#BookReview: THE GOLDEN SON by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

From an early age, the idea that he can be a great man one day is implanted in Anil Patel’s head. As a child in India, his father told him so and he believed it. The oldest of his siblings, he is the first to go to college and medical school and now, the first to go abroad. Leaving his small village for a medical residency in Dallas, Texas promises to be overwhelming, but Anil’s roommates Baldev and Mahesh become his guides to American living.

While Anil adjusts to life in the U.S., Leena, a childhood friend of Anil and his sister, Priya, finds herself married off to an abusive family. Deceived by her groom and his parents prior to the wedding, Leena goes from being a beloved daughter to a house servant. Shame and fear keep her from returning to her family home, where it’s likely that she would be shunned by her parents.

As Anil adjusts to his demanding residency and his fellow doctors, it’s interesting to note the disdain that some of the others seem to feel for him. One in particular goes out of his way to make him feel like he has no place there and it’s disheartening to watch. It’s reminiscent of far too many situations where “real Americans” feel it’s their duty to put “others” in their place, as if certain roles, titles, etc. are only reserved for some people and others only receive them because of special treatment. It’s also interesting to note that the one resident that connects with him is another foreign student, perhaps feeling a kinship as an outsider.

It’s frustrating to watch Anil reach for the “American dream,” including the blonde next door, because from the very beginning, I’m hoping he’ll go back to India and save Leena. When he’s called back for his father’s funeral and assumes the role of village negotiator, a job he is resistant to, I just know that he’s going to whisk Leena away and take her back to America so they can live happily ever after. But the author knows best and the story line she creates for both Leena and Anil is far better than I could have imagined.

I loved these characters and I loved having an opportunity to watch both of them grow. Both Leena and Anil fight against the limitations that others want to place on them – Anil as the oldest son and foreigner, and Leena as a woman – and triumph in the end. Once again, Shilpi Somaya Gowda has hit it out of the park.

408 p.
Published: January 2016

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#BookReview: Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Kavita and Jasu live in a rural Indian village and are pregnant with their second child. The first, a daughter, was brutally murdered by a family member of Jasu at birth because the girl child was thought to be more of a burden than benefit to the family.  The second child is a girl as well, but Kavita refuses to let Jasu handle her like he did their first. Instead, she and her sister travel to an orphanage in Mumbai with the baby, Usha, and place her up for adoption.

Somer and Krishnan are a young married couple living in California. Despite being busy medical professionals, Somer desperately wants a child. After a couple of miscarriages, Krishnan tries to convince Somer to travel back to his home country to adopt. His mother has ties to an orphanage in Mumbai. Somer finally relents and they travel to India to adopt…yep, you’ve guessed it—Kavita’s baby girl, Usha.

Renamed Asha (thanks to some illegible penmanship), Somer and Krishnan's daughter has grown up knowing she was adopted from India her entire life. In the back of her mind, she always wondered about her biological parents and why they put her up for adoption. Offered a chance to travel back to India for a year on a journalism fellowship, Asha learns more about herself, her adoptive parents, and biological parents in that short time span. Narrated by nearly every character mentioned above at some point, Secret Daughter is a novel that spans decades and continents while exploring the family dynamic.

Gowda's debut work was a smash, in my opinion. Her writing is very reminscent of one of my favorite authors, Jhumpa Lahiri. Not only because of the superficial connection of them both being Indian, but in the way they let a story unfold. This story was carefully layered so that the we could get a feel for each character, their motivation for behavior as well as interactions with other characters. The tenuous relationships between characters in the book lead to some tense moments, but overall it's a pleasurable read. It's part coming-of-age, part cultural enlightenment.

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