Mother Land: A Novel

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Dimitri, the author’s alter ego narrator, grows up on the island of Bozcaada in the 1960s, the son of an ethnic Greek fisherman in a village divided between Greeks and Turks. When Rachel ends up with a cleaner coming more frequently and a cook she definitely doesn't want things start to fall apart, and yet mysteriously they also come together, just not in the way either Rachel or Swati expected. As the Americans are landing on the moon, Bozcaada and its people are still entrapped in wretched ignorance and poverty; 21st-century Turkey’s prosperity is not even yet a dream. The Kingdom by the Sea(1983) remains perhaps the most deliciously bitter and most thoroughly clear-sighted travel book ever written about the UK.

Starting out as a novelist – with Waldo, published in 1967 – Theroux then began publishing short stories, travel books, yet more novels, and more and more, dozens and dozens of books, including fiction and non-fiction which often blurred the line between fiction and non-fiction. Leah Franqui's Mother Land is a delightful exploration of cultural expectations and the way they shape identity. Critical often to the point of self-harm, his work has never flinched from attempting to tell the truth, as he sees it, about places and people. His narrative is vivid and gripping, his characters rounded and human in a way “village literature” seldom achieves.This technique allows the author to illustrate the significant gap between Swati’s worldview and Rachel’s, though a reader who shares Swati’s Marwari heritage — and, to be clear, this reader does not — may not find all of Swati’s inner monologues entirely plausible . The resolution is equally unsatisfying-it wraps up super fast with a sense of "oh well" from all parties who end up back where they started, happy with their ends, it nothing actually resolved. I thought when i moved here that I would find the things I wanted, but I have only become more and more confused.

The truth is that he is neither one nor the other,” the schoolmaster, Levent Efendi, tells his puzzled pupil. They march across the strip of land in single file; their great white blades slice the air in ghostly silence, as if rock and soil were a fantastical vessel destined for unknown shores.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Suddenly these two strong-willed women from such very different backgrounds, who see life so differently, are alone together in a home that each is determined to run in her own way—a situation that ultimately brings into question the very things in their lives that had seemed perfect and permanent. Even though Motherland is full of historical detail, between 1980s Tamworth and the GDR, the oppression of the era never overwhelms. The chapters alternate between Rachel's and Swati’s close third-person perspectives, but unfortunately, neither of them contain enough complexity to carry the story .

Their culture clash is inevitable, but Franqui has made both women so complex and sympathetic that the reader cannot make easy decisions about their future and relationship. I want to thank William Morrow for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion. Also, there were many deeper themes that a book club could discuss - cultures clashing, family clashing, marriage clashing. But the ex-pat American's sense of adventure is sorely tested when her mother-in-law, Swati, suddenly arrives from Kolkata—a thousand miles away—alone, with an even more shocking announcement: she's left her husband of more than forty years and is moving in with them. Eric said it was blessed with the spirit of an ancient race that had roamed the earth until she found the neat rows of seeds Eric had planted.

But this is in the service of Mother Land’s greater aim, which is to describe the myriad ways that Jay’s mother has suppressed his confidence, altered the course of his life, and waged a lifelong war against either him and his siblings developing a sense of themselves as settled, affectionate, functioning adult humans. Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to enrich my recent vacation with this delightful novel.

It feels like a love letter to a misunderstood city with its lush descriptions of food, people, and culture. Readers who know Savageau’s earlier chronicling of those who sacralize and profane her homescape will be astonished at this poetic culmination of fully-drawn portraits. Nice story but I felt "meh" towards it in the last 1/3 and was more interested in Swati's story than seeing what happened with Rachel.Suddenly these two strong-willed women from such very different backgrounds are alone together in a home that each is determined to run in her own way-a situation that ultimately brings into question the very things in their lives that had seemed perfect and permanent . Is the author, publisher, editor and everyone else associated with this disgraceful book unaware that India was RIPPED APART during the British Raj? Beautifully written - I can see this one being really popular with book clubs, but I have some big concerns with the representation. I had hoped to love this story about a young USAmerican woman who married an Indian man and moved with him to Mumbai then had to learn how to navigate her new life in India and her new, unintended relationship with her mother-in-law.