Inheritance of Loss

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. This is a beautifully written novel & winner of the 2006 Man Booker prize. Set in India near the border of Nepal, it concerns a cast of characters which includes a Cambridge educated judge who lives in a crumbling mansion with his grandaughter and his cook. All of the characters seem stunted and powerless, victimized by the forces at work in the modern world - colonialism, globalization, fundamentalism. While the suffering and confusion of these characters is heartwrenchingly drawn, I did not feel that I got to know the characters as personally as I wished to. I felt a bit frustrated at times - wanting to dig deeper. Aside from that, the book is full of passages worth savoring - vivid descriptions and insights .
The grandfather is an Anglophile, full of disgust toward just about everyone and everything Indian - the only being he shows any compassion towards is his beloved dog. His grandaughter Sai is in love with her math tutor who ends up joining a Nepali uprising. The cook's only hope is his son Biju who lives in NYC as an illegal immigrant, going from one dismal restaurant job to the next - certainly not achieving any sort of American dream. Despite some passages of humor, the book was a rather sad and depressing look at the world. That said - it is well worth reading. (In fact, I really feel drawn to pick it up again - I had to rush it back to the Library so did not have time to browse back through it and linger a bit...) Linda