Set in the late nineties, the narrative follows Amina Eapen, a Seattle-based photographer who returns to her family home in New Mexico after her mother reports that her father, Thomas, is talking to ghosts. As a surgeon dealing with a mysterious brain ailment, Thomas begins having conversations with his long-dead mother and brother. Amina navigates the chaotic dynamics of her Indian-American household while confronting the suppressed history of her brother Akhil’s decade-old death. The story shifts between their current crisis and the family's earlier years in India and America, focusing on how specific instances of grief and cultural displacement shaped their shared silence.
Readers interested in the intersection of immigrant identity and family pathology will find a realistic portrayal of how secrets survive across generations. It serves those looking for a story about the practical burden of caregiving and the ways humor functions as a defense mechanism against looming tragedy. People finish the book with a clearer understanding of how unresolved mourning affects the mental health of an entire domestic unit. It offers a blunt look at how families negotiate the space between medical science and the inexplicable behavior of those they love.
Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2014
- Language
- EN
