Book: The Girl in the Garden
Author: Kamala Nair
Pages: 320
How long it took me to read: A day! I was hooked!
Plot Summary: The story begins in the US, where Rakhee Singh is leaving her fiance a note explaining why she is leaving him and going to India. She loves him but she has hidden a few truths about herself from him, mainly about her estranged relationship with her mother. The story then is mostly Rakhee looking back to the summer that changed her life forever. At 10 years old, Rakhee's mother takes her to India, to her ancestral village in Kerala for the summer. There Rakhee spends her time with her extended family- a host of characters- and finds a garden in the woods behind her mother's home, that houses a terrible and powerful secret that changes everything.
Characters: There is our protagonist Rakhee herself, who for most part is her 10 year old self and we see Kerala and her extended family through her eyes. She is an outcast in her school in America for the first time finds friends in her two cousin sisters and spends the summer playing with them and finding out things about her mother and her family that she never knew. Rakhee is a great character to see the book through.
Then are is her mother. Troubled, angsty and mysterious. I found her intriguing and interesting.
The extended family consists of a whole cast of characters that were well-written, real and reminded me of any old Indian family. They are flawed, worried and very human.
What I liked: Everything! I loved the writing. It was simple but effective and I was sucked into the book and it's drama from the first page. I also loved the lead character a lot, I liked her voice and perspective and I think the author did a fantastic job of really getting the thought processes of a 10 year old.
I also loved the story. It had a hint of mystery running throughout and I love books that do that.
The summer-vacation-spent-in-the-hometown is something I deeply identify with and am nostalgic about as I spent all summer vacations as a child with my cousins and family in our ancestral home. I also love books about extended family and I love me some good family secrets! The deeper, darker the better.
I loved the characters....pretty much all of them. Even the creepy and dark and flawed ones, I loved what they brought to the story.
The secret and it's aftermath were my favourite bits in the story. Also the BIG twist (sorta) in the end is pretty freaking awesome.
What I didn't like: Nothing!!!!
Will you like it? If you like well-written Indian fiction you probably will. Also, if family secrets excite you as much as they do me, this one is the book for you!!!! If you enjoy Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's books, then you will also enjoy this one- all about complicated and very real family dynamics!
General Thoughts: Books like this are why I love bookstores. If not for the random strolling in a bookstore (Strand), I would have probably never come across this book. And I am sooooo glad I did. This is pretty much one of the best books I've read this year. I really love it and cannot recommend it enough. The minute I finished reading it, at about 2 am, I gave this to my sister and insisted she start reading it. She read till 6 am! And she loved it too! :)
Rating: 10/5. I REALLLLLY loved this book!
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