BizCar - English Language Books: International supplier of books in the English language
|
|
|
| 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: $10.20 (24.01 RON)
You Save: $4.80 (11.30 RON) (32%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 88892
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
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
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Customer Reviews:
 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.
A fun memoir of hippie-era history -- from an Indian viewpoint January 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed this book. I was a "hippie" myself back in the 60s and 70s, but, alas, never made it out of the Midwest. Still, I shared an interest in Eastern philosophies with much of my generation, and watched with fascination as many went abroad to study meditation in India.
Kirin Narayan's memoir of her childhood provides a very refreshing perspective on that era -- from the Indian side. The daughter of a spiritually skeptical Indian father and a spiritually adventurous American mother, Narayan's childhood family home in a beach community outside Bombay was quite literally a cultural crossroads.
As a sensitive adolescent who just wanted to be "normal," Narayan watched with ever-changing emotions as her many colorful Indian relatives interacted with the almost constant stream of bliss-seeking hippie tourists who sought out her family's home as a crash pad and her mother for advice on everything from renewing a visa to clearing their chakras. She tracks the course of her beloved older brother's spiritual growth, and his relationships with gurus who ended up becoming family friends (and well-known spiritual leaders).
There are many entertaining anecdotes and character sketches -- about her Indian grandmother who talks to her cow and always seems to be bumping into the spirits of dead gurus, about an artistic American grandmother who lives in a beach hut nearby, about her enlightenment-seeking brother Rahoul who teases young Kirin and makes little god-statues, about her mother's hopping from ashram to ashram in search of her own spiritual path. And not least about Kirin herself and her struggle to fashion her own identity in this mix of East and West, ancient and modern.
The book is sometimes quite funny, sometimes quite sober, and sometimes quite sad, and I was carried along by the narrative.
If I had to cite a shortcoming, I'd probably agree with the New York Times reviewer who wished the father's story had been more completely told -- he is both a sympathetic and worrisome presence throughout the book.
Also, I would have liked a glossary -- even just a short one -- of the many Indian words and phrases sprinkled throughout the text. Some of them one understands from the context, but others I never did figure out.
If you enjoy books that immerse you in another culture and paint a picture through stories and anecdotes of lives very different from your own, you'll like this book.
A family memoir January 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found this a fascinating story, not just of India in the 60s, but of a family in a very extended sense. Narayan's biological family fills the pages of her memory, even though one of the most important characters, Rahoul, is almost always absent from the action being described. Other people, other saints, are critical members of the extended family, as are the urugs who come to India and through the Narayan household seeking their own brand of enlightenment. This is a great chronicle of the meeting of the US and India, in the Narayan family and in the larger culture. There is so much packed into this family chronicle that it's hard to remember until the very end that it is also the chronicle of a girlhood, the story and memories of a child who herself embodies that mid-century fusion of east and west. There is gentle humor, fun-poking, and a pervasive sense of sadness and loss that never overwhelms that feeling of promise and potential. It's an exquisite balancing act, one to be savored slowly. Once I began reading it, I wanted it never to end.
Could Not Stop Reading January 17, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
My Family and Other Saints is an account of the author's childhood in the suburbs of Bombay (Mumbai). Narayan has beautifully crafted her book and it is impossible to put down. One is touched by her compassion, humor and insights (anthropological and otherwise). The look at India in the 60's and early 70's is fascinating. I have lived in and visited India, but this revealed so much more about the country. I would recommend this book to any reader interested in family, India or riveting stories.
|
|
|
