The Girl in the Garden

Now a newly engaged adult, Rakhee remains haunted by the events of her one summer in India. The novel tells the story of that summer in a long letter written to her fiancee, explaining why she must defer their engagement. Until she confronts her past, she cannot face her future. What happened that summer?

One of these days, I would really love to read a novel set in the Indian subcontinent or with first generation desi folk and not have it be almost entirely depressing. Sure, times are hard there, but there must be some books where no characters commit suicide by jumping into a well. I mean, there just have to be.

I did like this much better than Tiger Hills, but, be warned, its still very sad. Pretty much the only part that isn't completely depressing is the epilogue. Reading both of these novels, I get the idea of just how much family history can haunt people. The mistakes of the previous generation snowball into even worse mistakes by the next. Also, never try to marry your daughter off to an awkward, stuttering creeper, because it never ends well.

The Girl in the Garden confronts tough issues, like depression, arranged marriage, pregnancy and divorce. These issues are dealt with well for the most part, not hitting the reader over the head with an agenda. Through Rakhee, it is clear that issues of childhood take a long time to get over (so true), but that it is important to get closure before trying to be a real person, so that you can close the cycle.

The plot twists were pretty much all things I saw coming from many miles away. There really was no other way things were going to go. There is one twist that I swear was not revealed but must be the case. I rather wish I could talk with someone else who read the book so that they could tell me if I'm crazy or not; all I can say is that it involves Prem.

Overall, this wasn't a book I particularly enjoyed, but, for those who enjoy tragic family stories, this is quite well done. ( )

Wow. Whoa. To start with. A beautifully written book, poetic style that's easy and flowing and lush. And the story...intriguing from the start and with some useful detours and twists that has me reeling after finishing this book last night. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. ( )

Kamala Nair's debut novel about a young, conflicted woman exploring the shadows of her childhood is a wonderful journey that takes the reader from suburban Minnesota to the forests of southern India. Unsure of who she is and where she is headed, newly engaged Rakhee is doubting her life choices when she decides to face the demons of her childhood and visit her estranged mother in India. Before she leaves on her trip, she pens a detailed accounting of her 10th year – the year her mother brought her to stay with family in India for the summer which changed her life forever. The story examines the intricate web of well-intentioned (and not so well-intentioned) lies that her mother’s family has constructed, ostensibly to “protect” their distinguished reputation. Over time, Rakhee unravels these deceptions, and they begin to shape who she is and what she believes in.

Nair’s prose is beautifully constructed, and she evokes lush imagery of the family home in Kerala and the jungles, gardens and temples that surround it. The characters are well-developed and 3-dimensional, and their relationships and emotions are believable and weighty. Most palpable is Rakhee’s loneliness, confusion, and self-doubt – and as the story unfolds the character’s strength and intelligence become obvious as she deals with her sad situation with grace and fortitude far beyond her years.

The Girl in the Garden is a beautifully told story about familial dynamics, deception, pride, love and self-actualization. It should not be missed! ( )

Usually when I’m reading a book for review I think about things to say as I read. Halfway through this book I didn’t know what I was going to say and now that I’m finished I still don’t think I can do it justice.

We are introduced to Rakhee as she is preparing to leave her sleeping fiance in the middle of the night. She knows she can’t marry him until she goes back to India and deals with her past. She leaves him a long letter explaining, and that explanation is the rest of the story in the book.

I thought this book was magical. The story unfolded at the perfect pace; not once was I tempted to skim or skip ahead. I did not want to miss a single word. As I was reading, I felt like I was sitting at the knee of some wise grandmother listening to her stories. Ms. Nair’s words carried me slowly and calmly through the story, introducing characters smoothly. These characters were developed perfectly. Oh, they had their faults, but were so well written that you couldn’t help but like them.

I have always been a fan of stories set in India and Ms. Nair did a fabulous job describing her setting. Just as with her characters, she took a dry and not always pleasant setting and made is endearing and almost homey.

From reading other reviews, I just knew I would like this book. I heard about it, requested it from the library, and finished it in just five days. It was a page-turner for sure, and I would not hesitate to read her next book. ( )

Our past and our family are two of the biggest parts of what makes up each of us. The past may be finished but it forms the basis for so much, even if we try to distance ourselves from it; it is inescapable. And family is even more inescapable, written in our very genes and tugging at us no matter how hard we try to turn our backs on it. In Kamala Nair's debut novel The Girl in the Garden, recognition of family, excessive pride in name and reputation, and the exposure of its deepest secrets changes everything.

The novel opens with Rakhee leaving her engagement ring and a very long letter with her new fiance explaining that she cannot possibly get married without finding closure from the summer when she was 11 and her mother took her back to India, the summer that shook up her life and her family forever. The letter detailing the events of that summer makes up the bulk of the book. Rakhee's parents' marriage is floundering and in addition to the tension of life at home, she also has to deal with feeling outcast at school, the only Indian girl and so different than the rest of her classmates. When a letter arrives from India, her mother, who is clearly depressed and remote, decides to take Rakhee back to her small village in Southern India for the summer.

At first, aside from missing her father, Rakhee is happy enough in India. She makes friends with her cousins and settles into life in the big house with her family. But it doesn't take long until she notices some troubling things: her uncle no longer runs the family hospital, drinking his days away and leaving the administration to a slightly sinister man who visits too frequently for anyone's comfort. She is disturbed by her awareness of her mother's relationship with long-time family friend, Prem, worrying for her father's sake at how close they seem to be growing. And she has been forbidden to venture past a low stone wall into the jungle behind the house because of spirits but when she disobeys, what she finds instead is a deformed girl hidden away from the world in a gorgeous locked garden. There are secrets and things she doesn't understand everywhere Rakhee turns both because she is just a child and because even in India, she is "other," American and a cultural outsider.

Nair's writing is very descriptive, loaded with atmosphere, drawing a lush picture of Southern India and reflecting the slow decline and decay of the once proud Varma family. There is is an enchanted fairy tale feel here. And as in fairy tales, the plot is fairly predictable and simplistic. The characters, as seen through Rakhee's eyes, are almost all one dimensional, and her brief return to India as an adult to find closure and repair the hurts still festering from her long ago summer there doesn't change how the reader views any of the characters because it is too abbreviated to do so. Readers who fancy all things Indian will certainly enjoy this story, filled as it is with love and deceit, secrets and lies. ( )