The Twentieth Wife

Hands down, one of the most annoying pieces of writing I read this year. I really wanted to get swept up in the story, but the writer was too busy with all the details except the character development. Could Maherunnisa and Jahangir be so love sick all the time? I hope not. After all, they weren't teenagers throughout the entire book. There were also some other cultural inaccuracies that I just couldn't get past. I find it really hard to believe Jahangir courted her the way Sundaresan described. It just seemed too Western. I'm Indian and Muslim, so there were just some inconsistencies in the way she described the culture.
Anyways, I wouldn't recommend this and am not planning on reading the sequel. What could it possibly be about? More love sickness, an alcholic ruler, and his wife who rules behind the purdah? A Mughal India that sounds so much like Woodrow Wilson's presidency (I know he wasn't an alcoholic, but he was incapacitated). I think I'll pass.
Major Themes:
Endurance of love

An Emigre's Tale

I always find that the British immigrant's story is so different than that of the American immigrant. There's such a strong tinge of bitterness even in the British-raished generation. Thank goodness for the American dream. I like how Abdullah Hussein jumped back and forth between the present and past. I did not like the daughter's story at all except for the milk bottle/lota struggle. Maybe, it was that I didn't like the young woman she had become. The father's struggle as an illegal immigrant was much more poignant.
Major Themes:
Assimilation
Coming of Age
Parent vs. Child
Loss of Innocence

The Handmaid's Tale

I recently saw an article in the Tribune about Margaret Atwood visiting Chicago to do a talk. I never read her, but the name stuck in my mind when I was in the library last week. I picked up The Handmaid's Tale, and I couldn't put it down until I was finished.
Major Themes:

• Fall of government
• Female empowerment (ha!)
• Theocracy
• Christian Fundamentalism
• Loss/Solitude/Desperation