http://amiralace.blogspot.com/2007/12... ( )

A woman finds herself through her food and her heritage. ( )

This book begins with Devi, 27 year old, American-born Indian daughter of Avi and Soraj, writing a list of the pros and cons of committing suicide. The pros win and, with careful consideration and planning, she fills her bath tub, climbs in and equally carefully slits her wrists. All the planning in the world is ruined by her mother, who comes calling, lets herself in with the key Devi has long wished she hadn't given her, and finds her daughter in time to save her life.

On her release from the hospital, Devi goes back to live with her parents and her grandmother Vasu, who is visiting from India. Unable to face the things that drove her into the bath tub in the first place, or the explanations everyone wants of her, Devi simply stops talking. And she soon starts cooking. To Soraj's horror, she invades her mother's perfect kitchen and starts creating her own curious brand of fusion cooking - dishes such as blueberry chicken curry. As she cooks, she begins to heal. And around her, her mixed-up, confused family begins to rediscover itself, from her sister Shobha and her failing arranged marriage to Soraj's hurtful relationship with her own mother and a whole lot more in between.

This come to a head when a stranger arrives at the door to reveal Devi's most painful secret, the one that was the final straw that drove her into the bath tub. As her family faces this, everything cracks apart so that it can come together again in a new, better way.

This sounds like it should be a depressing book. It isn't. It's bright and thoughtful and just a bit crazy like its title. I truly can't remember how I found out about it, but I'm sure it came from browsing around the internet. One of my nice librarian friends tracked down a copy for me and I devoured it in a couple of days. Now I want to share it with everyone, especially my mother and my Indian "sister" who I think would relate to quite a bit of it.

It's written in an occasionally non-linear fashion, where it can take a moment to work out if the current anecdote is current or in the past. However, I didn't have an real troubles with that. While Devi is the main protagonist, the book doesn't focus solely on her. Instead, all the characters get a share of the limelight, usually giving the reader secret knowledge the other characters don't share and thereby making everyone a little more honest.

The things you might expect to find are in here, especially the clash of cultures and generations as Soraj tries to live her Indian life in America and keep her daughters, who think of themselves as American, Indian. We see how Soraj's own childhood with Vasu has shaped her into the person she is, and how her own raising of Shobha and Devi has shaped them. All in all, this book is about love. The love for one's husband or wife, one's lover, one's family, one's heritage. The different characters have all found different kinds of love to be their first priority and each is show to be neither less nor more than any other, but all their choices gave a profound affect on the people around them.

Then there's the appendix at the end where the author has a chat with her characters, which is just delightful.

This is a delightful book; go out, find a copy, read it and then share it with your friends. ( )