This novel is part of a burgeoning literature of the Indian diaspora in the West, ambitious, bright intellectuals struggling with their ancient roots in a new and different world. It is not one of the better works.

I expected to like this book. I had read promising reviews, and the premise sounded - and is - interesting. However, I felt it was let down by the writing, which I found muddled and long-winded.
When I read, I like to be involved with at least one character in the book. I don't always have to like them or approve of what they do, but I need to care about what happens to them. I admired how Lalwani shows us Rumi's view of the world (everything is a math equation). Still, I didn't particularly care about any of these characters, and I actively disliked the father. The book felt disjointed as if Lalwani was trying to cover too many bases. Also, the writing alternated between the present and past tense for reasons that I could not understand. ( )

Kind of a Hindu Bee Season with Indian immigrants in Wales and maths instead of spelling. It is one angry novel that just explodes at the end but the characterizations are too thin and transitions too rough to make this story truly affecting. Also, very poorly edited which is a pet peeve. ( )

I fail to understand how this book appeared on the Man Booker longlist. I can only assume that the publisher, Viking, pushed it very hard. I just don't think that this book is well enough written to deserve such an accolade. In my opinion, it lacks character delineation and development and the plot has quite a lot of holes. For example, there is a total lack of interaction between the family and Rumi's secondary school; surely someone, somewhere would have raised concerns about the lack of any breadth in her studies. Why was she allowed not to attend school in the run-up to her A-Level? How did his work colleagues find out about her and the boy?
There are some interesting parts, mainly about her wanting to be part of school and teenage life, but I certainly did not find it "A Compelling Read"!
Others have commented on their disappointment with the ending; it was sad but inevitable, but not particularly well written.
I would not have chosen to read this book and I think I will find it difficult to discuss in depth at our book group because of my antipathy towards it. I would certainly not recommend it to anyone else.
( )

"Read lightly, this could be read as an indictment of the drive for perfection that characterizes Asian cultures. However, Lalwani delicately avoids this simplistic trap through an enthralling style of prose, the different viewpoints, and paradoxically the bravery with which she allows Rumi's world to implode into a parental nightmare."

read more at: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/gifted-nikita-lalwani.html ( )

Rumika Vasi is a bright child and seems especially gifted at math--her father's academic specialty. But in the course of reading Gifted, I began to question whether Rumi was truly gifted or just pushed to extremes by her ambitious parents. Her father, Mahesh, determined that she would be the youngest child ever (at 15) to pass her A and O levels and enter university, schedules her every waking moment around studying for the exams. Rumi makes the grade, but neither she nor her family lives happily ever after.

While Gifted had its moments of originality, I think perhaps I have read one too many novels about the generational and cultural conflicts of Indian-born parents and their "modern" children, born after their immigration to the UK, the US, and Canada. Inevitably, the parents come off as rigid, isolated, overly ambitious, and judgmental, while the kids just want to be like the kids next door. After awhile, it becomes formulaic.

That's not to say that I wouldn't recommend Gifted to someone who hasn't overloaded on this type of story or who has a special interest in coming-of-age or immigrant stories. Lalwani's characters--particularly Shreene, the mother--are well drawn, and the novel takes some unexpected turns towards the end. ( )