Home
About the group
Book reviews
Discussion forum
Links
Contact Us


 

Our Reading Group

We are a group of friends who love to read. We get together about once a month to talk about a book that we've all been reading. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, but we usually have a good chat, whether it's about the book or just a gossip!

Last month's book

Last month we read Nemesis by Philip Roth.

As usual, split opinions on this one. For those of us who enjoyed it, we felt it resonated more after finishing it. The polio epidemic in America which in this book seemed to be affecting Jewish children, paralleled what was happening in Europe, underlined by the Italian youths who came to jeer and 'spread' the disease to the children in the playground. Bucky's guilt at being unable to join his friends in the war was reinforced by what happens at the end.

This month's book

This month we're reading The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. The next meeting is at 8pm on Tuesday, 21st February 2010 at Nicky's house.

'Books are, in one sense, the basis of all social progress'

 

KARL MARX

THE SPACE BETWEEN US
by
Thrity Umrigar

In this beautifully crafted novel about the interlinked lives of two women, Thrity Umrigar explores the complex relationships between the classes in India, rarely addressed in contemporary fiction. 'Bhima is real. She worked in the house I grew up in, year after year, a shadow flitting around our middle-class home, her thin brown hands cleaning furniture she was not allowed to sit on, cooking food she was not allowed to share at the family dining table, dusting the stereo that mainly played American rock and roll, music that was alien and unfamiliar to her, that only reminded her of her nebulous presence in our home, our world, our lives.' Thrity Umrigar Set in contemporary Bombay, 'The Space Between Us' tells the story of Sera Dubash, an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife and Bhima, the woman who works as a domestic servant in her home. Despite their class differences, the two women are bound by the bonds of gender and shared life experiences -- both had marriages that started out with great romantic love and promise, but ended up as crushing disappointments. Ultimately, Sera Dubash faces a decision that will force her to choose between loyalty to gender and friendship or loyalty to her social position and class.

Author's page and reviews

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test your literary knowledge with a fun quiz - click here!

Page last updated on: January 20, 2012

Search:
Keywords:
 

 


Home | About the Group | Book Reviews | Discussion Forum | Links | Contact Us

© 2004 Nicky B