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The Space Between Us: A Novel (P.S.) by Thrity Umrigar
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Thrity Umrigar Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2007-02-06 ISBN: 006079156X Number of pages: 321 Publisher: Harper Perennial Product features: - ISBN13: 9780060791568
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Space Between Us: A Novel (P.S.)Book Review: Poignant exploration of social injustice and much more. Summary: 4 Stars
"The Space Between Us" is a very moving exploration of social injustice and much more. Set in the modern day India, its lessons are very much applicable to any society. The main story line is interplay between Bhima, house servant, and Sera, her mistress. Belonging do different classes and religions they both develop, on one hand, close proximity and understanding of each other, and on the other, the inability to cross the invisible space separating them, set by society and habit. For Sera even "... The thought of Bhima sitting on her furniture repulses her. The thought makes her stiffen, the same way she had tensed the day she caught here daughter, then fifting, giving Bhima an affectionate hag. [snip] , but also feeling of revulsion, so that she had to suppress the urge to order her daughter to go wash her hands." And yet Sera does help Bhima with her grand-daughter education and treats her, in many ways, much better, that some other family would. That is the main conundrum of the story. Being generally a good hearted person, Sara is unconsciously unable to consider her servant as equal.
Passing through the life, these two human beings experience cruelty of their relatives set in their ways of prejudice. For Bhima the life's journey is set of steps from bad to worse. It is a continuous manifestation of treachery by the people around her, who are looking to take advantage of illiterate woman. Her husband, Gopal, who is to abandon her in the slum, exclaims "Woman, don't you see? [snip] It does not matter. One way or the other they would've tricked us. Because they own the world, you see. They have the machines and the money and the factories and the education. We are just the tools they use to get all those things. [snip] Well, they used me as a hammer to get what they want. That is all I am to them, a hammer." The fate play its own part in the life of both woman, freeing Sera from dominance of her vengeful and violent husband, and truly vile mother in law, and punishing Bhima by the death of her daughter, alcoholism of Gopal and finally unwanted pregnancy of her grand-daughter. The last one, perpetuated by Sara's son in law, as she is to eventually to learn, leads her to a final break up with Sara's family and a vision of freedom on the ocean shore.
Yes, there is some element of the soap opera in this book, but the truth be told, there are plenty of people, whose life is very much as described in this book. One can only hope that less and less people will suffer such indignity. This is a book with a mission and a very well told one. It offer a glimpse of Indian society and many universal and poignant observations of human condition. Bhima's ability to persevere and stay sane, perhaps the only sane person at the end, in the face of all things conspired to defeat her is a true testament that not all lost on us and indeed that there might be a reason for our frail existence.
Now why not five stars then. I am sorry, but those are reserved for writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Leo Tolstoy or Chekhov.
Summary of The Space Between Us: A Novel (P.S.) Poignant, evocative, and unforgettable, The Space Between Us is an intimate portrait of a distant yet familiar world. Set in modern-day India, it is the story of two compelling and achingly real women: Sera Dubash, an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the shame and disappointment of her abusive marriage, and Bhima, a stoic illiterate hardened by a life of despair and loss, who has worked in the Dubash household for more than twenty years. A powerful and perceptive literary masterwork, author Thrity Umrigar's extraordinary novel demonstrates how the lives of the rich and poor are intrinsically connected yet vastly removed from each other, and how the strong bonds of womanhood are eternally opposed by the divisions of class and culture. The Space Between Us, Thrity Umrigar's poignant novel about a wealthy woman and her downtrodden servant, offers a revealing look at class and gender roles in modern day Bombay. Alternatively told through the eyes of Sera, a Parsi widow whose pregnant daughter and son-in-law share her elegant home, and Bhima, the elderly housekeeper who must support her orphaned granddaughter, Umrigar does an admirable job of creating two sympathetic characters whose bond goes far deeper than that of employer and employee. When we first meet Bhima, she is sharing a thin mattress with Maya, the granddaughter upon whom high hopes and dreams were placed, only to be shattered by an unexpected pregnancy and its disastrous consequences. As time goes on, we learn that Sera and her family have used their power and money time and time again to influence the lives of Bhima and Maya, from caring for Bhima's estranged husband after a workplace accident, to providing the funds for Maya's college education. We also learn that Sera's seemingly privileged life is not as it appears; after enduring years of cruelty under her mother-in-law's roof, she faced physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband, pain that only Bhima could see and alleviate. Yet through the triumphs and tragedies, Sera and Bhima always shared a bond that transcended class and race; a bond shared by two women whose fate always seemed to rest in the hands of others, just outside their control. Told in a series of flashbacks and present day encounters, The Space Between Us gains strength from both plot and prose. A beautiful tale of tragedy and hope, Umrigar's second novel is sure to linger in readers' minds. --Gisele Toueg
Historical Books
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