sebagai pengusaha di Amerika. Kepura-puraan,dan kegalauan dalam kisah keluarga ini memang luarbiasa.

Bangsa India sebagaimana dengan bangsa Cina memang bangsa yang mendunia,karir yg ingin mereka bangun bukan hanya sebatas dinegara India namun tetap bertahan dengan keyakinan identitas mereka sebagai orang India.Beda dengan orang Indonesia kebanyakan yg masih tinggal dan sudah puas dengan kesuksesan di Indonesia tapi sudah meninggalkan tradisi dan berlagak bukan sebagai orang Indonesia. Konflik antar etnis,antar agama menjadi topik yang banyak dibahas dalam buku ini. Menurut saya Bharati Mukherjee mengungkapkannya dengan terus terang,tanpa berusaha utk diperhalus atau dipermanis dan tentu saja dengan kelucuan-kelucuan. Buat saya cerita berlatar belakang budaya,keragaman cara hidup dan penceritaan yang jujur adalah buku yg menarik dan membuat ingin membaca terus.Banyak hal-hal yang unik,aneh dalam ukuran saya dan cukup ajaib dipaparkan dalam buku ini.

[Anisah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning of the book was no where near intriguing honestly have no idea what the introduction had any symbolic connection to the rest of the book it was like a waste of a chapter. The middle was a bit interesting except when she flew into details and I totally lost my focus, and the words aren't clear with whats going on and whats happening. I didn't like how they were trying to assimilate into America they made it seem impossible like they did not belong and I must say that is sooooo untrue. The ending was a huge bore, the reason i give it three stars is because of the middle but overall none of the story made sense.

[Kathleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was annoying to read. I kept waiting for some sort of climax or turning point and was disappointed. I really didn't even like the main character I found her annoying and odd.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing. Though we’ll written with and full of many interesting details (especially the colorful description of the vast and diverse Indian community in Jackson Heights), I found the characters and plot unfocused and dull. There was some suspense that did not pan out in a very interesting way, and the last few chapters were dreadfully anticlimactic.

[Smitha Murthy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, this was a torture read. I had no idea what happened in this rambling tome of a book.

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt keen to learn something about Indian culture and themes, and I tried to argue myself into trying harder to connect with these charcters than I would usually do, to assume my disjunction with them might stem from a "lost in translation" experience. But no, I actually think I found them unrelatable because they were so very rich and casually/blindly privileged. For all that Tara refers to her wealth multiple time in a semi-apologetic way (and she comes across as a semi-apologetic doormat in nearly every interaction she has with other characters too) the poor-little-rich-girl syndrom triumphs over genuine insight.

I appreciated the post-colonial insights, the ambivalent attitude toward the colonising British (hating the way they wielded power but learning over generations to value the culture and cultural capital). Sad but true. And the fate of women to be fragile and beautiful and devote a lot of time and effort to charming, comforting and ornamenting...sure I fet some sadness for them in this, but then on the other hand they were comfortable and pampered enough (oh the privilege of physical beauty) not to really critique even this.

All the nasty criminals seemed to be servants and lower caste and class people who had experienced real material hardship but none of this was acknowledged in the way they were portrayed, it was as if in the mind of the protagonist, and perhaps the author servant classes and castes really are less ethical than the rest of us. Not that anything excuses putting a bomb in a person's house of course.

I loved the story of Tara Lata, the tree bride, I didn't always see her relevance to the whiny and unspirited modern Tara. Perhaps in some way Tara saw herself differently than I did, she saw herself as more assertive and independent than Padma, but I wasn't seeing it in the ready way she submitted and clung her way through several relationships that all seemed toxic and borderline abusive and/or codependent.

I liked Rabi. I would have liked more of his voice. I loved the bombshell dropped about half-way through the book but I can't discuss it because that would be a spoiler. I didn't see it coming but in some ways I liked how it was treated. In other ways it was just one more of too many threads all left half-woven. The book seemed as undecided as the protagonist about its own identity. It seemed conflicted with itself whether to be an introspective pshychological work or a discussion of the way culture traverses time and place (and has to adapt) or a suspense-filled mystery, or just a chick-lit about fashion and romance (though to be fair the romance aspect kept being downgraded to less and less relevant and I did enjoy that aspect of the book).

I think it would make a successful and popular movie with all the colourful characters and costumes and the vivid portrayals of place as well as fast-moving action and plenty of conflict. There's a sort of ADHD quality to the plotting though, maybe therefore it would make better TV with its five minute attention spans and advert breaks. In any case it was a rich book in terms of cultural crossings, and I don't want to let my disappointment that it stopped short of serious insights take away from the gift of seeing some lifestyles and a complex group of cultures so very different from mine.

[Lidia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desirable Daughters seems to cross a lot of literary lines. It doesn't quite read like fiction, but it's not obviously autobiographical, either, and the main character is often quite unlikeable or, as one of my teachers used to like to say, "Too true to be good." At times, it seemed that the author was trying to fit too many things into a single book and the reader is drowned in detail. Even the many, many family names become hard to keep track of, for non-Indian readers. I read The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian earlier this year, so maybe that affected my perception. Still, I'm not sure the blurring worked for me, although I mostly found the book interesting and the story compelling once it got going. Enough mystery is left in the relations between the three sisters to maintain a good deal of intrigue to the very end but it's a little frustrating that some key aspects are left unresolved.

[Nalini · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had me at the first page. I consider myself to be one with my culture, so when this book came as a recommendation I immediately got into it.

What Mukherjee did was to transpose values of old into her story to create a perspective that went deeper than the words on her pages. She hit on some pertinent aspects of Indian culture and provided the consequences of what would happen when questions go unanswered.

The story is a tale of three sisters, whose lives, though separate and different, become entwined after a horrible truth comes to light.
It speaks of a mother's struggle, a wife's doubts and the many trials and tribulations of sisterly bonds.

This book earned its 5 stars for its sheer simplicity in explaining the kinks in the Indian culture, particularly those of marriage and family ties.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is great at describing the Indian caste system, with its many ingrained and much accepted prejudices, and talks a lot about the politics of Indian culture. Because of this, however, the story line is fragmented and weak. I found myself becoming bored by the author's monotonous and rather unnecessary descriptions of events and places, and lack of depth at the story line. It left open holes and unanswered questions. It was an interesting look into Indian high society/caste, but otherwise boring. My opinion, I realize, may be nothing more than a difference between cultures, and my lack of understanding thereof.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a very decent average book. The prose is decent. The story is decent. In about the middle of the book I thought it was going to surpass decent, but sadly that was the high point. Too many of the characters were cliches. The ending seemed tacked on, but not by a high quality tack that you know will hold something on a wall. Rather, it was as if the wall on which the author attempted to attach the ending was made of a non-sticky surface and unfortunately scotch tape, the author's choice of adhesive, could not do its job.

[Anjali · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. I find Bharati Mukerjee's voice to be inauthentic and a little pretentious. As a second-generation Indian-American, I wanted to laugh out loud when she tried to get into the head of an immigrant's child that grew up in the US. I keep getting that sense from her that everything Indian is negative, especially the men, and that she is a bit of a snob. After reading this, I found it difficult to read any more of her books.

[Holly Bond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot say I remember much about this book, which might be information... ;)

What I do remember is how long the author would go on about how beautiful Bengali women are and while I'm sure that's quite true, it got to be too much.

Yeah, that's all I really remember about it. That's probably not a good sign. But, since I can't really remember thinking "this is rubbish!" I gave it 3 stars just to be equitable. :)

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed. This was not the typical Mukherjee novel that intricately weaves plot lines with history. Although she attempted to do this with Desirable Daughters, I was left feeling like I lurched from one idea to another. Perhaps it was her intent to make the reader feel what Tara, the main character grapples with during her identity crisis; however, it left me frustrated and often re-reading, thinking I had missed something when I hadn't. I only finished the book because I started it.

[Alka · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was quite good but it could have been better..it promised a lot, great premise, good start but somewhere became ordinary...it is very middle-class Indian in its sensibilities and captures the typical mindset very aptly

[Kelsey Keller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Personally, this book was not my favorite. The way it is written leaves me confused and the whole novel is just all over the place. I would not recommend.

[Sita · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story of a badralok Kolkota family with three beautiful daughters - Brahmin, conservative and anglicised, convent school education, the 'correct' marriage etc. But times were changing rapidly and life leads the three girls along divergent paths. The story is told by Tara, the youngest, who has been divorced from her highly successful, Bengali husband and is a single mother to a young teenage son. Things and events from the past come to shake her romantic memories of the childhood years. Events then hurtle rapidly leading to a dramatic climax. Mukherjee captures the ethos of the community, the compulsions that drive them whether in India or US and the strain of breaking away with honesty and imagination. The first half of the book moves well and is engaging. However, later events get contrived leading to an average ending.

[Maris]

kuidas sa hindad raamatut, mis ühest küljest köidab piisavalt, et ühe hooga läbi lugeda ja teisest küljest ärritab pea iga tegelane? läbi peategelase Tara silmade on pilguheit bengali brahminite sotsiaalse eliidi tagatubadesse huvitav lugemine, ent kirjeldatud viisil, et ise küll ei tahaks nendega pistmist teha. Taraga samuti mitte, ega ta ungariameeriklasest armukesega - eriti viimasega. Stanfordi doktorikraadiga sikhist politseiohvitser oli vist ainuke tegelane, kelle peale hing täis ei saanud. Mis puutub minevikumeenutuste ja kultuuriliste eripärade esiletoomise kõrval raamatus reaalajas toimuvat sündmustikku, siis see ilmselt täitis eesmärki andes võimaluse tegelastel lavale astuda ja neid siis lahata (ja nende reaktsioonide peale ärrituda), aga oli iseenesest selline.. meh?

[Linda Wolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book because learning about other cultures in a novel is my favorite way to learn. Learning how the 3 Indian daughters thought and were raised was my favorite part of the book. Unfortunately, I fond a lot of the book to be confusing. Perhaps a glossary at the end might have helped. The first and last chapters felt as if they were written for a different book. I still don't understand why Tara and Bish were divorced and then why they were (or weren't?) back together in the end. What happened there? Raj, the teen son was so underdeveloped that I don't have a clue about where he is going or what he was even thinking. The explosion and fire seemed contrived and pointless. I'm glad I read this book but will not recommend it to my friends.

[Akalpita Varwandkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had an interesting plot line and I had been wanting to read it for a long time. Yet when I did, it was just okay. Maybe I expected more. Some aspects like the 'love hate' relationship between the sisters, the easy camaraderie between the exes and the confusion of 'right way to raise a child singlehanded' are very relatable yet the main crux of the story was handled terribly. The end is far outstretched and seems written to be just done with the story. Would have been nice if 'chris factor' in the story was better fleshed out. Strictly a one time read.

[Macpudel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been a better book. The author introduces a conflict originating from a family secret. The conflict has a climax, but no resolution. Grrr. The main character seems to be at peace by the end, but that's situationally temporary. I really enjoyed the Bengali subculture, the way the three sisters each expressed their strict old-fashioned upbringing, and Bish, the main character Tara's arranged marriage husband. I didn't get much of a feeling for their teenage son, but that was probably the point as his parents don't know him well either.

[Nisie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Desirable Daughters has a beautiful cultural backdrop as its basis, and at times I truly felt submerged in Tara's way of life and her unique perspective on life's path. I however was not impressed with the plot. It lacked substance in some instances, and at other times I felt it was not properly developed. Some chapters didn't adequately mesh with others and at times it seemed as if I was reading a completely different novel.

I very much enjoyed Ms. Mukherjee's writing style and her use of colorful imagery. All in all I felt that the story in this novel was lost.

[Terry Polston · Rating 3 out of 5]

The details of how each segment of Indian society is viewed is interesting and complicated. It's also very one dimensional with no room for personal thoughts. All Brahmin think this way and all Parsi behave this way. Family names are important, for marriage Chatterjees and Mujherjees are okay and in a pinch Bhattacharjees, Gangulys or Lahiris. Like every person with the same family name is identical.
I am too American to put too much stock in that way of thinking.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounding up. I enjoyed eavesdropping on all the family dynamics and hearing a liberated woman tell her story. There were some good twists and lots of beautiful prose, but the very beginning and very end didn’t feel as tied to the whole as I would have liked, and I found myself longing for more resolution. I’m usually a fan of open endings—maybe this is me just wanting any scrap of certainty during a pandemic.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had a slow-ish start, but soon enough, I couldn't put the page down. A divorced Indian woman living in SF with her Zen white boyfriend and teenage son when a secret (?) from her sister's past comes out when a boy claiming to be her sister's son pops up. All the layers, the happenings. So interesting, her sisters are so different but also, the same way of not talking about things. Loved this book, loved the ending. Was sad when it ended.

[Simi Kaur]

Mukherjee captures the struggle of Indian families immigrating to a Western country and how this affects their relationships with people and their culture. It is interesting to see how she weaves in her experiences with Americans as well as other Indians in the same situation. There is a form of nostalgia and empathy I felt with Tara on some levels.