[.ca] The Hero's Walk (ISBN 0676973604)

From Amazon.com:
The Hero's Walk, the second novel by Anita Rau Badami, is a big, intimate book, the kind that seldom strays beyond the doors of a single residence. Set in the sweltering streets of Toturpuram, a small city on the Bay of Bengal, The Hero's Walk, which won the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize for best book in Canada and the Caribbean, explores the troubled life of Sripathi Rao, an unremarkable, middle-aged family man and advertising copywriter. As The Hero's Walk opens, Sripathi's life is already in a state of thorough disrepair. His mother, a domineering, half-senile octogenarian, sits like a tyrant at the top of his household, frightening off his sister's suitors, chastising him for not having become a doctor, and brandishing her hypochondria and paranoia with sinister abandon. It is Sripathi's children, however, who pose the biggest problems: Arun, his son, is becoming dangerously involved in political activism, and Maya, his daughter, broke off her arranged engagement to a local man in order to wed a white Canadian. Sripathi's troubles come to a head when Maya and her husband are killed in an automobile accident, leaving their 7- year-old daughter, Nandana, without Canadian kin. Sripathi travels to Canada and brings his granddaughter home, while his family is shaken by a series of calamities that may, eventually, bring peace to their lives. --Jack Illingworth

Transported me to India:
This is a poignant look at the tumultous life of an Indian family; their traditions, joys and sorrows. The characters are wonderfully drawn, the story simple yet compelling. We are given an intimate look into the daily lives of each member of the family. Each character a marvelous study unto themselves. We feel the family's pain and small joys, as they try as best they can to exist in a society that seems to be falling apart around them. Unlike another reviewer who grew tired of the 'excessive' references to sights, sounds and smells, I was fascinated by these descriptions, even when reading about the family waking up to find their home flooded by raw sewage! A final note, if any of you think your mother-in-law is a pain, wait until you meet Ammayya! I would highly recommend this novel.

A Thorough, Realistic and Heart-aching story:
I absolutely adore this book! Anita Rau Badami has managed to beautifully incorporate the mind-set of both middle-aged, traditional Indian parents, with that of a child being brought up by mixed parents, in Canada. The characters come to life and their emotions pull the reader into the pages and the plot. It is beautifully written, and the story itself is very realistic. The characters are each victims in their own ways and Badami has been able to portray them, not as characters in a story, but as people living in our world, surviving the laughter and tears of everyday life. Read this book, it might really help to change your life...or simply to make you think.

Wonderful:
This book is heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, a page-turner filled with pathos. I loved it madly.

An entertaining read...:
This book is a great story for anyone who wants to curl up on a cold day. The characters are rich in description and you feel as though they could be any number of people you know. Even though I'm in Canada and they are in India, you feel no distance since the story is human in every aspect. The author weaves a wonderful and interesting tale.

(3.5) A family: from boredom and despair to hope....:
Peopled with an insular Indian family, this deceptively simple novel allows the reader to peek behind the scenes of everyday familial interactions. This family has moved through the years almost by rote, honoring the old ways and accepting the mundane pattern of their lives. Meanwhile,across the ocean in America, tragedy strikes and an orphaned child appears on their doorstep. This helpless little granddaughter is the catalyst that finally propells the family into the future. In contrast, the great-grandmother tenaciously clings to the past, ever more self-absorbed as her worst traits define her final years. In order to survive, family members redefine their roles, charged with a renewed sense of interest. To nurture the child, they must open themselves to the future, and become more tolerant of eachother in the process. Ms. Badami writes with a straightforward charm, unpeeling the intricacies of her characters layer by layer.