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Bezig met laden... The Story Hour (origineel 2014; editie 2014)door Thrity Umrigar (Auteur)
Informatie over het werkThe Story Hour door Thrity Umrigar (2014)
ALA The Reading List (350) Bezig met laden...
Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. I gobbled this book up. I had admired "The Space Between Us" and this one, if anything, outdid her earlier work. Told from two women's points of view--an unhappy Indian immigrant and the African-American therapist she is sent to after a suicide attempt. They cannot overcome the cultural divide between them completely; there are misunderstandings and wounded feelings. But there is also friendship and mutual admiration, and each woman's world widens as the result of the other's attention and queries. A remarkable novel. Lakshmi Patil is an immigrant with an angry, unloving husband and no family or friends. In her abject loneliness she decides to commit suicide. Maggie Bose is a trained psychologist who is asked to see Lakshmi in the hospital. Something about the woman touches Maggie’s heart and she agrees to provide therapy without cost. The lines become blurred as their relationship less professional and more friendly. Both women are hiding significant secrets – from themselves, from each other, from their spouses, friends and family. Umrigar alternates viewpoints between these two women. Lakshmi’s chapters are written in a broken English that was at first off-putting, but which I came to appreciate for how clearly that voice represented her. The reader gets a true sense of her loneliness, confusion, difficulties in understanding this language and culture so different from her native land, and the progress she makes. In contrast, Maggie’s chapters show her education, social position, and training as a psychologist. And yet, for all her ability to see the possible stories and motivations behind the actions and words of her patient/friend (or other people she comes into contact with), she seems blind to her own motivations. I was completely engaged from page one through all the ups and downs of the story. I was anxious about how things would work out, sympathized with them when feelings were hurt, felt anger at some situations, and eagerly hoped for a resolution. I’m glad that Umrigar left the ending somewhat ambiguous, but I have hope that these characters will find their way to understanding and forgiveness. An excellent story about an immigrant wife who attempts suicide and befriends her psychiatrist who has issues of her own. Most of the story flip flops between the two women, Lakshmi's chapters in her broken English, Maggie's in a third person narrative. Lots of good stuff in here about marriage, fidelity, love, personal choices and mistakes. It's a relatively easy read but still gripping and packed with emotions (for the characters and the reader). Recommended! geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
PrijzenErelijsten
Fiction.
Literature.
HTML: From the critically beloved, bestselling author of The World We Found and The Space Between Us, whom the New York Times Book Review calls a "perceptive and . . . piercing writer," comes a profound, heartbreakingly honest novel about friendship, family, secrets, forgiveness, and second chances. An experienced psychologist, Maggie carefully maintains emotional distance from her patients. But when she meets a young Indian woman who tried to kill herself, her professional detachment disintegrates. Cut off from her family in India, Lakshmi is desperately lonely and trapped in a loveless marriage to a domineering man who limits her world to their small restaurant and grocery store. Moved by her plight, Maggie treats Lakshmi in her home office for free, quickly realizing that the despondent woman doesn't need a shrink; she needs a friend. Determined to empower Lakshmi as a woman who feels valued in her own right, Maggie abandons protocol, and soon doctor and patient have become close friends. But while their relationship is deeply affectionate, it is also warped by conflicting expectations. When Maggie and Lakshmi open up and share long-buried secrets, the revelations will jeopardize their close bond, shake their faith in each other, and force them to confront painful choices. .Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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The story alternates in perspective between Lakshmi and Maggie. Lakshmi’s segments are told in a speaking dialect of broken English. At first the two women seem to have much in common, but the reader gradually realizes that their cultural backgrounds are so different that they have trouble understanding one another’s choices.
This story kept my attention throughout. The author does a great job of portraying each woman’s character and feelings through their actions and responses. I appreciate an ending that allows each reader to come up with an interpretation of what happens next. ( )