If Today Be Sweet (P.S.) [Kindle Edition]

Thrity Umrigar (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

At the opening of Umrigar's poignant new novel (after The Space between Us, 2006), Tehmina, a middle-aged widow from India, is visiting her 38-year-old son, Sorab, his American wife, and son at their home in Ohio. (Sorab left his native India for graduate school in the U.S. and has lived there ever since.) Heartbroken by the death of her beloved husband, Tehmina is hardly in a position to face the life-altering choice before her: to settle in with Sorab in the safe, antiseptic Midwest or to live out her days in earthy, chaotic Bombay. Tehmina must make up her mind soon: her tourist visa is about to expire, and the lack of privacy in their home is putting stress on her son and daughter-in-law. Meanwhile, Tehmina's quiet, private life becomes very public when she rescues two neighborhood children from domestic abuse. Umrigar renders a sublime, cross-cultural tale about lives driven by tradition and transformed by love. Block, Allison
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 252 KB
• Print Length: 320 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins e-books (March 17, 2009)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000RO9VKE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,425 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #19 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Indian

More About the Author

Thrity Umrigar is the best-selling author of the novels Bombay Time, The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet and The Weight of Heaven. She is also the author of the memoir, First Darling of the Morning. Her books have been translated into many languages and published in numerous countries.

The Space Between Us was a finalist for the PEN/Beyond Margins award, while her memoir was a finalist for the Society of Midland Authors award. Thrity was recently awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize for midcareer artists.

Thrity was born in Bombay, India and came to the U.S. when she was 21. As a Parsi child attending a Catholic school in a predominantly Hindu country, sh had the kind of schizophrenic and cosmopolitan childhood that has served her well in her life as a writer. Accused by teachers and parents alike of being a daydreaming, absent-minded child, she grew up lost in the fictional worlds created by Steinbeck, Hemingway, Woolf and Faulkner. She would emerge long enough from these books to create her own fictional and poetic worlds. Encouraged by her practical-minded parents to get an undergraduate degree in business, Thrity survived business school by creating a drama club and writing, directing and acting in plays. Her first short stories, essays and poems were published in national magazines and newspapers in India at age fifteen.

After earning a M.A. in journalism Thrity worked for several years working as an award-winning reporter, columnist and magazine writer in America. She also earned a Ph.D. in English. In 1999, Thrity won a one-year Nieman Fellowship to Harvard, which is given to mid-career journalists.

While at Harvard, Thrity wrote Bombay Time. The publication and success of the novel allowed her to make a career change and in 2002 she accepted a teaching position at Case Western Reserve University, where she teaches creative writing, journalism and literature. She also does occasional freelance pieces for national publications and has written for the Washington Post's and the Boston Globe's book pages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Book, June 28, 2007

By 

Bookmom - See all my reviews

This review is from: If Today Be Sweet: A Novel (Hardcover)

I finished reading this book last night, and the characters and the story are still lingering with me today. I feel that any words that I use to describe the book, characters or story will not do it credit. Suffice it to say that this is a wonderful story about a woman dealing with grief at the loss of her husband, finding her way as an individual and deciding what "home" really means. But, unlike other books that may address similar issues, this book addresses the differences in culture in America and India that defines the main character and compounds the difficulty of her choice. You won't be disappointed by this book!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ...and they lived happily ever after, November 14, 2007

By 

Mary Reinert (Nevada, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: If Today Be Sweet: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book had so much potential, but, in my opinion, failed to deliver. I loved the premise of the book: Parsi widow in the middle of middle America faced with so many cultural differences. The parts of the book where Tehmina contrasts her life in India with the way of life in America are interesting and thoughtful. However, those places are surrounded by cliche and what I would call "formula" writing.

So much of the book simply did not ring true. Would anyone really call their son Cookie? And how old is this child; at one time he calls himself the Cookie Monster and at others is discussing Calvin and Hobbes. The "yummy yummy" vocabulary of the boys next door also does not ring true for kids growing up with abusive adults. And the reaction of everyone to the beating that they receive from their mother seems totally blown out of portion -- television interviews, newspaper pictures, dinner at the home of the son's boss -- just too over the top. And Sorab's new boss, Grace, is nothing more than a cartoon character.

In short, Tehmina seems like a Parsi Mary Poppins -- sprinkling everyone's life with a bit of sugar so that everyone will live happily ever after. I can't help but feel that life in two different worlds (as Tehmina is experiencing) is so much more complicated than that. It's a quick read, but not a satisfying one. "The Space Between Us" was a far superior book

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heroism, August 5, 2007

By 

MLF "Avid reader" (North Wales, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If Today Be Sweet: A Novel (Hardcover)

Tehmina, the protagonist in this story definately wears many hats; widow, mother, grandmother, friend, and hero? Another wonderful novel from Ms. Umrigar that clearly shows the mindset of those who come to this country and battle with the norms of the old and the new. In some countries the adage "it takes a village to raise a child" is stil is practiced. In this country it is merely the title of book. Tehmina makes a decision to bring that practice to her US in in making the leap over the fence she comes to realize that she can bring a bit of India to Ohio. Once again Thrity Umrigar has left me wanting to know what happens next....does Tehmina learn to drive?