One Hundred Shades of White [Paperback]

Preethi Nair (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2003

Nalini and her children move from India to London, only to be abandoned. Survival is a struggle, but Nalini turns to what she does best - cooking. Her daughter's sense of history, lost with her father, eventually returns via a personal chaotic journey and with it, her taste for lime pickle.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Coverage for GYPSY MASALA: 'A little gem of fiction...a mystic and beautifully lyrical book' New Woman ONE HUNDRED SHADES OF WHITE: 'A great read. Fast, funny and full of life' Shyama Perera, author of 'I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Preethi Nair is the author of 100 Shades of White and The Colour of Love.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Flamingo (March 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007156154
• ISBN-13: 978-8172235321
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,878,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, February 26, 2004

By 

Pramod Prasanth "pan-alpina" (Basel, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Hundred Shades of White (Hardcover)

I happend by chance to see this book. Its a great book - light but still quite deep. And what is amazing is that - despite that fact that it is set mostly in London, it takes a very intersting look at life from Kerala. And Preethi has a very good flair for writing with a very natural flow.

Another interesting aspect is how she actually blends in lives of an Indian family with that of British and Spanish familes - bringing out the similarities across cultures and not get bogged down by the differences.

One comment - might be kind of funny - the book presents Spanish words in italics - but the Malayalam words used are presented in normal font. Does that mean that the editors think that all these words are part of English :-)?

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars unoriginal, July 6, 2007

By 

FunWithM-n-Ms (Kirkland, WA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 100 Shades of White (Paperback)

I usually like books by Indian authors, but this one was truly a waste of time.
It was sort of a hodge-podge of other books (some 'Like Water for Chocolate', some 'God of Small Things', etc.) with an unoriginal plot, some nice ends to tie up that showed up from nowhere. It's fine to read a not-so-great book if at least the language has some poetry or beauty in it; this one does not. It read like I was listening in on someone's dull cell phone conversation. Apparently this author has some previous books that were successful, but I'm not likely to read anything else by her.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars flawed, but not unattractive, October 6, 2008

By 

Aleksandra Nita-Lazar (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 100 Shades of White (Paperback)

I am an avid fan of Indian literature and I am always on the quest for something new. Preethi Nair's "100 Shades of White" had an intriguing title and a charming cover suggesting the novel about the clash of Indian and European cultures and the problems of immigrants, so I picked it up eagerly.

Almost immediately I felt extreme disappointment. The first chapter, narrated by Maya, one of the central characters of the story, full of strange syntax, uninteresting and poorly written, put me off almost completely and I seriously considered closing the book and not coming back to it. I resisted this urge and I am quite happy, because, although it is not a great literary specimen and something else than I expected (maybe it is a mistake to expect anything?), it does get better. When the narrator switches from Maya to her mother, Nalini, the flow becomes more bearable, and then even Maya's narrative is better (or maybe I got used to the author's peculiarities). I got interested enough to finish the novel with some pleasure, and I think I will try another book by Preethi Nair, at least to see if she has written something more wholesome.

"100 Shades of White" tells the story of Nalini, a young mother from Kerala, who moves to London with two small children, Maya and Satchin, urged by her husband, Raul, who is a successful businessman in England. As a result of quite improbable turn of events, Nalini is left alone without any means to survive, but with heroic effort and lots of good luck she becomes a successful businesswoman and a happy wife. Maya is more of a seeker, she is a bit lost, does not know what she wants from life - she is quite silly, in fact.

Nalini is a likeable character, but Maya is very irritating. The whole novel is a mix of a love story, a coming-of-age, Indian tradition, an immigrant novel, and a novel I call "kitchen" type - with food and its preparations at its center, but the result is messy and chaotic, although it has a certain charm. It is definitely a light, popular novel and can be read if someone has lots of spare time and happens to find this book, but it is not the finest example of popular literature.