Book: Fasting and Feasting
Author: Anita Desai
Read On: Paperback
Pages: 240
How Long It Took Me To Read: 2 days
Plot Summary: Fasting, Feasting, is the tale of plain and lumpish Uma and the cherished, late-born Arun, daughter and son of strict and conventional parents.
Arun, in college in Massachusetts, is none too happily spending the summer with the Pattons in the suburbs: their refrigerator and freezer is packed with meat that no one eats, and Mrs. Patton is desperate to be a vegetarian, like Arun. But what he most wants is to be ignored, invisible.
Desai's counterpointing of India and America is a little forced, but her focus on the daily round, whether in the Ganges or in New England, finely delineates the unspoken dramas in both cultures. And her characters, capable of their own small rebellions, give Fasting, Feasting its sharp bite.
General Thoughts: This has been my year of discovering Anita Desai, I seriously can't believe I hadn't read her before. This book was my third Desai of the year and is my favourite book by her I've read so far.
Things I Loved:
1. The writing was stellar as usual.
2. I liked the idea of two connected short-stories. Stories about two members of the same family was an interesting idea.
3. I just adored Uma. Normally, women like Uma are not interesting to read about at all. She aren't spectacular, special, feisty or path-breaking in any way. She was ordinary, meek and just a sad character in general. But she touched my heart, more like broke my heart. Her life, her family and the way they treated her made me so mad and it just broke my heart. I rooted for her. I wanted her to be happy. I wanted her to get out of her family home and do something with her life.
4. The other characters in the book, Uma's parents, her sister and even fleeting characters in the book were fantastically written and well etched out.
5. The book makes a great point about the life of women. Especially the life of a spinster. If you aren't married or working, you are basically worthless and have no value. Worse still , if you still live with your parents, you are basically an unpaid servant. You are treated like a child. It made me so mad, reading about how Uma was treated.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. I wasn't a huge fan of the second part of the book. I was really enjoying Uma's story and didn't want to leave her and her world.
2. The time period of the book was a bit vague. In fact, I couldn't really tell if the book was set in the 1950s-60s or the 90s.
3. I didn't really get the point of Arun's story.
Rating: 4/5
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