Pressured by her mother to marry and become a traditional Indian wife and confronted by the loss of her job in Silicon Valley, Devi seeks refuge from her despair in attempted suicide, only to be forced to move back in with her parents until she recovers. Reader's Guide included. Original. 12,500 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)
Between the pressures to marry and become a traditional Indian wife and the humiliation of losing her job in Silicon Valley, Devi is on the edge–where the only way out seems to be to jump. . . .
Yet Devi’s plans to “end it all” fall short when she is saved by the last person she wants to see: her mother. Forced to move in with her parents until she recovers, Devi refuses to speak. Instead, she cooks . . . nonstop. And not the usual fare, but off the wall twists on Indian classics, like blueberry curry chicken or Cajun prawn biryani. Now family meals are no longer obligations. Devi’s parents, her sister, and her brother-in-law can’t get enough–and they suddenly find their lives taking turns as surprising as the impromptu creations Devi whips up in the kitchen each night. Then a stranger appears out of the blue. Devi, it appears, had a secret–one that touches many a nerve in her tightly wound family. Though exposing some shattering truths, the secret will also gather them back together in ways they never dreamed possible.
Interspersed with mouthwatering recipes, this story mixes humor, warmth, and leap-off-the-page characters into a rich stew of a novel that reveals a woman’s struggle for acceptance from her family and herself. - (Random House, Inc.)
Amulya Malladi has a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in journalism. Born and raised in India, she lived in the United States for several years before moving to Denmark, where she now lives on the island of Mors with her husband and young son. You can contact her at www.amulyamalladi.com. - (Random House, Inc.)
Booklist Reviews
In Malladi's third novel, following A Breath of Fresh Air (2002) and The Mango Season [BKL Ap 15 03], the characters keep referencing "bad Hindi movies." Indeed, the plot of this very readable novel does resemble something out of Bollywood, but the characters are drawn so clearly and strongly that readers will immediately be taken by the triumphs and tribulations of the Veturi family. Devastated after being fired from her job at a Silicon Valley startup and suffering a miscarriage, Devi feels she has strayed far outside the expectations of her traditional Indian family and attempts to commit suicide. However, her intrusive mother, a continual source of aggravation for Devi, saves her life. Devi then moves in with her parents, but she refuses to speak, taking up cooking instead. Channeling all her emotions into the elaborate meals she prepares, Devi prompts her family to engage in a series of completely honest conversations that draw all of them closer to each other. A reading-group guide is bound into this heartfelt novel, which also provides a candid snapshot of fractious mother-daughter relationships. ((Reviewed September 1, 2004)) Copyright 2004 Booklist Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
Transcontinental family saga about a young Indian immigrant to California who slowly rebuilds her life after a failed suicide attempt.Poor Devi has come to the conclusion that she's a failure: an unendurable thought for the daughter of overachievers. Born in India to a socially prominent family, Devi came to America as a girl when her father, Avi, founded a technology firm that prospered and grew into one of the earliest successes of Silicon Valley. Devi's sister Shobha is the vice president of an engineering firm, and Shobha's husband, Girish, is a professor at Stanford. Devi's mother, Saroj, is a traditional Indian wife and mother, but even she grew up in an atmosphere of success as the daughter of an Indian Army brigadier. So the expectations for Devi are pretty high—which makes good odds for failure, statistically speaking. And she flunks the test with flying colors. To begin with, she is unmarried and has just ended an affair with a married man. Second, she has lost her job in the midst of the NASDAQ crash of the late 1990s. Plus, she has lost a baby that no one knows about. So Devi slits her wrists one morning in her bathtub and settles back to let nature take its course. Fortunately for her, however, her pushy mother likes to drop in unannounced and arrives for a visit in time to call an ambulance. After a close call like that, Devi is returned to her parents' for observation and recovery. Saroj broods over her daughter and begins for the first time to question her own fate as well: an introspection that leads to some unusual developments, as does the revelation of Devi's miscarriage. Things were so much easier back in India.A portrait of expatriate nostalgia, shaded heavily with immigrant identity angst and generational conflict, by a leading multicultural voice (The Mango Season, 2003, etc.).Agent: Matt Bialer/Trident Media Group Copyright Kirkus 2004 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.
Library Journal Reviews
Poor Devi Veturi, the American-born daughter of traditional Indian parents. She's too Americanized, and she's not compliant like her sister. She also isn't very successful in life, even though she comes from a family of overachievers. Devi is unlucky in love, has lost her job in Silicon Valley, can't pay her bills, and even fails at suicide. But things change when she is forced home to recuperate. Refusing to speak to anyone, Devi invades her mother's kitchen and begins to cook Indian food-her way. What follows is an honest look at how a young Hindu woman, torn between two cultures, reconnects with her family and, more important, with herself. The twist at the end is a bonus. Malladi's third novel (after The Mango Season) will definitely appeal to many readers (a reading group guide is included). Highly recommended for most public libraries. [A Ballantine Reader's Circle selection.]-Marika Zemke, West Bloomfield Twp. P.L., MI Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
