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| My Family and Other Saints | 
 enlarge | Author: Kirin Narayan
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00 (35.31 RON)
Buy New: $11.70 (27.54 RON)
You Save: $3.30 (7.77 RON) (22%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 211001
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 246
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 0226568210
Dewey Decimal Number: 301
EAN: 9780226568218
ASIN: 0226568210
Publication Date: September 15, 2008 (In 16 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
In 1969, young Kirin Narayan’s older brother, Rahoul, announced that he was quitting school and leaving home to seek enlightenment with a guru. From boyhood, his restless creativity had continually surprised his family, but his departure shook up everyone— especially Kirin, who adored her high-spirited, charismatic brother.
A touching, funny, and always affectionate memoir, My Family and Other Saints traces the reverberations of Rahoul's spiritual journey through the entire family. As their beachside Bombay home becomes a crossroads for Westerners seeking Eastern enlightenment, Kirin’s sari-wearing American mother wholeheartedly embraces ashrams and gurus, adopting her son’s spiritual quest as her own. Her Indian father, however, coins the term “urug”—guru spelled backward—to mock these seekers, while young Kirin, surrounded by radiant holy men, parents drifting apart, and a motley of young, often eccentric Westerners, is left to find her own answers. Deftly recreating the turbulent emotional world of her bicultural adolescence, but overlaying it with the hard-won understanding of adulthood, Narayan presents a large, rambunctious cast of quirky characters. Throughout, she brings to life not just a family but also a time when just about everyone, it seemed, was consumed by some sort of spiritual quest.
“A lovely book about the author's youth in Bombay, India. . . . The family home becomes a magnet for truth-seekers, and Narayan is there to affectionately document all of it.”—Body + Soul
“Gods, gurus and eccentric relatives compete for primacy in Kirin Narayan's enchanting memoir of her childhood in Bombay.”—William Grimes, New York Times
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Beyond a Memoir February 25, 2008
This autobiographical work goes beyond the personal story to capture moments in time that include the author's grandmother in her sari playing solitare on a formica table. Contemporary design meets ancient Hindu traditions meets the beginnings of Bollywood. Maw's hosts the stream of western seekers and an older brother's care and companionship help a young woman survive and thrive in a confusing childhood.
My Family and Other Saints January 22, 2008
I laughed and I cried, and sometimes I laughed till I cried. This book is an extraodinary piece of writing about both ordinary and exceptional individuals living together and apart through complex times -- shaped by their cultural surroundings as well as their inner lives. Narayan captures the complexities of character -- her colorful portraits ring clear and true. I was deeply moved by all the people I met on this journey with a family and through an era brought to life with sensitivity, humor, sadness, and passion. I highly recommend it and look forward to her next work.
 bruisingly honest memoir January 19, 2008
I commend kirin narayan for her ability to write such an honest account of her youth. Her experience as a part indian, part american girl growing up in Bombay was very interesting. She has filled the pages with honesty, humor, her quest for herself, as well as what to make of the conditions surrounding her. It isn't often one encounters the sort of identity issues ms narayan faced. It makes complete sense that she ended up being a writer as well as an anthropology professor. i recommend this book to anyone who has faced identity issues and who needed to make sense of their world.
Fascinating view of family and Hinduism January 19, 2008
I grew up in the world Kirin Narayan writes about and found the book to be both emotional and objective. The view of her unique family and their "issues" along with their collective spiritual quest is very unique in Indian, or Indian-American, writing. I loved the book! It might be tricky to "get into" if you don't know India, but it's well worth the try. It's honest, witty and smart.
Cross-Cultural Coming of Age January 18, 2008
Novels, movies, and ethnographies on the challenges second-generation Indians face while growing up in the United States are growing in popularity. Kirin Narayan's book echoes this expanding genre, yet offers a different perspective. Rather than taking place in the U.S., her struggle to integrate cultural outlooks occurs in her home near Bombay where, as a child and teenager, she is confronted by a continual barrage of westerners who take over spare bedrooms and hang out on her porch on their way to visit gurus. The book chronicles her relationships and confrontations with her American guru-following, sari-wearing mother and her witty, intellectual, and tragically disillusioned Indian father. As her older siblings leave India for American educations, Kirin is left to find her own way of dealing with the unsettledness of living in two worlds. She seeks consolation for her troubles from both those worlds, drawing consolation equally from reading 19th century British novels and from chanting to the goddess in the early morning. The thread that ties the disparate parts of her life together is her brother Rahoul, who seems to symbolize the creativity and energy it takes to embrace life and death with all its complexity (Rahoul is one of the first victims of AIDS).
The book would be appealing to anyone interested in the tricky business of identity formation. Reading this book brought back memories of my own growing up years. Whether we have to deal with the extra challenges of uniting different cultures or not, I think most people will relate to Narayan's struggle to find out who she is in the midst of a chaotic world. It would also, of course, appeal to those interested in India, and particularly the Indian guru scene.
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