Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Fasting, Feasting
Book Review: A Cross Cultural View of Happiness?
Summary: 4 Stars
Having recently read The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, I was eager to pick up Anita's novel. Although written by mother and daughter, there really are many similarities in their writing styles, and in their messages about the similarities and differences between the India and Indians of our perception, and those of Empire or America and their lives. In the end, Fasting and Feating demonstrates in two parts: 1) set in India and 2) set in the United States, that both lives are filled with disconnection and human struggles to survive.
The first section of the book is set in India, and established around Uma, a homely, nagged at daughter. Her life seems pretty bleak without the option of a husband for whom she can garnish his reputation. Over and over again, we see Uma being rejected and suffering the pains of being an Indian woman who is not chosen as a wife of a man, and yet, Desai also sets this shame amidst the lives of other women who have been married off and are anything but happy. In one case, what was considered an ideal marriage, is later to be seen as a devastatingly horrible one.
Section two is much shorter, but centers around the star of the family, Arun, who is in the United States going to college. You get the sense that this young man is terribly troubled, and unhappy with his life, regardless of where he's located. In no way do you see him in control of his own life, but like his sister, is very much being controlled by the wishes and desires of his family, parents, and society.
While not the cheeriest of reads, the sad ideas pointed out by Desai's novel show us that all cultures can and do put pressures on us to achieve or be things that we may or may not wish for. In a real sense, the novel is about freedoms wished for, but not seen.
Book Review: A DUAL VISION OF CULTURE AND COMPLEX FEELINGS
Summary: 4 Stars
In this novel, very well written (maybe Desai's best), we find a brother and a sister, America and India. The former, represented trough the exploration of freedom (Arun, the brother studying in the U.S.) and the latter by the weight of tradition ( Uma, the sister in India) within the indian family. With the usual precision and character sensibility, the author describes in depth a universe of contrasts, a duality of visions between two cultures, encompassing both the historical structures that give birth to different values and the permanent ligthness of human dreams, which seems to be universal.Book Review: A Snap Shot not a Story
Summary: 2 Stars
There was no story in this book, just snap shots of life. Nothing really happened, it was like a smooth flow of water, undisturbed and undeterred. If I thought that this book would give me an insight into an Indian family, I was not satisfied. The characters in Uma's family seemed to be stereotyped, following a well defined path and so was Uma. She was not happy with her life, but she didn't want to do anything about it. So the story just stayed in one place, never moving, never changing course. Arun was even more of a mystery. We never really got to know him. He just floated around without any anchor and without purpose. Unlike other books written by Indian writers, this book was written well. There were no long winding descriptions and horrendously constructed sentences. This is a good book to read, but don't expect Booker Prize quality, whatever that means. The last three Booker Prize winners I read, disappointed me.Book Review: A little empty music.
Summary: 2 Stars
Despite the critical acclaim and Booker Prize nomination, this book is an uninspired attempt to contrast the social ills of two very different societies. The theme is perhaps noble and difficult, but Desai fails to pull it off. Neither of the main characters, the siblings Uma and Arun, are protrayed in more than one dimension and are hardly worth caring for. One learns less about them than how they are perceived by others. The events that pepper Uma's life in India are nothing more than disjointed vignettes, and Arun's little window into a dysfunctional suburban American family left an empty feeling. Desai deserves credit for her skills in human and social observation but the entire novel is only that and never once engages the reader's heart and mind in the story-telling. Finally, the writing style in the two parts of the novel is so contrasting that I wondered if they were written by two different authors.Book Review: A view of two differant cultures
Summary: 5 Stars
The books deals with two differant cultures. First part of the book highlights the Indian traditions, cultures and mostly the place of a woman in an Indian family. Anita Desai has done an excellent job in describing the indian family to every single detail of existance. Though this type of families still exists in India, Please do not generalise this view to the whole nation. It is only a 40% of families that could relate to the book specially in states where literacy is meagre. I must say however, there are lots of uma's in India, today, and all they need is a little encouragement with education and exposure to the outside world, and she could definitely be a very strong woman. I loved this character of Uma in the book because she was both willing to take a chance with life and at the same time dedicated to her family. And she took all that happened to her life with such grace that she did not give me a chance to cry for her. Thats her inner strength.
The second part of the book deals with the dillemma of Arun in a world which he could not have imagined. Arun, the younger brother of Uma reaches Massachusettes for his higher studies, and is totally taken aback by the lifestyles of the west.
The most beautiful part of the book is its literatrue. So well written and with accurate details, its definitely a joyful read.