Gita Audhya

All Those Tears We Can't See addresses a lot of topics--immigration, opportunity, spirituality, myth, wisdom, class, customs, poverty, corruption and physical assault in India. It is a story of India and the USA.
• All Those Tears We Can't See (2nd edition) addresses the challenges immigrants face in this era due to lack of money and cultural differences but later achieves the “American dream”

• The new novel follows an Indian woman who migrated from India to America and finds difficulties due to lack of money and cultural differences but later have achieved “American dream” which is America’s achievement as well.

• It was difficult and traumatic for young Samantha to leave everything behind and starts a new life in the U.S., where the language, culture, traditions, morals, beliefs and everyday way of life are totally foreign, while retaining her own culture and beliefs.

As an adult Samantha (or Shimonti as she was known as a child) races to her native India, now modern and much changed, in search of her daughter, Monica. Their fragile relationship of late has finally been shattered over the issue of interracial marriage, as Samantha fears that her daughter’s marriage to Brandon, a Christian, goes against Bengali culture. Samantha revisits her past and reexamines her life growing up in India. India’s heartbeat resonated from ancient times of harmony, in diversity and preserved the ancient temples, mosques, and churches, where Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jews all lived in harmony, except for a few occasions of violence. Monica felt so fortunate to experience it all. So many myths she read about India, and in her divine nature, she saw the footsteps from the past still existed today. Ancient India was the center of the world, where knowledge and wisdom were hidden in every mountain peak, and there was a divine mountain peak called Kailas, a paradise on Earth, where only Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati resided. Snow peaked Kailas, which was the isolated mountain chain of Everest looked like a pure, pristine, mystical dream and no one was permitted to touch her. In the Mughal period, India was extremely prosperous and had luxurious palaces , diamond, emerald and gold adornments. Maharaja wrote about the history of that time, including the exotic palace lifestyle. She had read enormous amount of literature of ancient times and the present times of India, so that she could compare what was retained and what was lost in time. She found Bengali minds were very different, laced with mysticism and very emotional, deriving the spirituality and melancholy from far away holy mountains and rivers, like her.
• Her daughter, Monica, now a journalist who has identity crisis, is all-American in heart. Monica is fascinated by Indian people and their spirituality. She felt so lucky to experience it all. When she is physically assaulted and raped in India, Samantha seeks justice for her daughter which is very difficult in India.

• Ultimately, Samantha realizes that her daughter’s happiness should come first, and she will have to accept Brandon as her son-in-law. But will she be able to move beyond her cultural beliefs to do so?… (more)

I really enjoyed this book. It was a little hard to get into it, but once I did it was so interesting! It tells the story of a young man coming to terms with the differences between his native culture and Christianity. I like the way this character was portrayed and seeing him mature and become an individual, his own person not controlled by others desires and rules. All of us make this journey to find who we are and who we are supposed to be. Check it out, I think you will agree it's a great book.… (more)