The Space Between Us: A Novel (P.S.)
by Thrity Umrigar
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Book Reviews of The Space Between Us: A Novel (P.S.)
Book Review: An Easy Read
Summary: 3 Stars
This book came out in 2005 and was Umrigar's second published novel. It described the relations between two women in Bombay: an educated, middle-class Parsi housewife and her illiterate Hindu servant. The time was assumed to be the near-present, though the author hasn't lived in Bombay since the early 1980s.
The book was strongest for me in the first half, when it focused mainly on how the two women got along with each other. The book alternated between their points of view; each had problems and disappointments and drew sustenance from the other. Also usually well done was the interplay between past and present, showing their interior lives, with attention paid to differences of class and caste. Toward the end, the servant's point of view took over, shutting out the housewife. The ending seemed realistic, and the woman's reaction at the end seemed right and even uplifting to a degree, despite the bleakness. But it wasn't as moving as I'd expected; maybe part of the problem was my inability to identify closely enough with the servant.
Among the least interesting elements for me were a melodramatic revelation in the last third of the book, the over-abundance of evil men, and the author's occasional going on too long with the interior description. Also, the servant's daughter never seemed to come alive.
I enjoyed the interplay between the main characters in this book more than that between the ones in Mistry's A Fine Balance, maybe because of Umrigar's ability to get inside her main characters' heads. On the other hand, Mistry had a gift for metaphors -- like the one about a quilt -- and setpieces to do with things like a political mass meeting and the destruction of a slum, that appeared only rarely in The Space between Us.
Book Review: The Past is Always With Us...
Summary: 5 Stars
Bombay (Mumbai) is the third most populated city in the world. Umigrar captures its beauty, its poverty, and most vividly its women... Bhima is Sera's servant of many years. They are closer to one another than anyone else, yet unable to ever cross the chasm their distinct social classes create between them. Though they have seen each other through sickness and death and unimaginable grief, Bhima still eats on the floor from separate utensils, so as not to "dirty" her mistresses'. The story is a page-turner, but it is an incredibly difficult story to read; it is steeped in the reality of what Umigrar herself experienced while living in Bombay. The sense is injustice and unfairness her characters face is overhwelming. Umigrar does not write a book about finally getting what is right and fair. She writes about strength of character, perseverance in the face of adversity that I as an American woman cannot fathom. Although it is certainly a story about differences in class, gender, education and religion, it is also a book about reconciling the past with the present. Bhima tells her granddaughter, "The past is like the skin on your hand- it was there yesterday and it is here today. It never goes anywhere." Because she is poor, her memories are her legacy and the inheritance her granddaughter will receive. And somehow we see that because of Bhima's interminable spirit, her legacy is as valuable as tangible riches, and that there may yet be a sliver of hope even in the slums of India.
Umigar's interview at the end of the book was insightful and interesting. The book also includes her advice for aspiring writers. Her writing is beautiful and raw and true... I eagerly anticipate her next novel.
Book Review: 4.5/5 Stars - A Touching Story
Summary: 4 Stars
The Space Between Us is an intimate portrait of a distant yet familiar world. Set in modern-day Bombay, India, it is the story of two 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 home where she has separate dishes and utinsils; a place where she eats on the floor alone.
Despite the weight of the themes: race, class, gender, sexuality and culture, the parallels of Bhima and Sera's life are subtly dealt with. Bhima is the center of the story, and it is through her eyes we see what it is like to be poor woman in Bombay: the sights and smells of the slum where she lives with her granddaughter, the thin mattress where she sleeps on the dirt floor can be visualized.
There is much much more that Bhima must endure throughout this novel, that will remain unsaid. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who wants to read it. I will just say the story is powerful, the writing is beautiful, and in the end I did feel somewhat hopeful for Bhima. I look forward to reading more by this "new to me" author.
from the book.....
The thin women in the green sari stood on the slippery rock and gazed at the dark water around her. The warm wind loosened strands of her scanty hair. Other than the crabs, she was all alone. She looked to the sky again, searching for an answer. But the only thing she could hear was the habitual beating of her own dutiful heart.
Book Review: A story of universal themes
Summary: 4 Stars
Author Thrity Umrigar deals with many universal themes in her novel THE SPACE BETWEN. Although the story is set in contemporary India, it could realistically be set in many venues where the have's and the have not's exist in the employer/employee relationship. These characters and events could easily be transferrred to the American South for all of the 18th and 19th century and much of the 20th century with the mistress being a white woman and the servant being black.
As other reviewers have wisely done, I will withhold details of the story. To expose major elements of the plot would ruin the novel for prospective readers. (I wish that there was a "spoiler's corner" where people who have read the novel could discuss aspects of the story) However, Umrigar has magnificently dealt with numerous women's issues; the degradation and abuse of women, both rich and poor while also writing an engaging tale of fate and loss; tragedy; poverty; and the fate of those who lack an education. There is also a lot of the inhumanity of one person to another.
There are few redeeming male characters in the book and the "have's" live in a whole totally separate and apart from the "have not's". The book demonstsrates the strong influence of religion and tradition and how it takes generations for some aspects of society to change and finally forget engrained prejudices.
But through it all there is the ever forgiving Bhima. Her tragic characters is the central theme of the story. One wonders if she had been born in the same situation as her mistress Sera, would things have been different.
Book Review: couldn't put it down
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book in about two days, despite all the other work I had to be doing. The look into the lives of India's have-nots was enlightening. Umgar's descriptions of the slum were so vivid that I felt like I could see it: a trademark of good writing. Brief character descriptions
Bhima: proud, loyal, poor maid
Maya: Bhima's beautiful granddaughter, major surprising twist in the plot regarding her.
Sera: snobby lady Bhima works for. The one downside of this book: it was obvious Umgar wanted readers to sympathize with her, but I didn't. some people are just so shallow, and it really isn't an excuse if you yourself were treated poorly.
Dinaz: Sera's daughter, kind to Bhima. A cool person. Gave hope to the future of India: with people like her in the upper class, there could be less of how Sera treated Bhima in the future.
Some reviewers who gave this book one or two stars commented on its depressing nature or lack of plot, but I think they need a reality check: not everything is happy, and, sometimes, there isn't even hope. Those of us raised in the United States with plenty of advantages would like to think so, but it's not true. As for the "lack of plot" comments, I would like to know what those people were thinking. The plot of this book progressed in a logical and coherent manner, gently unfurling like a flower to the sun, for lack of a better simile.
Final Verdict:
Read this book. If you're having tough times of your own and are looking for something upbeat, save it for later, but read it eventually.