Customer Reviews

The Journey

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It seems to me that everyone, from Hemingway to earnest writing instructors at state colleges, tells you that you should write about what you know. Given America's fascination with the drama of immigration---not so hard to explain seeing that most of us are descended from immigrants, willing or unwilling-a budding Indian-American author could have used her genuine experience as background for whatever she wanted to say. Instead she set her rather murky tale in a fictional country called Pi that (perhaps) many readers will confuse with India. Like the writings of authors who really hail from India, Ganesan's novel centers around a family. India is not a land where individual will and action loom large. That is true. But Ganesan does not know India; this keeps coming home to the reader dozens of times. Monkeys, flowers, heat, dust, and strange roots and herbs do not make India. India, above all, is in the behavior, language and attitudes of its people. Here the Indian characters are too American, or at least, they are not believably Indian. India itself, or "Pi" is too American--everything is too available, too free, too individually separate. The Krishnan sisters, arriving in Pi from Long Island at the beginning of the novel are solid characters, well-defined. However the others, local Pi-ites or expatriates are not. They remain rather like stick figures. In addition, there are a number of factual faux-pas. I found it rather annoying since it seemed to me that Ganesan has got talent; the philosophical side of the novel, if I may call it that, had potential, but the author does not join it well to the awkward "Pi" cultural atmosphere, which seems to be a jumble of anything the author wanted it to be at any moment. "A girl's search for self in two very different cultures", a phrase intoned on the back cover, is thus totally off the mark. The second culture is missing. This is a purely American book and unfortunately, not a very successful one. I would hope that the author does better next time around.

Ganesan taught me about what it must be like as an American immigrant going back to India and being so out of synch with your culture. She has an accutely sensitive view of life, society, and the human condition. I highly recommend this book.