Kiran Desai won the Booker prize for this 2006 novel, and you know what that means: it’s not an easy-breezy read. Give it time, because the book will reward you. I read it slowly as many pages demanded absolute attention, sometimes twice over.Â
The story brings you to Kalimpong, a mountainous town in the northeast of India. Here in the 1980s, an insurgency is threatening the peace and quiet, while a retired judge is living in a crumbling house with his granddaughter and cook. Biju, the cook’s son, is an illegal immigrant in the U.S., who went to the country in the hopes of a brighter future, and the romantic ideas wipe away as he faces humiliation and isolation.
The colonial heritage of the book is heavy—racism, casteist, and classism make this book grim, especially for those who realize how real this is. The judge, who has such deep hatred for himself and Indians, is one of the most unlikeable characters you’ll read. But the story takes you back to his time in London, and the contrast between his journey and Biju’s is another insight into the immigrant story.
