The Armchair Traveler's Club discussion

What do you think of the book so far?

I read the first few chapters. Hard to believe this is our emerging author selection! The descriptions are so delicious and really set a somber regretful tone. I can't wait to learn what happened to cause the strife in the family.

The main character happens to share my name and be a bit of a troublemaker. Makes me wonder what my life would be like now had I grown up in India.

I'm really enjoying this selection. Not only is the setting foreign, but the way of life is even more foreign to me.

Did anyone in the group grow up as the child of missionary parents? Did anyone attend a boarding school in a foreign country? A lot of the book reviews said the author captured both aspects very well.

So far I've made it to Chapter 6, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Although I am not a missionary kid, my brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins all do missions work, and I grew up watching slideshows and hearing stories every four years when they'd return to the US on furlough. This reminds me of their stories and also Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible."

Chapter 2 really sucked me in with the author's vivid description of Iqbal cooking and James waiting for Ruth to come home. I was immediately transported back to the year I spent living and working in Bangladesh. The spices, singing, and deodorant spray are all so familiar. I could relate to James as he refused juice, ginger ale, and chai and found it impossible to work through all of the distractions.

I laughed to myself in Chapter 3 when the author describes the Connors, a couple "from Iowan farming stock" to whom "the very idea of keeping servants was anathema." My husband and I faced a similar struggle with this in Bangladesh. I also grew up on a farm, albeit in Pennsylvania.

This book is a pleasure to read. I can't wait to see the plot unfold.

I don't want to give away any of the plot, but I'll just say I was glad I finished this book at home and not out in public. I needed a few tissues by the end.

Thanks for the warning, Allison! I'll stick to my own apartment and have a box of tissues handy for the ending.

^Alison, my apologies for the misspelling.

Oh no - I have not gotten very far in yet, but I really like the characters and don't want anything bad to happen to them!

I've finished this one. A book about ooshy gooshy feelings, regrets, and people's hidden motivations. It was a little Eerie that the main character had my name, was my exact age, and my mother had the same name as her mother! Don't think she was too fond of talking about feelings either, come to think of it.

It was interesting to gain a perspective into missionary life, but also into expat life, since many of the kids at the school were kids of Indian expats.

Makes me wonder what our local 'International School' is like, I've always been curious about it when driving by.

So far, much of the material about India has focused on religion and the relationships between people of different religions. Must be a fascinating mix over there.

It was beautifully written, but the melancholy was a bit wearing by the end for me.

One thing I feel the author did well, was to represent points of view from all religions without making the book feel like a piece of evangelistic literature. I kept waiting for Ruth to get 'saved' but nothing as predictable as that happens.

How did you feel about the way the different religions were presented in the book?