Late Bloomers by Deepa Varadarajan
Vol #22
Dear reader,
Lately, I am realizing that a lot of adult life, for me, has been about trying to find the right balance between work, family, partner, my passions, friends, studying, learning, socializing, eating and sleeping. While reading this book, I felt a certain kinship with Lata. Her character exists in the many women that surround me.
I am at a very curious stage in my life. I find myself going through this changing arc in very slow motion. As I unravel, just like the Raman’s, I am holding on to stories to pull me through these times and help me make sense of them.
Sending love,
Miti
About the Author (via goodreads):
Deepa Varadarajan lives in Atlanta with her husband and two children. She is a legal academic and a graduate of Yale Law School. She grew up in Texas and received her BA from the University of Texas at Austin. Late Bloomers is her first novel.
About the Book (via Goodreads):
After thirty-six years of a dutiful but unhappy arranged marriage, recently divorced Suresh and Lata Raman find themselves starting new paths in life. Suresh is trying to navigate the world of online dating on a website that caters to Indians and is striking out at every turn--until he meets a mysterious, devastatingly attractive younger woman who seems to be smitten with him. Lata is enjoying her newfound independence, but she's caught off guard when a professor in his early sixties starts to flirt with her.
Meanwhile, Suresh and Lata's daughter, Priya, thinks her father's online pursuits are distasteful even as she embarks upon a clandestine affair of her own. And their son, Nikesh, pretends at a seemingly perfect marriage with his law-firm colleague and their young son, but hides the truth of what his relationship really entails. Over the course of three weeks in August, the whole family will uncover one another's secrets, confront the limits of love and loyalty, and explore life's second chances.
Memorable Quotes:
It was not lost on me—the fact that I had stayed married until both of my parents died. I had always been a dutiful daughter. I was, until their end.
Parenting adults was so much harder than parenting children. With a grown child, you had none of the control. Just the worry.
But a divorced Indian woman my age? She had one of three options: (1) to live out the rest of her days alone, humbled as if she were a widow; (2) to move in with her adult children, provide permanent babysitting for grandchildren, and act thankful about it; or (3) to move back to India and take care of her aged parents. Those were her socially sanctioned, statistically likely options.
Ah yes, the digestion-related questions. She was clever, my daughter. Make no mistake: This line of inquiry, while appearing innocent, was really quite devious. It allowed her to play the part of a concerned child without having to really ask, hear, or know anything about my life. She could plant herself in the trouble-free zone of superficial conversation, digestive inquiry serving as the functional equivalent of discussing the weather. Maybe even more than that, she derived a certain satisfaction from casting me in the light of an ailing old man. She’d ask about my stomach, my heart, my cholesterol, my blood pressure, my joints, and by asking me all the health-related questions she had once reserved for obligatory phone calls to her grandparents in India, she could snuff out all images of her serial-dating, virile, vital father.
Questions that arose:
Is it ever too late to start over? And if it's not, why is it so hard?
Lata and Suresh only divorced once both their parents had passed away. How does their relationship with their parents contrast or compare with their children’s relationship with them?
This story is based in the USA. Would this story be believable if it were based in India? What might be different?
The story is told from the perspectives of the four main characters. Which character resonated the most with you?
What did you think about how the book ended?
Recap: Our last read was Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It took us deep into the fantastic fast-paced world of gaming while simultaneously investing us in very real (both flawed and lovable) characters - all of which we thoroughly enjoyed!
Currently Reading: Tvisha has gone back to her on-and-off obsession with Cal Newport, a professor of computer science who writes about how to perform productive, valuable, and meaningful work in an increasingly distracted digital age. Tvisha finished reading his So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. The author has an annoyingly judgemental tone and draws questionable conclusions sometimes, yet provides helpful and practical advice. Now onto reading his A World Without Email - wish that can be a reality soon!
Miti just finished reading Lessons in Chemistry and is now reading Book Lovers by Emily Henry.
SHELF INDULGENCE PICK:
Sep-Oct: Coming Out as Dalit: A Memoir by Yashica Dutt
Happy Reading!
Warmly,
Miti and Tvisha
P.S. If you’re interested in being a part of Shelf Indulgence, write to us!