Enjoyable love story about an Indian couple. The best part is the mother and grandmother story. ( )

I've been a fan of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni for a while & this one didn't disappoint!
Korobi is seventeen & engaged to be married. But on the eve of the engagement party, her beloved Grandfather dies & the truth about her parents is revealed. So armed with the little knowledge she has about her father she flies to America to find him & learn more about her Mother as well as her identity.
One of the things I've always loved about CBH's stories is how saturated you feel by the Indian culture. The love of family & tradition are very strong themes in this story. It also deals with racism, grief & classism. Because of this I liked a lot of the secondary characters more than the primary characters. I loved Korobi & her Grandmother & relished their joys & cried with Korobi during her failed attempts to locate her father. I thought Rajat was a spoilt little, racist, predjudiced s*** & I couldn't stand his judgy, suspicious Mother. Pia however was a sweetheart & I loved Asif, the unseen chauffeur. All these characters & various story lines are woven together with CBH's usual literary magic. Reading her books is like transporting yourself to India.

Raised by her grandparents in Kolkata following the death of her mother, Korobi has had a loving and fortunate but sheltered childhood, and is now about to marry her love Rajat, whose family operates a series of lucrative art galleries. Shortly before their marriage, Korobi's grandfather suffers a heart attack, and upon his death the identity of Korobi's mystery father is revealed: an American! Against the wishes of her fiancé and his family, who fear scandal in their social circles, Korobi embarks on a journey of discovery to locate her father, who had been told she had died as an infant.

I'll never forget what my grandmother once said: children have a right to know where they come from. Divakaruni has penned a tale demonstrating that although love and generosity are universal human qualities, sadly so are prejudice and deceit. Recommended as a lighter summer read and for fans of gentle family mysteries. ( )

Indian traditions and modernity are strong themes in this novel along with love, trust and respect. The author writes so well and these themes come out in any easy to read and easy to enjoy novel. There are many couples in this novel and many levels of class and religion as well. beautifully written with lots of twists and turns that kept me enjoying this book to the last page. ( )

Divakaruni is a great storyteller and what i like about her is that her each book is different from the previous one. Unlike Lahiri whose stories always resonant the american immigrant experience, divakaruni who shares similar bengali immigrant background, has a new story to tell.

The jacket cover talks of the story as a coming of age of the protagnist although, there is more to it than that. The story starts off so well, and holds up till the middle but then somehow meanders its way to a very predictable end. However, it raises some important issues and shows very astute perception on the part of the author.


Although the story itself is more of a candyfloss type, The characters are very well drawn and all of them the peripheral characters included, leave a very strong impression as they do their bit in the story.

Overall a good summer read. Great writing and a feel good novel.

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