9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A dissenting--that is, a positive!-- opinion, December 29, 2007
Fifteen minutes ago I finished 'Gifted' and want to present a different account than most of the reviews here. I won't recap the plot about young Rumi, her critically insensitive (but loving) father, and her sad and rather bewildered mother, as many people have offered the main points. My own central point is this: Agreed, the novel isn't perfect; but, parts of it are. Lalwani is so attuned to, and articulately expressive of, the emotions felt in a family (even an atypically dysfunctional family) that the book is engaging. It represents in acutely painful terms the nightmare of emotionally missing each other that most of us experience in our families --but for us, it's a flash of a moment here and there, whereas for Rumi it's extenuated and expanded into a continuous reality. I did care about Rumi, as I read.
A previous reviewer complained that none of the characters communicated - well, right! This is Lalwani's desire, to make us look at what happens to a bright, open, unusual child who is forced to play out a parent's impossibly rigid vision for her, week after week and year after year. Rumi feels unknown and unseen, and she is. I found a lot of the negative comments to be about a focus on the trees (details), instead of the forest (overall book). Yes, the family walks to the cinema and returns by 'car'. Perhaps a taxi? Is this really a problem worth noting? Consider instead a passage Lalwani includes in this very section of the book. As the family walks along, Rumi, at this point a pre-teen, experiences some rare light-hearted, in-sync moments with her parents. Everyone highly anticipates some fun together. But then the mother becomes tense about an exchange with her husband, and the world tilts: "She [the mother] laughed, a bitter rind to the sound. Rumi held her breath in her chest and looked at Mahesh [her father], fearful that it was all going to come tumbling down, that they would now sit in the cinema in silence, Shreene's [her mother's] mouth curdled with irritation, immersed in a cycle of resentment that there was no way to break. If this was the beginning of one of Shreene's moods it would start with the silent treatment, her mother possibly abstaining from food and drink not only in the cinema but until Maresh said sorry (which, from experience, could be very late at night or even, terrifyingly, the next day). Rumi's mind juddered." How beautifully does this passage capture the anxiety felt by a young girl who gets far too little joy and fears that her current experience of it is about to evaporate forever. There are many such passages in the book. Give it a chance.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Searing coming-of-age story inside an immigrant family tragedy, September 11, 2007
Nikita Lalwani's Booker Prize nominated debut novel "Gifted" tells the tragic story of the slow nine-year implosion and disintegration of an immigrant family trying to raise their mathematically gifted daughter in Cardiff, Wales--a culture that the parents poorly understand and privately loathe. The book delves deeply into how even the most well-intended objectives can have harmful--and even tragic results--particularly when they are played out upon a stage of cultural bias and emotional blindness.
This is the tale of Rumi Vasi, a child who finds immense satisfaction, beauty, and mystery in numbers. As a very young child, Rumi interpret the world through numbers--numbers are fascinating, harmonious, and enticing. In particular, she loves the number 512. It is friendly because it can be created through a process of repeated doubling and this reminds her of her father's two open hands lovingly cradling her face between his palms. But all this natural joy for numbers comes crashing down around the child when her parents are told by Rumi's teacher that she is a mathematical genius--that they need to intervene in her education to make sure she makes the best of her talents.
The teacher suggests she be introduced to Mensa, a society for highly gifted children and adults. Instead, Mahesh, Rumi's controlling and emotionally blind father decides to take the task entirely on himself. There is a great deal of cultural mistrust and misunderstanding behind this fateful decision.
Mahesh develops a rigorous study routine that leaves Rumi virtually no chance for play, self-development, or self-discovery. Mahesh knows all too well how difficult it is for an immigrant to become successful in Great Britain--doubly so when this person is a member of a culture, like India, that Mahesh strongly feels is misunderstood and undervalued. To succeed in this new environment, he believes that Rumi must not only be outstanding, she must be the very best--a nationally recognized child prodigy capable of gaining admittance to Oxford when she is only 14 years old. That is the lofty goal that Mahesh sets for his daughter.
By the end of the novel, Rumi is deeply harmed but on a possible path toward recovery. On the other hand, Mahesh is humiliated in the national media and abandoned by his daughter. He becomes a fully tragic figure despite the fact that we have little reason to identify with, or like his controlling, highly judgmental, and emotionally damaged character.
Rumi's mother, Shreene, is also a character with major tragic overtones. By the end of the work, we care a great deal about this highly intelligent and self-sacrificing human being. Shreene's tragedy begins before Rumi is born and it only gets worse as her daughter's story unfolds.
Although this story is written about an Indian family immigrating to Wales, it is not a story that is particularly unique to Indian immigrants or to Wales. This tale could easily have been written about a family from a vast number of different cultures immigrating to just about any Western country. This book deals with one of the central problems of out times--an era where multiculturalism has become necessary but is failing in almost every major Western city worldwide.
One can't help asking: what would have happened to this family if they had remained in India--had they not immigrated to Great Britain? Undoubtedly, in India, each member would have flourished emotionally--in India there would have been no tragedy at the core of their lives. So who is the villain here? Surely, the villain and the book's core message is one of failed multiculturalism--rampant lack of understanding and acceptance for other cultures that festers at the foundation of virtually all our societies.
Gifted is being marketed both as an adult and a young adult novel. It has strong literary merit and is worthy of being included in the young adult curriculum. This book has much to teach the young. As a society, we must learn how to diminish cross-cultural failure--we must learn to improve cross-cultural understanding and valuation. This book could help in a small, but significant, way to achieve these goals.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It touched my heart and it left me with a great deal to ponder. I recommend it highly.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A cautionary tale for Asian families, November 22, 2008
Nikita Lalwani's Booker longlisted novel "Gifted" may or may not have been inspired by the much publicized real life case of a child prodigy hothoused by her ambitious father for fame and glory who later dropped out of Oxford University to become a part time prostitute. Though their backgrounds are by no means identical, there are strong parallels - both come from Asian families. There must be something about Asian families - and that include Oriental families - for whom education is the only passport to a better life and for which parents are willing to sacrifice everything for their children's future. A fair enough starting point for parents perhaps except that when they start putting on blinkers and the child becomes an object or a pawn for its family's ambitions, that's when the trouble begins.
"Gifted" doesn't pretend to make any profound statements about this phenomenon. It is a cautionary tale that unless the "gifted" child however young is consulted or even included in the fasttracking process, things can and will get out of hand. Mahesh and Shreene aren't remotely the monsters you might think them to be. Their apparent cruelty and lack of sensitivity towards Rumi's growing up teenage needs merely reflect their anxiety for the child to fulfill her exceptional potential. Everything else - even the recognition that but for her intellect, Rumi is like any other teenage girl - becomes secondary or unimportant. Their own cultural and religious belief - especially in the case of Shreene - and the fact that Rumi is growing up in a western secular society only compound the problem. Interestingly, unlike typical children of immigrants, Rumi doesn't reject her parents' values and is happiest when she returns to her motherland for holiday.
For a newcomer, Lalwani is remarkably accomplished. Her prose flows smoothly and her plot is always believable. An easy entertaining read, "Gifted" addresses a phenomenon only too familiar to Asians. Readers from Confucianist societies will certainly empathise with Rumi's anguish and hopefully learn from it.
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