Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2006 "If book reviews just cut to
the chase, this one would simply read: This is a terrific novel!
Read it!" -Ann Harleman, The Boston Globe "One of the most
impressive novels in English of the past year, and I predict you'll
read it...with your heart in your chest, inside the narrative, and
the narrative inside you." -Alan Cheuse, Chicago Tribune "[An]
extraordinary new novel...lit by a moral intelligence at once
fierce and tender." -Pankaj Mishra, front-cover review in The New
York Times Book Review "If God is in the details, Ms. Desai has
written a holy book. Page after page, from Harlem to the Himalayas,
she captures the terror and exhilaration of being alive in the
world." -Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan "It's a clash of
civilizations, even empires . . . The idea of an old empire, the
British one collides against the nouveaux riche American one. The
story ricochets between the two worlds, held together by Desai's
sharp eyes and even sharper tongue. . . . This is a . . .
substantial meal, taking on heavier issues of land and belonging,
home and exile, poverty and privilege, and love and the longing for
it." --Sandip Roy, San Francisco Chronicle (front page review)
"Briskly paced and sumptuously written, the novel ponders questions
of nationhood, modernity, and class, in ways both moving and
revelatory." --The New Yorker "Editor's Choice ... Kiran Desai
writes beautifully about powerless people as they tangle with the
modern world and in so doing she casts her own powerful spell."
--Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "An endearing view of
globalisation . . . The Inheritance of Loss is a book about
tradition and modernity, the past and the future-and about the
surprising ways both amusing and sorrowful, in which they all
connect. . . . A wide variety of readers should enjoy." --Boyd
Tonkin, The Independent (London) "Impressive . . . a big novel that
stretches from India to New York; an ambitious novel that reaches
into the lives of the middle class and the very poor; an
exuberantly written novel that mixes colloquial and more literary
styles; and yet it communicates nothing so much as how impossible
it is to live a big, ambitious, exuberant life. . . .Desai's prose
becomes marvelously flexible . . . always pulsing with energy."
--Natasha Walter, The Guardian "A magnificent novel of humane
breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and powerful political
acuteness." --Hermione Lee, chair of the 2006 Man Booker Prize
"With her second novel, Kiran Desai has written a sprawling and
delicate book, like an ancient landscape glittering in the rain. .
. . Desai has a touch for alternating humor and impending tragedy
that one associates with the greatest writers, and her prose is
uncannily beautiful, a perfect balance of lyricism and plain
speech." --O: The Oprah Magazine "An astute observer of human
nature and a delectably sensuous satirist. . . . Perceptive and
bewitching. . . . Desai is superbly insightful in her rendering of
compelling characters, and in her wisdom regarding the perverse
dynamics of society. . . . Incisively and imaginatively dramatizes
the wonders and tragedies of Himalayan life and, by extension, the
fragility of peace and elusiveness of justice, albeit with her own
powerful blend of tenderness and wit." --Booklist (starred review)
"Stunning . . . In this alternately comical and contemplative
novel, Desai deftly shuttles between first and third worlds,
illuminating the pain of exile, the ambiguities of post-colonialism
and the blinding desire for a 'better life' when one person's
wealth means another's poverty." --Publishers Weekly (starred
review) "[An] exceptionally talented writer . . .She doesn't falter
. . . penning a book that is wise, insightful and full of
wonderfully compelling and conflicted characters. . . . The
Inheritance of Loss distinguishes her as a writer of note. . . . A
deft and often witty commentary on cultural issues. . . . Abundant
with illuminating detail and potent characters . . . With its razor
insights and emotional scope The Inheritance of Loss amplifies a
developing and formidable voice." --Jenifer Berman, Los Angeles
Times "Desai's Indian characters are exquisitely particular--funny
but never quaint, full of foibles but never reduced by authorial
condescension. Bittersweet, entertaining, and just shy of tragic,
The Inheritance of Loss is surprisingly wise." --Economist "Desai
is a gorgeous writer, capable of pulling us along on a raft of
sensuous images that are often beautiful not because what they
describe are inherently so, but because she has shown their naked
truth.... It is her language that draws us in and pins us there....
Elegant and brave..." --Sue Halpern, The New York Review of Books
"In keeping with the confident touch displayed throughout this
rich, beguiling tale, the final scene treats the heart to one last
moment of wild, comic joy--even as it satisfies the head by
refusing to relinquish the dark reality that is the life of the
characters. . . . It is a work full of color and comedy, even as it
challenges all to face the same heart-wrenching questions that
haunt the immigrant. . . . Nothing sours the warm heart at the
center of this novel. Desai is sometimes compared to Salman
Rushdie, and the energy and fecundity of imagination in her works
do make them somewhat akin to his. But the tenderness in her novels
is all her own." --Marjorie Kehe, Christian Science Monitor "A
rich, expansive work." --Dintia Smith, The New York Times "Desai
employs a kaleidoscopic technique to illuminate fractured lives. .
. . A rich stew of ironies and contradictions. Desai's eye for the
ridiculous is as keen as ever." --Kirkus Reviews "Desai's
descriptions and her humor make this ... novel of national and
personal identity fascinating." --Nola Theiss, Kliatt "Desai's
assurance and energy keep the plot on track and bring her ambitious
tale to a fittingly strong conclusion. 3 1/2 stars" --People "A
meditative look at the conflicting bonds of love and duty." --Vogue
"Ambitious . . . The book's magic lies in such rich images as an
Indian judge wearing a 'silly white wig atop a dark face in the
burning heat of summer.' A-" --Missy Schwartz, Entertainment Weekly
"Desai shed light on the tribulations of all Indians abroad. . . .
The passages about life in India are especially evocative,
capturing the interplay between the country's politics and people's
lives. . . . Desai's nearly painterly attention to the small, yet
utterly disturbing, human details . . . sticks with the reader. . .
. Details its characters' hardships head-on, and her elegant prose
makes their experiences hard to forget." --Reena Jana, Time Out
"Vast and vivid, full of tastes and smells, voices and accents,
humor and fury. It is a captivating book." --Stephanie Deutsch, The
Washington Times "A tender story of a crotchety Anglophile Indian
judge; his orphaned sixteen-year-old grand-
daughter, Sai; his subservient cook; and the cook's son, Biju,
whose hellish passage through the dirty basements and prep kitchens
of glittering New York City restaurants bleakly parallels the
goings-on back home . . . [Desai's] is an incredibly unromantic
vision, and seldom has an author offered so fearless a glimpse into
how ordinary lives are caught up in the collision of modernity and
cultural tradition." --Jenny Feldman, Elle "Shimmering with honesty
and humanity . . . This novel is finely accomplished." --Bharti
Kirchner, Seattle Times "Lush, multi-textured . . . The lyrical
prose invites rumination and re-reading." --Jack Reardon, Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel "Impeccably beautiful ... the story of a
modernizing India, a nation looking forward and backward at once,
with its people trying to find their place in a new world of new
opportunities." --Geeta Sharma-Jensen, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
"A finely textured story that mixes post-Raj dilemmas of modern
India with the challenges of Indian immigrant life in New York."
--Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer "Desai's strength lies in
her ability to capture, with humor and grace, the nuanced
complexities of the characters and their times. . . . [A novel]
that brings both caring and understanding." --Robin Vidimos, Denver
Post "Elegant . . . Desai's meditation on colonialism and identity
remind us of V.S. Naipaul. . . . What distinguishes Desai is her
generosity, a deeply felt sympathy for her characters. . . . A
poignant reminder of how the past haunts the present." --Lester
Pimentel, Newark Star-Ledger "The young Desai proves her literary
legacy (her mother is the inimitable Anita Desai) as she deftly
unfurls piece by disparate piece the stories of each of the lost
souls searching for connection." --The Bloomsbury Review "Very real
and compelling main characters and a few wonderful minor ones as
well. . . Desai is a confident and talented writer. Her novel is
full of wisdom and subtle parallels; it is both funny and bitterly
sad. . . . She is never preachy. . . or even predictable. . . .
Desai has secured her place with the list of great contemporary
Indian authors exploring life and society in India and elsewhere:
think Salman Rushdie and Rohinton Mistry. The Inheritance of Loss
is lovely and highly recommended. It is smart, witty and honest--a
powerfully engrossing novel." --Sarah Rachel Egelman,
BookReporter.com "Desai writes with assurance and lyricism about
life in India, and her insights into how South Asia has been
affected by America are fascinating and timely. This is an
impressive, original novel from a welcome new voice in Indian
fiction." --Julie Hale, Bookpage "Impressive... An exuberantly
written novel that mixes colloquial and more literary styles." --
Guardian Weekly (UK) "Stunning..." --Suzanne Snider, Columbia
Magazine "Entertaining and enriching . . . The reader is lured into
a Graham Greene kind of literary landscape. . . . [This is a]
mesmerizing and emotionally moving novel." --Arthur J. Pais, India
Abroad "An impressive familiarity with local customs and
prejudices...Of particular note is Desai's voluptuous use of
sensory detail to craft a mountainous world of fog, mist, and lush
vegetation." --Joanne McCarthy, Magill Book Reviews "Her
achievement is considerable." --Mandira Sen, Women's Review of
Books "A nation's tragedies, great and small, are revealed through
the hopes and the dreams, the innocence and the arrogance, the love
betrayed, and the all too human failings of a superbly realized
cast of characters. Kiran Desai writes of postcolonial India, of
its poor as well as its privileged, with a cold eye and a warm
heart. The Inheritance of Loss is an exquisite novel; mature,
significant, and a first-rate read." --Binnie Kirshenbaum, author
of An Almost Perfect Moment
A shell of his once imposing self, retired magistrate Patel retreats from society to live on what was previously a magnificent estate in India's Himalayas. Cho Oyu is as far away from the real world as the embittered Patel can get. Owing to neglect and apathy, its once beautiful wooden floors are rotted, mice run about freely, and extreme cold permeates everything. The old man isn't blind to the decay that surrounds him and in fact embraces it. But the outside world intrudes with the arrival of his young granddaughter-a girl he never even knew existed. Predictably, the relationship between the two builds throughout the narrative. A parallel story about love and loss is told through the voice of Patel's cook. After the success of her debut, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, Desai-the daughter of one of India's most gifted writers, Anita Desai-falls short in her second attempt at fiction. She fails to get readers to connect and identify with the characters, much less care for them. The story lines don't run together smoothly, and the switching between character narratives is very abrupt. Not recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/05.]-Marika Zemke, West Bloomfield Twp. P.L., MI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2006
"If book reviews just cut to the chase, this one would simply
read: This is a terrific novel! Read it!" -Ann Harleman, The
Boston Globe "One of the most impressive novels in English of
the past year, and I predict you'll read it...with your heart in
your chest, inside the narrative, and the narrative inside you."
-Alan Cheuse, Chicago Tribune "[An] extraordinary new
novel...lit by a moral intelligence at once fierce and tender."
-Pankaj Mishra, front-cover review in The New York Times Book
Review "If God is in the details, Ms. Desai has written a holy
book. Page after page, from Harlem to the Himalayas, she captures
the terror and exhilaration of being alive in the world." -Gary
Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan "It's a clash of
civilizations, even empires . . . The idea of an old empire, the
British one collides against the nouveaux riche American one. The
story ricochets between the two worlds, held together by Desai's
sharp eyes and even sharper tongue. . . . This is a . . .
substantial meal, taking on heavier issues of land and belonging,
home and exile, poverty and privilege, and love and the longing for
it." --Sandip Roy, San Francisco Chronicle (front page
review) "Briskly paced and sumptuously written, the novel ponders
questions of nationhood, modernity, and class, in ways both moving
and revelatory." --The New Yorker "Editor's Choice ... Kiran
Desai writes beautifully about powerless people as they tangle with
the modern world and in so doing she casts her own powerful spell."
--Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "An endearing view of
globalisation . . . The Inheritance of Loss is a book about
tradition and modernity, the past and the future-and about the
surprising ways both amusing and sorrowful, in which they all
connect. . . . A wide variety of readers should enjoy." --Boyd
Tonkin, The Independent (London) "Impressive . . . a big
novel that stretches from India to New York; an ambitious novel
that reaches into the lives of the middle class and the very poor;
an exuberantly written novel that mixes colloquial and more
literary styles; and yet it communicates nothing so much as how
impossible it is to live a big, ambitious, exuberant life. . .
.Desai's prose becomes marvelously flexible . . . always pulsing
with energy." --Natasha Walter, The Guardian "A magnificent
novel of humane breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and powerful
political acuteness." --Hermione Lee, chair of the 2006 Man Booker
Prize "With her second novel, Kiran Desai has written a sprawling
and delicate book, like an ancient landscape glittering in the
rain. . . . Desai has a touch for alternating humor and impending
tragedy that one associates with the greatest writers, and her
prose is uncannily beautiful, a perfect balance of lyricism and
plain speech." --O: The Oprah Magazine "An astute observer
of human nature and a delectably sensuous satirist. . . .
Perceptive and bewitching. . . . Desai is superbly insightful in
her rendering of compelling characters, and in her wisdom regarding
the perverse dynamics of society. . . . Incisively and
imaginatively dramatizes the wonders and tragedies of Himalayan
life and, by extension, the fragility of peace and elusiveness of
justice, albeit with her own powerful blend of tenderness and wit."
--Booklist (starred review) "Stunning . . . In this
alternately comical and contemplative novel, Desai deftly shuttles
between first and third worlds, illuminating the pain of exile, the
ambiguities of post-colonialism and the blinding desire for a
'better life' when one person's wealth means another's poverty."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[An] exceptionally
talented writer . . .She doesn't falter . . . penning a book that
is wise, insightful and full of wonderfully compelling and
conflicted characters. . . . The Inheritance of Loss distinguishes
her as a writer of note. . . . A deft and often witty commentary on
cultural issues. . . . Abundant with illuminating detail and potent
characters . . . With its razor insights and emotional scope The
Inheritance of Loss amplifies a developing and formidable voice."
--Jenifer Berman, Los Angeles Times "Desai's Indian
characters are exquisitely particular--funny but never quaint, full
of foibles but never reduced by authorial condescension.
Bittersweet, entertaining, and just shy of tragic, The Inheritance
of Loss is surprisingly wise." --Economist "Desai is a
gorgeous writer, capable of pulling us along on a raft of sensuous
images that are often beautiful not because what they describe are
inherently so, but because she has shown their naked truth.... It
is her language that draws us in and pins us there.... Elegant and
brave..." --Sue Halpern, The New York Review of Books "In
keeping with the confident touch displayed throughout this rich,
beguiling tale, the final scene treats the heart to one last moment
of wild, comic joy--even as it satisfies the head by refusing to
relinquish the dark reality that is the life of the characters. . .
. It is a work full of color and comedy, even as it challenges all
to face the same heart-wrenching questions that haunt the
immigrant. . . . Nothing sours the warm heart at the center of this
novel. Desai is sometimes compared to Salman Rushdie, and the
energy and fecundity of imagination in her works do make them
somewhat akin to his. But the tenderness in her novels is all her
own." --Marjorie Kehe, Christian Science Monitor A rich,
expansive work. --Dintia Smith, The New York Times "Desai
employs a kaleidoscopic technique to illuminate fractured lives. .
. . A rich stew of ironies and contradictions. Desai's eye for the
ridiculous is as keen as ever." --Kirkus Reviews "Desai's
descriptions and her humor make this ... novel of national and
personal identity fascinating." --Nola Theiss, Kliatt
"Desai's assurance and energy keep the plot on track and bring her
ambitious tale to a fittingly strong conclusion. 3 1/2 stars"
--People "A meditative look at the conflicting bonds of love
and duty." --Vogue "Ambitious . . . The book's magic lies in
such rich images as an Indian judge wearing a 'silly white wig atop
a dark face in the burning heat of summer.' A-" --Missy Schwartz,
Entertainment Weekly "Desai shed light on the tribulations
of all Indians abroad. . . . The passages about life in India are
especially evocative, capturing the interplay between the country's
politics and people's lives. . . . Desai's nearly painterly
attention to the small, yet utterly disturbing, human details . . .
sticks with the reader. . . . Details its characters' hardships
head-on, and her elegant prose makes their experiences hard to
forget." --Reena Jana, Time Out Vast and vivid, full of
tastes and smells, voices and accents, humor and fury. It is a
captivating book. --Stephanie Deutsch, The Washington Times
"A tender story of a crotchety Anglophile Indian judge; his
orphaned sixteen-year-old grand-
daughter, Sai; his subservient cook; and the cook's son, Biju,
whose hellish passage through the dirty basements and prep kitchens
of glittering New York City restaurants bleakly parallels the
goings-on back home . . . [Desai's] is an incredibly unromantic
vision, and seldom has an author offered so fearless a glimpse into
how ordinary lives are caught up in the collision of modernity and
cultural tradition." --Jenny Feldman, Elle "Shimmering with
honesty and humanity . . . This novel is finely accomplished."
--Bharti Kirchner, Seattle Times "Lush, multi-textured . . .
The lyrical prose invites rumination and re-reading." --Jack
Reardon, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "Impeccably beautiful
... the story of a modernizing India, a nation looking forward and
backward at once, with its people trying to find their place in a
new world of new opportunities." --Geeta Sharma-Jensen,
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel "A finely textured story that
mixes post-Raj dilemmas of modern India with the challenges of
Indian immigrant life in New York." --Carlin Romano,
Philadelphia Inquirer "Desai's strength lies in her ability
to capture, with humor and grace, the nuanced complexities of the
characters and their times. . . . [A novel] that brings both caring
and understanding." --Robin Vidimos, Denver Post "Elegant .
. . Desai's meditation on colonialism and identity remind us of
V.S. Naipaul. . . . What distinguishes Desai is her generosity, a
deeply felt sympathy for her characters. . . . A poignant reminder
of how the past haunts the present." --Lester Pimentel, Newark
Star-Ledger "The young Desai proves her literary legacy (her
mother is the inimitable Anita Desai) as she deftly unfurls piece
by disparate piece the stories of each of the lost souls searching
for connection." --The Bloomsbury Review Very real and
compelling main characters and a few wonderful minor ones as well.
. . Desai is a confident and talented writer. Her novel is full of
wisdom and subtle parallels; it is both funny and bitterly sad. . .
. She is never preachy. . . or even predictable. . . . Desai has
secured her place with the list of great contemporary Indian
authors exploring life and society in India and elsewhere: think
Salman Rushdie and Rohinton Mistry. The Inheritance of Loss is
lovely and highly recommended. It is smart, witty and honest--a
powerfully engrossing novel." --Sarah Rachel Egelman,
BookReporter.com "Desai writes with assurance and lyricism about
life in India, and her insights into how South Asia has been
affected by America are fascinating and timely. This is an
impressive, original novel from a welcome new voice in Indian
fiction." --Julie Hale, Bookpage Impressive... An
exuberantly written novel that mixes colloquial and more literary
styles. -- Guardian Weekly (UK) "Stunning..." --Suzanne
Snider, Columbia Magazine "Entertaining and enriching . . .
The reader is lured into a Graham Greene kind of literary
landscape. . . . [This is a] mesmerizing and emotionally moving
novel." --Arthur J. Pais, India Abroad "An impressive
familiarity with local customs and prejudices...Of particular note
is Desai's voluptuous use of sensory detail to craft a mountainous
world of fog, mist, and lush vegetation." --Joanne McCarthy,
Magill Book Reviews "Her achievement is considerable."
--Mandira Sen, Women's Review of Books "A nation's
tragedies, great and small, are revealed through the hopes and the
dreams, the innocence and the arrogance, the love betrayed, and the
all too human failings of a superbly realized cast of characters.
Kiran Desai writes of postcolonial India, of its poor as well as
its privileged, with a cold eye and a warm heart. The Inheritance
of Loss is an exquisite novel; mature, significant, and a
first-rate read." --Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of An Almost
Perfect Moment
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