This is one book that is definitely not for the regular Indian reader.
For the Indian the book is much too “regular”, she writes about rivers and mangoes and pickles. The favoritism of the mother towards her son, the Indian man’s fascination for the “gori”, the heroines marriage to the man from another community, the caste system, the spinster aunt, how the family disintegrates under social pressures, the matriarchal grandmother ….for the every day Indian, who hasn’t experienced, seen or heard of this in some form or another?
While the language is colourful the story line does not appeal much. Rahel and Estha are the tragic heros, the divorced mother is the doomed heroine. Maybe its because I’m an Indian reading a book by an Indian author it does not appeal much. That’s probably the very reason why the book is so highly acclaimed by the west. The very typically Indian drama that enfolds could easily be every other Indians “day-in-the-life” story.
The main drawback of the book is the ambiguous end to the Rahel – Estha relationship…
The exotic taste of the book is what its main attraction would be for all those other than Indians.