When I finished reading the first chapter of the book I did quite know how the book will be. The same old indian story of the struggle of a family. Sometime the sketching sounds like a mega serial. But the potrayal of the almost extinct parsi community and its members as it has to face the reality is quite good. There is nothing new with the story. The grand old man of the family, Nariman Vakeel is forced to move in with his ’’blood’’ daughter, Roxie and her husband Yezad. He is suffering from parkinson disease which slowly but steadily is leading him to death. He loves all the members of his family but not all reciprocate his love.
The flashback(told in italics:due to his ’’un-parsi’’ act of lovin a chistian girl he has to leave her and marry a young widow(she already had a daughter and a son) at the age of 42). But the girl, lucy is quite adamant which leads to a tragedy in the family and his wife’s daughter is yet to forget the misery that had been caused by her step father. All this and the usual ’’indian’’ wailing of ’’no money’’ leads to trouble which forces each member of the family to try alternate means of living. However fate intervenes and leads them out of trouble.
But wait, have they jumped from the frying pan into the fire.....read the book and know it urself. .I usually read only fiction books and the pace of this books is snail like compared to sidneys and archers. I do think that it hampers the reading as the reader is forced to wait for the things to move on. Also, while the writer writes about the parsi history, it does depart from the main storyline only to come back and show to us how insecure people feel if their religion is sidelined.
And also the thing I loved is the change in character of Yezad. I have myself seen quite a few characters like him and it was very realistic and the verbal duel b/w him and his son makes an enjoyable read. But I do feel that the author has written yet another stereotypical book about the parsi society (and india as a whole). But why write only about the sufferings?? This is wat baffles me. On one hand u have Bollywood with its extragavant sets and 24 carat gold costumes.
On the other hand, u have writers like Mistry who show how tough life is in bombay(oops! mumbai). But where is the real india?? Why do all the writers look at slums and the lower middle class for the potrayal of characters in their books. Arent they missing somethin? This is wat I felt readin the book. The author also attempts to inject humour in between but is somewat restricted by the theme he has chosen to potray.