Review of THE SECRETS BETWEEN US by Thrity Umrigar

3.5 Stars

After listening to The Space Between Us, I wasn’t certain I wanted to listen to this sequel, but then my curiosity about what the author decided would happen to the characters got the best of me.  In many ways I preferred this novel, though the ending totally vexed me.

The novel focuses on Bhima, a poor woman living in a Mumbai slum, who works two jobs in order to support herself and her granddaughter Maya.  Believing that education is Maya’s way out of a life of impoverishment, Bhima is determined that Maya will complete college.  Circumstances bring Bhima into contact with Parvati, a vegetable vendor; together the two of them establish a business selling fruits and vegetables.  Gradually, the two also forge a friendship which changes both their lives.

It is the development of that friendship which interested me the most.  Initially, the two women are dismissive of each other:  Bhima makes assumptions about Parvati and almost regards her as someone beneath her notice whereas Parvati thinks Bhima is a snob.  Parvati is irreverent, cynical, and sharp-tongued and that doesn’t help their relationship, but the two women need each other’s skills to be successful.  As they spend time together and learn each other’s secrets, they come to trust and admire each other. 

Bhima fears change but does change.  She sees social norms shifting and this makes her uncomfortable.  For instance, she takes a job which brings her into contact with a lesbian couple, and her first instinct is to quit the job until Maya encourages her to overcome her prejudices.  Though she wants Maya to succeed in the modern world, she is unsettled by Maya’s ease with people whom Bhima regards as superiors.  As she learns about Parvati’s past, she questions her assumptions about her and realizes that Parvati’s angry bitterness is understandable. 

Parvati is a really interesting character.  Her life has been one tragedy after another; as Bhima learns the details of her past, she realizes that she has not been the only one to suffer.  To see such a perceptive and intelligent woman reduced to homelessness is heart-breaking. 

As in The Space Between Us, the theme is that women suffer unfairly in a society dominated by men.  Certainly, most of Parvati’s suffering was the result of men’s behaviour.  The brief appearance of Sera Dubash, Bhima’s previous employer, seems to have been included to show  that even wealthy women suffer because of men, but there is no doubt that poor women are even more at the mercy of men.  The emphasis on the importance of men, especially poor men, being able to keep their pride left me nauseous. 

I enjoyed the book very much, but the ending is a real letdown.  (The ending of The Space Between Us I also found problematic.)  It contrasts so sharply with what has transpired throughout:  the book is brutal in its depiction of life for poor women in India, yet the ending is so sentimental.  The reader is surely supposed to see the ending as hopeful, but I found it not just emotionally manipulative but distasteful.  Why is Bhima the one who has to make this final journey?   The two men behave as if they are faultless and it was Bhima who had to see the light!

It is unfortunate that the ending ruined the book for me.  Because of that ending, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend the novel except to people who will accept a fairy tale ending even though it’s totally unrealistic.  (If you want to read this book, I’d strongly advise reading The Space Between Us first.)