When Vidya glimpses a group of girls learning kathak, an Indian dance, she is instantly drawn to the art form. Given permission to begin taking lessons, she struggles with the discipline and focus the dance requires. The book continues following Vidya through her life, and she goes to college, moves on to a more advanced teacher, and finally marries.

I felt like this book was all over the place. It was written in a lyrical style, that does not really appeal to me. I am sure that many will love this book, it just wasn't for me. ( )

79.61%: Several references to abortion. Can't ignore it anymore. Time to exit ( )

Although the story is about a traditional girl from India, Vidya, it echoes the emotions of women of all nationalities. Vidya, whose mother died while Vidya was very young, is raised by her father in a poor neighborhood of Mumbai. When her brother comes to live with them, she not only has all the household duties, but becomes the mother figure to her brother. What she yearns for is the traditional dance of kathak. Becoming a kathak dancer is all-consuming, meaning hours of practice and the giving up of a traditional life. Vidya is determined, continuing her study of the dance through college and refuses to give it up when she marries. She believes her husband understands her passion to be a professional dancer. When she finds herself pregnant, she discovers her husband is thrilled and expects them to move in with his wealthy parents. At times the story is almost poetic, the emotion in Sneha Mathan’s narration provides voice to Vidya’s needs. Manthan ablely conveys Vidya’s devotion and dedication to her art despite society’s attempt to mold her into a dutiful wife, mother and daughter-in-law. ( )

The first thing you notice about Shruti Swamy's novel The Archer is the striking cover- a young woman dancer caught in midspin. I immediately wanted to know all about her.

The story opens in 1960's Bombay with a young Vidya, who is not living with her mother or brother, but with her father, aunt and two cousins. After a time, her mother and baby brother return home, but Vidya cannot remember why her mother and brother disappeared for a while, it is a mystery not to be discussed at home.

Vidya is dark complected like her mother's family, and her father's family treats her differently as they are lighter-skinned. Her paternal grandmother says Vidya also has her mother's temperament, calling her "restless and unsatisfied", and it telling her it will lead to problems in the future.

While her mother is taking singing lessons, Vidya wanders into a kathak dance class and is mesmerized. She wants nothing more than to dance like the young women she saw. When Vidya's mother discovers that she wants to take dance lessons, she tells Vidya that it takes discipline and practice. Then her mother tells her the story of Eklavya, a young boy who wanted to be an archer and what he had to sacrifice to do it.

Vidya is accepted into dance class, and her teacher requires complete dedication to dance, which Vidya is only too happy to give. As the years go by, we see Vidya attending an English scholarship school where she excels in academics and continues her dance instruction.

When Vidya goes to college, she studies electrical engineering, and does very well in her classes. She finally makes a good friend in Radha, a fellow female engineering student, who tells Vidya that she may have to make a choice between dance and engineering as both require rigorous devotion.

In her heart, Vidya is a dancer. She trains with a reknowned teacher who requires perfection, something that Vidya strives for in her life. When Vidya earns a solo dance performance, she is so filled with joy, but her teacher's comments take her aback.

The Archer is a beautiful coming-of-age story for Vidya, with the book divided into five sections, each one dealing with a different part of her life. We see her grow from a young girl who finds her passion in dance, and how she strives to continue to live a life that honors her art, even though society asks something else of her. If you are someone for whom art is your passion, you will get even more from this beautifully written story. If you loved Alka Joshi's The Henna Artist, put The Archer on your list.

Thanks to Algonquin Books for putting me on Shruti Swamy's tour. ( )

Vidya grew up with expectations, beginning with the command to care for her younger brother like a mother. When her mother left them, Vidya did become the mother of the house, taking care of her father and sibling. In fact, her father decided that she would study engineering and have a career and take care of him always, to never marry or leave her childhood home.

There was a passion in Vidya, a restlessness. Her grandmother understood. “You should have been a boy,” she said. How could such a girl marry and obey her mother-in-law’s rule?

Vidya was enthralled with the dancers she had glimpsed, the pounding feet and tinkling bells, the precise movements and the rhythm of the music. She wanted to know the secret. When she shared her desire with her mother, Vidya learns she had been named for a dancer. Her mother herself had hoped for another kind of life, and agreed for dancing lessons, if Vidya promised to have discipline and practice. And then, her mother told the story of the boy who wanted to study with a master archer who demanded a harsh price.

In dance, Vidya found her “I”, separate from the roles she played: wife taking care of her father, daughter and student, mother to her brother. Going away to school was an escape from home, but she was chained to her studies. She finds a new dance teacher, and friendship in fellow student Radha who dreams of becoming an astronaut.

Asked to dance the chorus in a play, Vidya creates her own dance, and in performance, is transported into her “I”, finding her anger, and making an indelible impression on her teacher and on a boy who becomes her future husband. Marriage brings new problems, her husband marrying her against his family’s wishes, and expectations that disrupt her chance for a career in dance performance.

The Archer is a marvelous experience, a journey into a girl’s growing awareness of herself as a person in a world that presses to squash her individuality. I loved the portrayal of her girlhood, the transformative experience of one’s body as vehicle for expression, the description of labor and motherhood. Vidya’s story is exotic in locale and specific in time, while universal in theme and story.

The true achievement in life to to make one’s life one’s art, to live one’s truth. It is an empowering message.

I received an ARC from the publisher. My review is fair and unbiased. ( )