Today I
thought I’d feature Anita Rau Badami who has written four novels: Tamarind
Mem, The Hero’s Walk, Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? and Tell it to the Trees. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of these. Here’s my review of her most recent book.
Review of Tell it to the Trees
4
Stars
The book
tells the story of the Dharma family living outside an isolated small town in
northern British Columbia. Its members include Vikram, who went to India to
arrange his second marriage to Suman, a quiet, gentle woman. The couple has a
son, Hemant, but Suman is also stepmother to Varsha, a teenager who, because of
the loss of her mother, fears losing Suman and becomes very possessive of her
half-brother as well. Akka, Vikram's elderly and sickly mother, is the fifth
member of the household.
Shifting
narrators gradually reveal the story of this family. Though they appear to be a
loving and closely knit Indo-Canadian family, it soon becomes obvious that they
are not. Early in the novel the reader is told that "truth [is] a
shifting, shy thing, like sunlight changing from moment to moment" (19).
The truth is that the Dharmas are a damaged dysfunctional family.
To maintain
a good family name, the five members must keep family secrets, telling them
only to an old tree. These secrets hold the family together but also tear it
apart.
A weakness
of the book is that much of the family's past is left unexplained. What
motivated Akka's husband to choose such an isolated place as his family's home?
What few hints are given about Akka's past suggest that her story is worthy of
an entire book. Furthermore, the circumstances of the death that begins the
novel are rather unbelievable.
Despite its
weaknesses, this cautionary tale about the cycle of family behaviour is a good
read. It is both a psychological drama and a mystery, a chilling read in
keeping with its wintery setting.
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