Started July 14
Finished July 17
Recommendation: Worth the read
Summary from the back of the book:
Somer's life is everything she imagined it would be--she's newly married and has started her career as a physician in San Francisco--until she make the devastating discovery that she never will be able to have children.
The same year in India, a poor mother makes the heartbreaking choice to save her newborn daughter's life by giving her away. It is a decision that will haunt Kavita for the rest of her life, and cause a ripple effect that travels across the world and back again.
Asha, adopted out of a Mumbai orphanage, is the child that binds the destines of these two women. We follow both families, invisibly connected until Asha's journey of self-discovery leads her back to India.
Compulsively readable, and deeply touching, Secret Daughter is a story of the unforeseen ways in which our choices and families effect our lives, and the indelible power of love in all its many forms.
I don't even know where to start with my thoughts on this book, so I'll start with how I got it. Any of you familiar with a university library know that they can be difficult to navigate and find things in. A friend of mine says she always starts the trips to our library with a cup of coffee and a map, because you never know how long you'll be there (I'm paraphrasing). Well, I went off to the library with neither of these items because I looked on the website map and it was easy enough, I knew where I was going. Well, I was wrong. I went to the area I thought was right, not a book in sight with even remotely the same call number. I went to the reading room, similar call numbers but alas, no Secret Daughter. Was it possible that Secret Daughter was in a secret location? To the circulation desk I went. Lucky for me the woman helping me was new to that area and according to her she didn't even know what to ask to find out if I was looking in the right spot, so she decided to come downstairs with me to help me look. Friends, I consider myself a fairly smart person; I have a couple degrees heck, I've even worked in a library, but I made what can only be considered a stupid mistake. I was looking in the hundreds instead of the thousands. Insert head smack here. Apparently, this is a pretty common mistake, so the library lady didn't make me feel too dumb. I'm going back to the library this afternoon to find another book. Hopefully, this time things will go a bit better.
Ok, so I took a few days away from writing this blog entry and I think I have a little bit better perspective on the book. When I first finished it I wasn't really sure how I felt. I knew I liked the book, but I had all the feels and I wasn't sure about that. I mean, it is good when I book makes you feel all the emotions, but sometimes that can leave you a little drained and unsure. But, now that I am a little more removed I think I have better perspective. One of the things that frustrated me was that I ended up liking people I didn't expect to like and not liking those that I thought I would/should like. In the end I decided that it was real, and maybe that is what bothered me. People were flawed, they didn't always understand where the other person was coming from, but they tried. Everyone in the book tried to do their best. But, just like all of us, sometimes their best isn't the best, or isn't the right way to handle things, but you don't really ever know that. And everyone could have reached out a bit more, tried to explain themselves or worked to make someone feel more welcome, but like all of us, they didn't always do that. And when they realized they should, it was nearing on too late. But, it was never really too late. Small steps were made in the end that I like to think were going to lead to better relationships.
I was also amazed by the descriptions of India. Secret Daughter begins in 1984, not all that long ago. But when you begin reading about the conditions in India it seems much more primitive. It was heartbreaking to think that someone would have to make the decision to give up their baby girl because she was a girl who would cost them too much money in dowry and couldn't help on the farm. The levels of poverty and the lengths to which people go just to survive are amazing. I can't imagine living in these conditions, much less trying to raise a family and provide a better life for them.
So, yes, read this book. But be prepared for a big case of the feels. While reading this book I was happy, sad, angry, depressed, ready to throw the book away, and near tears. But, in a good way.
Until next time...
