Perhaps all of the hype surrounding this book pre-determined my feelings about the story. It failed to meet my expectations. The characters, especially the sisters Linno and Anju, are enjoyable to follow. But the path of the story lines makes you wonder if the Tania James and her novel wouldn’t have benefited from taking a few back roads instead.
I adore that James took on the complexities of sisterhood in a realistic manner. Authentic deception and animosity, as well as compassion had me thinking about my sister and our own trials.
The story does need a lot of detail to keep the reader in touch with the situations. Visa and immigration, for instance, is not common knowledge. The author describes these situations with an air of authority without deviating away from fresh tone.
I would suggest this book to many people because it is a good read, but not a complex one. ( )

In Atlas of Unknowns, first time novelist Tania James, tells the funny and honest story of two sisters trying to find their places in this world amidst betrayal and haunting secrets. The older sister, Linno, is scarred by an unfortunate accident and the truth behind her mother's death. She's a gifted artist, yet does not shine the way her younger sister, Anju, does academically. Anju is so successful in school that she applies for and receives a scholarship to attend an elite private school in New York. Though she wins the scholarship under false pretenses, she thinks this will be her opportunity to improve her family's situation. There's also a good supporting cast of characters. These include Anju's Hindu host family, the Sankalis, whose matriarch is a cohost on an American talk show that seems to be a caricature of a real life four woman hosted show and a son who defers college to pursue documentary film making. Then there's Bird, who brings Anju some semblance of comfort in the midst of culture shock and has a secret tie to her. Set in Kerala, India and New York, we see two sisters navigate issues like marriage, family, post 9/11 immigration, and self-discovery.

"For such a small world, the space from person to person can span a whole sea."
This describes the relationship between Anju and Linno both emotionally and physically. However, the emotional divide lessens once the spatial divide becomes a factor.

I absolutely loved this book! At first, I thought this was going to be a story about one fortunate, scheming sister and the other talented and woeful. But, this isn't the case. Even though Linno lacks self-confidence early in the story, when Anju stabs her in the back, Linno calls her out. And like you would hope sisters would do, Linno still supports Anju's temporary success and she desperately tries to get to her when everything falls apart. I cheered Linno on through her self discovery and all but spewed venom at Anju, even after she loses everything. I did, however, sympathize with their father Melvin once he finds himself working for the wealthy man who was once betrothed to his deceased wife. James has a keen sense of narrative. Her characters are well developed, relative, and recognizable. She handles the issues of immigration in a post 9/11 America and a young Indian woman challenging marital customs with honesty. I felt very satisfied once finished with this. A small part of me didn't want it to end, and that's when you know you've read something really special. ( )

Atlas of Unknowns is the story of the Vallara sisters--reticent Linno and impulsive Anju--growing up in (and away from) India. After a disfiguring childhood accident and less than stellar academic career it falls on Linno, a natural homebody, to take care of the family (her widowed father Melvin and his superstitious mother, called Ammachi). Bright Anju, on the other hand, competes for an academic scholarship to an elite New York City school, but lacks an extra something to set her apart and resorts to a bold lie. The lie launches the story as it rips the sisters apart, both emotionally and geographically. Haunting the entire Vallara family is the girls' deceased mother, Gracie, and her past relationship with an Indian actress named Birdie, who is now a beautician in New York City.

From James' expert handling of multiple story lines and attention to detail (never giving the reader more than they need yet never leaving them in the dark), you would never guess this book is her debut novel. She is able to address many contentious issues in today's world with subtlety and skill. As a stickler for endings who has read more than a few contemporary novels with endings that feel lazy or tacked-on, this, would-be writers, is how you bring a great book to a conclusion befitting it! ( )

I must admit -- I was not expecting to enjoy this book. Read it, I would; I had to. I review books. (They stop sending you books if you don't review them). But I really didn't expect to like it, and the first few pages really didn't do anything for me... I expected to plod slowly through this thing and finish, maybe, at the end of September.

To my total shock and surprise, after I got through the initial chapter... I found myself caught. Atlas of Unknowns, as the title does not imply to us, is the story of two Indian (India, not Native American) sisters -- Anju and Linno -- and their family. Linno is a one-handed artist (she literally only has one hand) and Anju is a talented student, who lies and claims Linno's artwork as her own in order to win a scholarship to study in America. The rest of the book is about things that play out around this situation.

It's about life in modern India (which I know close to nothing about) -- and the views of America from immigrant and soon-to-be immigrant peoples. It's about arranged marriages (which evidently still happen in India), sisterhood, lies and death.

And, in spite of being somewhat prejudiced against the book, I found it a surprisingly catchy read. I suppose that's an earmark of being well-written; the ability of an author to take several themes or elements that are, in themselves, uninteresting to the reader (sisterhood, immigration, etc. have never been very high on my list of interests) -- and make them interesting and relevant. Even while reading scenes that take place at a Visa office, I never found myself thinking, "So this is the part about immigration. Yawn." Everything was relevant to the story.

I suppose my biggest criticism of the book is that it is, very much, a "women's book". I don't see a guy (at least, none of the guys I know), sitting down and reading this book. There's too much of the "sisterhood", "women standing on their own without the help of a man" type stuff to appeal to the average guy -- at least in my opinion. And, I'd like to point out, generally I don't like books with a lot of that in it, but this one is well-written enough that I didn't mind it too much.

So, to sum the situation in one line: Atlas of Unknowns was a good read. If you're a woman, I recommend it. If you're a guy... eh, half-and-half. Depends on the guy. -- Mrs. Hall ( )

Atlas of Unknowns is the story of two sisters in Kerala, India who live with their widowed father, Melvin, and their grandmother, Ammachi. The oldest daughter, Linno, loses her hand in an accident with a firecracker when she is seven years old, but retains her artistic talent and has filled a sketchbook and the local store windows with her art by the time she is in her early twenties. The youngest, Anju, is a brilliant student who has a chance to study at an elite high school in New York for a year on a full scholarship. When Anju makes the unthinking decision to pass her sister's artwork off as her own to set herself off from the other scholarship applicants it wins her the visa to New York but seriously shakes her relationship with her sister and has consequences that no one can predict.

The core of the story sounds simple, but the personalities and history of the family, together with the clashing traditions of India and post-911 New York color this novel and give it the complex character of real life. James gives each character a solid voice -- not just the sisters and their family, but Anju's famous host mother (the Indian member of a "The View"-like TV show), Linno's blind suitor and his sister, a fading Indian actress, the owner of a hair salon in New York, the Jewish classmate with a crush on Anju, and every other one of the people who move in and out of the orbit of the story.

And the ending was perfect.

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2009/07...] ( )