This book is so good that I have put off writing the review for a day. I cannot do justice to the book! I got so immersed into the character of Tehmina Sethna who had only lost her much loved husband one year ago. I recognized myself in her to the nth degree.

Tehmina was visting her only son's family after a long plane trip starting from Bombay, India and ending in a suburb in Cleveland, Ohio. Her family are Parsi, originally immigrants from Iran to India, and a small minority in India. The Parsi in India are know for their wonderful food and Zoroastriansm which I see shining through this book. They believe in good deeds, good thoughts and good beliefs.

There are two boys living over the fence to her son's house. The mother is mean to her children, verbally and physically abusing them. Tehmina really wants to help the little boys, will she get her son's family in trouble if she does, in Bombay, she would not hesitate but she is in Ohio and not sure if she should follow her heart or refrain and protect her son' family from trouble.

When things esculate to danger for the boys, she makes her choice. Her son wants her to stay in Ohio instead of returning to India. There are many things to consider. Follow the story to the end and find out the conclusion.

If you have every wondered if you need to do something good that might cost in several ways. Please read this book. Often the print size of her books are too small for me, so am ordering more of her books on audio. I really wish that I could have the honor of sitting down and discussing life with the author. That may not happen but I am going read everything written by her. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. Great infomation about Indian culture.

In Umrigar's tender fourth novel, Tehmina "Tammy" Sethna is torn between two cultures that couldn't be more different: Bombay and Cleveland. The former is her homeland, but after her husband's recent death, she's been staying with her son and his family in America. Tehmina loves being near grandson Cookie, but she often feels like an intruder in her American daughter-in-law's home, and she's disconcerted by the changes in her son, Sorab, who is stressed from the corporate rat race. Though Tehmina's loneliness floods her with memories of her husband, the Parsi community back in India and her traditional ways, she finds no small amount of purpose (and celebrity) in Cleveland after suspecting her neighbor of child abuse and intervening on the children's behalf. Immigration laws, meanwhile, force her to decide whether she'll remain in Cleveland or return to Bombay. Umrigar (The Space Between Us) shows the unseemly side of American excess and prejudice while gently reminding readers of opportunities sometimes taken for granted ( )

Not as complex as some of her other books but an enjoyable story ( )

I really liked Tehmina Sethna and that is the strength of this novel. She is so real. Tehmina is a recent widow staying in Ohio with her only son Sorab as she struggles with a major life choice, Does she stay in Ohio with her son, daughter in law , Susan and grandson Cookie? Or does she return to Bombay India to her homeland, culture, friends and memories of a happy marriage? Much happens to Tehmina as she struggles with this decision. Her beloved husband Rustom appears to her encouraging her. She comes to the rescue of 2 abused boys next door. In fact she comes to help just abouteveryone she comes in contact with. And all along she is thinking of the differences in the Indian culture and the American culture and the good points of each and the not so good points of each.
A very good book. ( )

Tehmina is newly widowed and unsure of what to do with her life. Should she stay in Bombay, where everything is familiar and reminders of her husband are around every corner, or should she move into her son's home in suburban Cleveland as he desires, though it is clear that she is a burden to his wife? During the course of a 6 month stay with her son, she begins to see the world in a new light and emotionally bonds with the two neglected boys next door. But is that enough to help make Tammy, as she is known to her friends, leave everything behind for a new life?

I went into this book hoping for a good story. The dust jacket sounded appealing, in fact the descriptions of all of Umrigar's books sounded appealing. A transplant from India herself, she has a view of the world that straddles the two cultures. Unfortunately, what could have been a really great view at an experience I will never have, instead was lackluster and left me extraordinarily underwhelmed. I read the first third of the book and only skimmed through the rest just to find out what her decision would be. I didn't connect with any of the characters who were very one-dimensionally written. The setting could have been any city in America, as there was nothing to set it apart as being Cleveland. And the story was dull and uninteresting. I can't say that I would recommend this book or that I am at all interested in giving Umrigar another chance. ( )