I finished The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar a few weeks back. It's the first novel, in a long long time, that made me tear up. And that's already a big deal, considering I've gone through McEwan and Ishiguro without shedding a single tear.
The story revolves around two women, Bhima and Sera, two women who come from two different worlds but whose lives are nevertheless intertwined. Bhima is the servant of the wealthy Sera Dubash and the Dubash household, although their bond goes beyond a mere master-servant. relationship. Life just binds them to each other through forces and circumstances they could never have imagined.
Told through flashbacks and recollections alternating with the present day, the novel is a good look inside women of India, of class and gender roles, of how different people navigate the world as they see it. At its heart, it's a story about transcendance, about how the space between people may not be as vast as it seems.
Umrigar creates characters you can sympathize with. Nowhere in the novel do you feel that the characters are simply caricatures of real people and nowhere in the novel do you feel that the dialogues are forced. Umrigar also does a fantastic job of depicting modern-day Bombay, with its sights, sounds, smells and colors. Umrigar writes beautifully and the novel is full of little gems, as when Sera says of her abusive husband, "... his fists were like vultures on the desert of my body." Fantastic. Then there were some lines that were just flat, as when Sera says as she goes around the slum areas, "...they looked at her as if she were an alien." Still, overall, Umrigar writes beautiful prose. The author also manages to spell out the little things you keep secret in your heart and you're too proud to admit to yourself. You see yourself in the women and you almost wish you didn't. The ending is a little too awkward and although the novel may seem a little soap-operaish on the surface. Thankfully, though, it is without the same cheesy cliches. Ultimately, The Space Between Us is an honest, sometimes too painfully honest look at loneliness, fear, hope, joy, desire, and how these make up just part of the dizzying complexities of the human heart.
Go grab your copy now.
The story revolves around two women, Bhima and Sera, two women who come from two different worlds but whose lives are nevertheless intertwined. Bhima is the servant of the wealthy Sera Dubash and the Dubash household, although their bond goes beyond a mere master-servant. relationship. Life just binds them to each other through forces and circumstances they could never have imagined.
Told through flashbacks and recollections alternating with the present day, the novel is a good look inside women of India, of class and gender roles, of how different people navigate the world as they see it. At its heart, it's a story about transcendance, about how the space between people may not be as vast as it seems.
Umrigar creates characters you can sympathize with. Nowhere in the novel do you feel that the characters are simply caricatures of real people and nowhere in the novel do you feel that the dialogues are forced. Umrigar also does a fantastic job of depicting modern-day Bombay, with its sights, sounds, smells and colors. Umrigar writes beautifully and the novel is full of little gems, as when Sera says of her abusive husband, "... his fists were like vultures on the desert of my body." Fantastic. Then there were some lines that were just flat, as when Sera says as she goes around the slum areas, "...they looked at her as if she were an alien." Still, overall, Umrigar writes beautiful prose. The author also manages to spell out the little things you keep secret in your heart and you're too proud to admit to yourself. You see yourself in the women and you almost wish you didn't. The ending is a little too awkward and although the novel may seem a little soap-operaish on the surface. Thankfully, though, it is without the same cheesy cliches. Ultimately, The Space Between Us is an honest, sometimes too painfully honest look at loneliness, fear, hope, joy, desire, and how these make up just part of the dizzying complexities of the human heart.
Go grab your copy now.
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