Sunday, June 20, 2021

From the D Shelf...

 Author: Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee
Title: One Amazing Thing



An earthquake traps nine strangers in the visa office of an Indian Consulate somewhere in America. They are an eclectic bunch. There's Jiang and her teen-age granddaughter, Lily; Uma, a graduate student trying to get a visa in order to travel back to India to visit her parents; Tariq, a young Muslim-American; Cameron, an African-American ex-soldier with asthma; the Pritchards, who are having marital troubles; and Mr. Mangalam, the office manager, and Malathi, his secretary. None of them have much in common. And without much food, or any way out, tensions soon start to grow between them. Until Uma suggests they each tell a story of one amazing thing from their lives to pass the time while they wait to be rescued. Their stories are uniquely poignant and powerful, uniting them together.

So I started my own Reading the Alphabet challenge seven years ago, starting with the letter Z and working my way backwards to A. And I was finally going to finish it up last year, but then COVID hit and my library closed, so there went browsing the shelves for serendipitous finds. Even when my library opened back up last summer, it was only for curbside pick-ups at first, and I got into the habit of just putting all my library books on hold. Which I've continued to do for the last year. But this month I decided to start browsing the shelves once again instead. 

From Dailey to DeMille to Dickens, there are a lot of authors whose last names begin with the letter D on the shelves at my library, so I had a lot of books to choose from, but I'm very glad I chose to check out this thoughtful book by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (who I've never read before). It's certainly an original novel. I was drawn to each one of her characters as they shared their personal stories, even the flawed and outwardly unlikable ones. But then, it's our experiences, our stories of suffering and joy, that connect us as human beings. And Divakaruni's amazing writing made it possible for me to connect with each of her nine characters. This quiet novel was another serendipitous find from the library, introducing me to an author I'd happily read again. And even though I wish the ending had been a little less ambiguous, I ended up liking this one a lot.

Happy Reading!

35 comments:

  1. Sometimes I have trouble keeping multiple characters straight but, happy to read this one worked well for you.

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    1. I don't love when books flip between multiple POVs, but this one worked.

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  2. I love the idea of this. And I'm always a sucker for a disaster brings people together story. :)

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    1. And they are certainly stuck in a disaster.

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  3. What a great set up for this novel and I can only imagine how varied the stories must be when you have people from all different backgrounds. Another one for my TBR!

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    1. It was a great set up, and the diversity among the characters in age and culture and experience made it even better.

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  4. Sounds like an inspirational story! Glad to hear you enjoyed it, Lark!

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    1. It was different than what I normally read, but sometimes different is good. :)

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  5. I'm so interested in this diverse group of people. I'm already worried about the one with asthma!

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  6. I'd never heard of this book before, but it does sound like a good one! I love character-driven novels when said characters are finely-drawn.

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    1. I like character-driven novels, too. And Divakaruni does an amazing job interweaving all these characters and their stories.

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  7. I like your Alphabet Challenge a lot because of how it could lead you to some new authors you would have otherwise never heard of...especially when browsing library shelves for possibilities. This one sounds pretty good. At first I thought they had their own little mini-apocalypse going, but then saw that it went someplace else with the premise. Still sounds good, though.

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    1. I wasn't expecting where this novel ended up either, but I did end up liking it. And I've run across several amazing authors doing this challenge which I doubt I would have discovered otherwise. When I finally reach the letter A, I might turn around and start all over. :)

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  8. I like the sound of this one. I love reading about people who come together despite their differences. :)

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    1. And these nine certainly had their differences! :)

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  9. That brings me back to something I once heard a news anchor say, "Everyone has a story to tell". It's very true.

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    1. That is really true. And I loved that the story each character chose to tell revolved around one amazing thing in their life.

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  10. I'm fairly certain that I read this one several years ago. Don't have my journals right now (they are packed), but I'm sure I liked it. And I love the idea of your 'Alphabet' challenge. I might decide to try something like that myself once we get settled in our new town for a bit. A good way to peruse a new library, right? LOL

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    1. It would be the perfect way to get to know your new library! And it's a good way to discover new authors, and new books, too. :)

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  11. That sounds like an interesting premise; and I love the diversity of characters, too.

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  12. It's really satisfying when a serendipitous choice turns out so well, isn't it? I'm not familiar with the author either, but she appears to have a creative and original imagination.

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    1. It is very satisfying when I stumble upon an unexpectedly good read like this. It's one of the reasons I love reading so much. :)

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  13. Sounds like a fun reading challenge and I like that it's helped you to discover authors you might not otherwise have read.

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    1. It's been good for me to expand my reading horizons. :)

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  14. Your idea to read through the alphabet at the library is such a good idea because we tend to stick to our favorite authors and the books we know but by reading the alphabet we end up reading so many books we never would have read otherwise. A real advenyure.

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    1. I've discovered several new authors from doing this, and some great books, too! I'll be a little sad when I'm done.

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  15. One of my penpals recommended this author to me - I think I might check her out after all. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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    1. I really liked the way she writes; I'd definitely read her again. :)

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