11/10/2023 0 Comments The storytellers secret![]() ![]() It ends up being an homage to Amisha and her writing, which, incidentally, also disappears at one point without any explanation why. The story started off with Jaya and her relationship with her mother, Lena. After it happens, the rest of the book gets rushed to the point of annoyance. Instead, readers will spend chapters upon chapters waiting for the inevitable. Badani could have gone for a less cliché plot device. The “secret” from the title is easy enough to guess and will make readers impatient for when it unfolds. Jaya asks a minor character what grade he studies in, and the boy answers with the Western “Eighth” instead of the more typical South Asian answer of “Class Eight” or “Eighth standard.” Late in the book a married woman dies and is laid upon a funeral pyre in preparation for cremation Badani describes the woman as dressed in all white when Indian customs typically dictate that a married woman be dressed as a bride for cremation. It’s disappointing, too, that Badani gets so many little things wrong. Non-South Asian readers may not care about the oversight, but South Asian readers will be sorely disappointed. By leaving readers with a generic idea of Amisha’s hometown, Badani loses the opportunity to share specific cultural nuances. Indian states vary greatly in their languages, food, and cultural rituals. Again, vague references mention a village in the state of Madhya Pradesh, but Jaya doesn’t share the name. The book opens with Jaya in the office and follows right away with the discovery of her latest miscarriage readers never find out where her office is or what kind of publication she works for.Īlso missing is the precise location of where Jaya goes in India. There are vague references to working in financial journalism, then sports, and finally book reviews but no concrete information. For example, Jaya tells readers she’s a journalist but never specifies what type. ![]() The result is a novel that many readers may fawn over more discerning readers will question Badani’s story choices-or lack of them. ![]() The sessions change the course of Amisha’s life, as well as that of the generations that follow, forever.Īuthor Sejal Badani favors a sweeping love story over crucial story details. She meets a British lieutenant in the local English school who volunteers to tutor her. More than that, she wants to write her stories in English as well. Her children have begun learning the language, and Amisha wants to be able to help them with their homework. In time, Amisha fosters a desire to learn English. She takes care of her husband’s parents and manages a household, spending the few precious minutes she gets to herself scribbling her stories. Society dictates that she marry and bear children, sons preferably, and Amisha does so. Amisha, a plucky young woman, dreams of becoming a writer. ![]() Ravi shares Amisha’s story with Jaya, a story that begins in the last years of British rule in India. She boards a plane and travels to her mother’s village where she meets Ravi, the faithful servant who devoted his life to Jaya’s deceased grandmother and Lena’s mother, Amisha. Lena tries to stop her, but Jaya knows in her heart that the trip will give her the change she needs. Jaya surprises everyone, including herself, when she says she’ll go in Lena’s stead. He’s asking for Lena to return so he can right a wrong. Lena’s father-the grandfather Jaya never met-is dying. Through her father, Jaya learns that Lena has received a letter from India. Even now, when Jaya needs the understanding hand of a mother to pull her close, Lena maintains a distance. For inexplicable reasons, Lena never held Jaya close or told her she loved her. Lena went through the motions, providing whatever Jaya needed except for an outward display of love. Throughout her childhood, she craved the affection of her mother, Lena, but never got it. Her mother keeps her distance, which doesn’t surprise Jaya in the least. At the very least, it’s a convenient runaway spot. Maybe, she reasons, staying under their roof will revive her. They decide to separate, and Jaya goes to her parents’ home to spend time with them. When she suffers her third miscarriage, it forces them to reevaluate their relationship. Jaya’s desperation for a child has begun driving a wedge in her marriage with her husband, Patrick. Author Sejal Badani revisits the topics of identity and family in the unsuccessful novel The Storyteller’s Secret. What she discovers will change what she thought she knew about her mother and herself. After experiencing a troubled time in her marriage, a woman travels to her cultural homeland to learn more about her family. ![]()
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