The Inheritance of Loss

Kiran Desai has written a most unusual book, "The Inheritance of Loss."  It is set in a remote village in the Indian Himalayas and in New York City.  It is not an easy read.

I got the book from an interesting book club I belong to called "The First Edition Book Club."  It is run by Elaine Petrocelli at Book Passages, an independent book store in Corte Madera, California.  Just about every author who passes through the Bay Area of Northern California gives a reading at Book Passages.  This is an author's bookstore.

Every month, Elaine picks one or two books from the jillions she reads or reviews.  Her selections are written by relatively unknown authors--at least at the time she selects them for the club.  She has the authors sign the books and then notifies club members to come and pick up their monthly selection.  "The Inheritance of Loss" was the first book I got via the club.

The book follows the lives (both forwards and backwards) of four main characters.  The judge, a thoroughly nasty, cynical, pompous old man who loves his dog, "Mutty," more than he has ever loved any human being, including his wife, his daughter and his granddaughter.  His granddaughter, Sai, has been orphaned and she is sent to live with this grandfather she hardly knows.  The other two characters are another family group.  The judge's longtime cook, who provides Sai with food and affection, and his son, Bijou who lives in New York City -- supposedly living the dream of every Indian in this book.

You get to know the judge, Sai, the cook, and Bijou -- their fears, their desires, their flaws -- against the backdrop of an ethnic revolution complete with gun toting teens spouting political slogans.  Sai falls in love, Mutty gets stolen, Bijou bounces from job to job as he traverses the world of illegal immigrants in the US.  The judge, England-educated and well-off is unable (or unwilling) to reach out to his only living relative, his granddaughter, Sai.  The cook, on the other  hand loves his son beyond all measure -- and Bijou adores him in return.

This book helps you understand how race and class are viewed in India.  It introduces you to a part of the world few of us have had the opportunity to travel to...and it plays out the universal themes of love and loss, family estrangement and family reunion.

Desai writes in a stream of consciousness fashion that at times is lovely and entertaining and at times, annoying.  The book flips back and forth in time and place via many short chapters.  This makes it more difficult to read than books that allow you to get into the meat of the book much more quickly. 

If you like to read about people and places very different from yourself and if you enjoy writing that tells the story more like an impressionist painting than a realistic painting, then "The Inheritance of Loss" is for you.  If you prefer a good old-fashioned, page-turning thriller, then this one is not for you.