Finally finished, though I’ve been reading spoilers all along anyway. The way the book is structured you pretty much know how it ends up anyway.
I found it very hard to warm up to Amina. I just couldn’t figure out what Jamie saw in her. What she saw in him seemed clearer. I get the point of the Mesa Prep return, but it made me uncomfortable. But maybe she just needed to do something a little crazy.
I think Sunil is so deeply unhappy that he feels a need to destroy everything. Eventually he escalates to destroying his life and especially his mother. (She was a piece of work.)
Kamala, on the other hand, I ended up liking very much. She let Thomas go the way he wanted to. I can’t imagine how difficult that could have been. I have a feeling she’ll be happier as a widow than she was being married to such a difficult man.
And as for Monica - I didn’t think that she and Thomas had a sexual relationship, but I do think they were more than co-workers, but it hardly matters. They clearly shared something that Kamala and the children were shut out of. It was destructive to the entire family.
I thought it was interesting that twice Amina has an occult/unexplainable experience. There’s not just her seeing her brother at the school, there is also the issue of her grandmother showing up in the photograph. I thought that tiny touch of magical realism made Thomas’s experience more able to be read two ways as well.
I tend to think Akhil’s death was suicide, but perhaps more impetuous than premeditated. I think when he takes the car he just wants to drive, but I think driving off the cliff may have been something that je did on the spur of the moment.
Speaking of which, this is from the interview with Mira Jacob that was posted earlier.
If the situation were reversed, one could say the same about Thomas as a widower. He and Kamala were not a good match (which would probably have given the horrible Ammachy great satisfaction, had she known).
Listening to the audio version helped me like Kamala more than if I had only read the book. (For example, it became clear in listening that calling her child “Dummy” was more a term of endearment than an insult.) Nonetheless, although I know that motherly love manifests itself in many ways, I found her constant critiquing of Amala’s appearance (hair, lips, posture, skin) and her interference in Amina’s dating life and work life to be hard to take.
Hard to take, but it was all done out of love. I loved her voice. I didn’t listen to the audiobook, but I knew lots of Indians growing up in East Africa and a fair number of parents of my kids friends. I really could hear her talking. (And all the Aunties and Uncles as well.)
In any event, I get teased all the time because if I am not engrossed enough in a book - I’ll check out the last few chapters or start skimming ahead. I did it a fair amount in this book, but I’ve found as I’ve gotten older I am more and more guilty. I’m not sure why, because I’m sure I’m negating all of the author’s intentions about how I ought to be experiencing the story.
We’re off later today for a week of “fun in the sun” and will be without computers – so I’ll catch up on this thread when we return. Carry on the discussion – I may not always see things the same way as others, but I do enjoy the varying opinions in this book group.
Page 267- not getting enough time to read on family vacation so far. Not reading any comments because I don’t want any “spoilers”. Thoroughly enjoying this book. Carry on …cbb- enjoy your trip ( I did read that much of post )
I’m back and catching up! The mountains were nice, but less springlike than here on lower ground.
Monica - At first introduction I wondered if Monica and Thomas were having an affair. Later in the book I decided they were not. I thought Monica was a good friend and someone Thomas admired. She was Thomas’ standard for an American woman. I thought Thomas wanted Kamala to like America and act more American…more like Monica. I could also be very naive and they were having an affair the whole time.
I also tend to think Akhil’s death was suicide. Isn’t that why Amina has such a extreme reaction to her photograph of Bobby McCloud’s suicide? Bobby’s suicide reminds Amina of Akhil’s suicide and all she should have done to prevent it.
I also thought Akhil’s death was suicide and I thought the affair with Monica was emotional in nature, not physical. That doesn’t negate the harm. The character who frustrated me the most was Dimple. I was so angry with her for ignoring Amina’s wishes about the photographs.
Dimple frustrates me too. I can think of no good reason for her to search through Amina’s things and then ignore Amina’s wishes about the photographs she finds. Amina loses her job … as she should, as Jane makes it clear to Amina when she hires her not to take certain shots. Basically, Dimple wants the photographs for Dimple’s sake, little to do with helping Amina.
Amina sees Akhil at his own funeral too. I agree that it adds that touch of magical realism to the story. The author leaves some room for the reader to question. I think Kamala believes in both the medical reason and the non-medical reason behind Thomas’s visions. Jacob also leaves Akhil’s death open-endeded - accident or suicide. No one can answer for sure.
I was angry with Dimple too, and yet, I think Amina needed that kick to get back to doing what she was good at. Sooner or later someone was going to notice her as the wedding photographer who was taking pictures of the “wrong” moments and get into trouble. Dimple seems to have bullied everyone into having it work out for Amina, which it never would have with Amina’s passive style in charge.
I thought it was amusing that Kamala reverts to cooking western style food when she’s mad at Thomas. I think the first occasion is when Thomas fails to show up for the first day of high school and she makes pot roast and mashed potatoes with an extra stick of butter. (She’s also wearing parachuting pants and make up.)
There was a longer jag of French cooking which of course I can’t find so I can’t remember what set that off. Anyone remember? It featured creme caramel. One of my favorites!
I’m not a Dimple fan. She was completely self centered. It bothered me that she went through Amina’s closet looking for photos. My husband thought that Amina needed Dimple to push her to show the photographs. I think Dimple could have pushed Amina without all the deception. .
^^^ Two transgressions really: going through Amina’s things without permission and exhibiting her photographs after a clear “no.” I’d like Dimple better if I thought she does for Amina rather than herself. Dimple wants the photographs to make her own exhibit work. Yes, she bullies one and all … more or less … Jane acquiesces publicly but privately looks to hold it against Amina. Anyway, I’m not sure that Amina has not started enjoying her special moments photography. Doesn’t Jaime mention (at some point) that she seemed happy when he watched her photographing a wedding?
@mathmom, Kamala started cooking French food when Thomas’ tumor was diagnosed. She was trying to fatten him up with rich foods. I thought she started cooking American food, wearing makeup and wearing American clothes to be “more like Monica”. She did it on a day when Thomas was supposed to come home early to eat with them, something he always did on the first day of school. It was a day she was sure he would see her.
Yes I agree, probably more wooing going on, and I don’t think Thomas ever wanted her to be more American in that way.
Now I remember about the fattening up bit, because a friend of mine when she was diagnosed with cancer went on the exact opposite regime - no fatty foods, no sugars, nothing for the cancer to feed on was the theory. Anyway, it amused me that everyone wanted her to go back to cooking Indian. Having cooked a little from Mastering the Art, I can tell you it’s a big pain in the neck. Julia Child’s later books were a lot less troublesome.
Dimple was totally selfish, but I think her bad act still might have good consequences. It seems quite likely that if Amina stays with Jamie she can start a new career as a wedding photographer, but also free to do more of the edgy stuff as well.
Hello – checking in after an ocean walk on the shores of Rhode Island. Wish I could show you all photos of the beautiful view! You’d understand right away why I haven’t posted much.
The only thing that bothered me about Kamala’s preparing a special meal (and herself) for no-show Thomas is that I find that scenario to be overdone in movies and TV shows. Maybe I watch too many cliche-ridden romantic comedies, but I felt that one spouse not coming home for the other’s slaved-over dinner was too predictable.
Let’s see…considering that his rants (under Paige’s influence) were beginning to develop “rich humanitarian undertones,” and assuming that he would be painting on his ceiling from the 1980s right up through today, and that he would undoubtedly exhibit eclectic tastes…how about the Dalai Lama, Lech Walesa, Bono and Malala Yousafzai.
Not just Akhil but also Ammachy, Sunil, Divya, and Itty. At one point Jaime points out to Amina that Thomas sees the people he loves. I like this passage (Thomas sees Akhil in the garden):
I assume that Thomas thinks of Ammachy - probably not the Ammachy we see, embittered by Thomas’s life choices. It ends ugly between the two of them but Thomas never could have predicted that his whole family would die as they did. Relatives in India blame him and Sunil (the “ghost” Sunil) blames him. (I tried to find the passage where Sunil “talks” to him and Thomas feels relief that Sunil finally admits his resentment/anger at Thomas.) I think Thomas blames himself for his part in all that happened.
I agree - more her own boss. I think Amina desperately needs Jane at the time and discovers she likes wedding photography. But Amina will always have that pull to capture the less pretty moment also.
Maybe Amina did need Dimple to get her moving professionally. It isn’t always that way between Amina and Dimple. Amina says the following when she first really understands something is wrong with Akhil. This quote also includes Amina’s comment about her parents’ big fight.
I think we had to see where it all began, in order to understand the extended family relationships and gain a sense of why Thomas left and never returned. I thought Thomas received too much grief–and felt too much guilt–for leaving India. He may have left Sunil holding the bag, but after a certain point, I think Sunil–a grown man–should have stopped blaming his brother for his unhappiness and taken responsibility for his own life.
I would have liked it if there had been much more about the family in India. I felt that Dimple and Jaime could have been dispensed with, and the whole story line about the photography exhibit could have been dispensed with.
My least favorite part of the book was the section about Amina taking the picture of the bridge suicide. I was tempted to stop reading then and there, but I gritted my teeth and carried on.
