Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Madras On Rainy Days - Samina Ali (Different)
This book was recommended by a dear friend. This novel was especially enchanting to me since a part of the story is based in a city that I hail from. "Madras On Rainy Days" is not a great novel, but it does offer readers an enlightening portrayal of one young woman's cultural crisis.Layla, the protagonist is Muslim, but she is also American, a child of divorce, a survivor of child abuse, and an exile who divides her time between Hyderabad in India and America, never quite belonging in either place. Despite her parents' attempt to shelter her, though, Layla still underwent many American rites of passage, often without her parents' knowledge. With the odds heavily stacked against her, Layla agrees to an arranged marriage to a handsome engineer, Sameer.
The symbolism in the story sometimes is explained in too much detail and not much is left to the readers to decipher symbolism on their own. I think this book would mainly interest women. The book was a good attempt by Samina Ali.
# posted by Zette Remi @ 1:36 AM 
