Well-Behaved Indian Women
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
A Lilly's Library Book Club Pick!
“A sparkling debut.”—Emily Giffin, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
From a compelling new voice in women's fiction comes a mother-daughter story about three generations of women who struggle to define themselves as they pursue their dreams.
Simran Mehta has always felt harshly judged by her mother, Nandini, especially when it comes to her little "writing hobby." But when a charismatic and highly respected journalist careens into Simran's life, she begins to question not only her future as a psychologist, but her engagement to her high school sweetheart.
Nandini Mehta has strived to create an easy life for her children in America. From dealing with her husband's demanding family to the casual racism of her patients, everything Nandini has endured has been for her children's sake. It isn’t until an old colleague makes her a life-changing offer that Nandini realizes she's spent so much time focusing on being the Perfect Indian Woman, she’s let herself slip away.
Mimi Kadakia failed her daughter, Nandini, in ways she'll never be able to fix—or forget. But with her granddaughter, she has the chance to be supportive and offer help when it's needed. As life begins to pull Nandini and Simran apart, Mimi is determined to be the bridge that keeps them connected, even as she carries her own secret burden.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dave's ambitious but uneven debut follows three generations of Indian and Indian-American women as they navigate life. In 2018, Simran Mehta, 26, is engaged to her high school sweetheart, and their lives seem fast-tracked to success; he's in medical school at NYU, she's in grad school at Columbia for psychology, and they couldn't be happier. After a chance encounter with a handsome newspaper columnist Simran admires, unwanted emotions surge, not least her latent ambition to become a journalist. As Simran tracks an increasingly rocky road to self-discovery, she finds little comfort from her mother, Nandini, who is wrestling with a professional crisis of her own after years of taking a back seat to her husband's career. Simran's visit with her grandmother in India leads her to learn that Nandini, too, had struggled with the social pressures of her community, which gives Simran the courage to buck expectations. The stilted writing style particularly the exposition-laden, unnatural dialogue and near complete lack of sexual or romantic tension in the love story are big hurdles, as is a plot that too often feels like it's stuck in neutral. Other novels have more effectively and enjoyably addressed the tensions between immigrant mothers and daughters.
