Adam Paul
Adam Paul
  • Home
  • Bicycling
  • Hiking
  • Photography
    • Instagram
    • Flickr
    • Birds
    • Wildflowers
  • Travel
    • Articles
    • Trip Reports
Menu back  
 

“Inheritance of Loss” by Kiran Desai

2007-06-30Leave a commentBooks

This aptly-titled novel is primarily a dual story, one about Jemubhai, a retired judge and his granddaughter Sai, orphaned, convent-schooled, and now living with her grandfather in a decrepit old mansion, the other about the judge’s cook (who remains nameless until the very last page) and his son Biju, an illegal immigrant working in New York kitchens.

Desai writes excellently, the chapters vividly describing the almost-itinerant, gritty, grimy life of an illegal working in restaurants, and the residents of Kalimpong, in northern India, where Jemubhai, Sai, Mutt (the judge’s dog), and the cook live out their lives during a time of political turmoil (the ethnic Nepalese are demanding their own state or country, which they want to call Ghorkaland).

A strange cast of colorful secondary characters populate Desai’s Kalimpong: Father Booty, Uncle Potty (neither of whose names we are told the origin of), Sai’s tutor Gyan, and sisters Lola and Noni.

The book moves backward and forward in time, tracing Jemubhai’s education in England and Biju’s life before moving to the US, Sai’s schooling, and occasionally hints at things that happen after the book has ended (which I found to be a little frustrating, getting a glimpse or foreshadowing of some future events, but never reading about them directly). Every character has a loss: Jemubhai his humanity, Sai her parents, Biju his homeland (and then more, when he returns), and the cook his son as well as his dignity, and we’re made to feel their suffering rather effectively.

Secondary characters don’t fare any better, with Gyan losing his youth and innocence, Father Booty his home and property, Lola and Noni their dignity and sense of being “above it all.”

All of this makes for a somewhat bleak read, and Desai makes little attempt to wrap things up in a nice happy bow at the end – by and large, everyone winds up miserable and disaffected. Nonetheless I quite enjoyed “Inheritance of Loss” for its high-caliber writing and vagaries.

My rating: Very good

Share this post
TwitterFacebookGoogle+Pinterest
Related posts
Book Cover Meme
2007-11-23
“The Song of the Dodo” by David Quammen
2007-08-29
“Living Your Yoga” by Judith Lasater
2007-06-26
“Mind of the Raven” by Bernd Heinrich
2007-06-02
“Owls Aren’t Wise and Bats Aren’t Blind” by Warner Shedd
2007-03-06
“The Valley of the Kings” by John Romer
2007-02-08
Leave Comment

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

clear formSubmit

Recent Posts
  • Review: Billingham Hadley Digital camera bag
  • X-T10 does pets
  • Ai Weiwei at Alcatraz
  • Wordless Wednesday: Calaveras Big Trees State Park’s North Grove
  • Wordless Wednesday: Ferry Building Farmer’s Market
  • Wordless Wednesday: Mission San Miguel Arcangel
  • Wordless Wednesday: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
Popular posts
  • Review: Billingham Hadley Digital camera bag
  • Ai Weiwei at Alcatraz
  • Bicycling
  • Wordless Wednesday: Calaveras Big Trees State Park’s North Grove
  • X-T10 does pets
  • Prague, Part 24: Prazky Hrad (Prague Castle) – I
  • Hiking the PCT from Ebbett’s Pass to Nobel Lake
Categories
Architecture Art Bicycling Birding Books Camping Cooking DIY Drinking Food Hiking Jewelry Memes Misc Movies Music Nature Photography Travel Uncategorized Urban Wildflowers Wine Wordless Wednesday Yoga
Tags
abbott's lagoon air force alfons mucha art nouveau baroque bradley grove burn of the century calaveras big trees cemetery century charles bridge chico wildflower climb to kaiser clock columns of the giants crowds czech republic davis double death ride devil mountain double double century ebbetts pass farmer's market ferry building fighter gargoyle giant sequoia golden gate park gothic graffiti grand tour grizzly peak century half century mala strana marin museum pleasanton prague prague castle primavera century san francisco solvang century st. vitus cathedral top hat classic vysehrad
Adam Paul
Copyright (c) 2015 by Adam R. Paul. All rights reserved. No scraping. Don't be a jerk. Dream-Theme — truly premium WordPress themes