An enthusiastic group of about 18 Barga Book Club Members and friends gathered for an animated discussion of The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, many of whom had read the book. Opinions varied widely. The story was characterized from richly described narrative to depressing overblown cliché. The consensus was that the strength of the book was the voluptuous imagery of its setting in the shadow of the Himalayas. The palpable images of everyday life in post colonial India, from impoverished vestiges of the Tea ritual to the interior of a once grand, now derelict, home and its surroundings left little to the imagination. No detail was spared in the lush description of the torrid build up to the monsoon season and its steamy consummation.
The characters were represented through the back and forth of past and present reminiscences and the veil of the controversial relationship of the legacy of colonialism and conflicted sentiment toward its cultural fusion. The discrepancy between aspiration and oppression was an important theme. Intense pathos as a consequence of failed ambition was one aspect of the legacy of loss that touched all characters lives.
To some book club members, though the setting and characterization were richly portrayed, there remained a sense of detachment from emotional issues despite the representation of some inexcusable interpersonal violence driven by circumstances. The characters remained tentatively involved and the ending seemed flat and unresolved.
The book raised many more questions we didn’t have time to address and is a recommended read for the well written vibrant imagery and as a treatise on the human condition.
The book that was chosen to read and discuss at the Tuesday August 4th meeting is: In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje.
We will meet next on Tuesday July 7th to discuss The Other Side of You by Salley Vickers.
I will be posting several recommended reading lists of English Literature generously copied and contributed by Isobel Dodds.
Thank you very much for your enthusiastic participation and all of your contributions.
Kerry and Julie