Motherland [Hardcover]

Vineeta Vijayaraghavan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2001

In this quiet but engaging debut novel, an American teenager spends the summer with her relatives in southern India and gains new insight into her past, her family and her heritage. Born in Kerala, Maya spent the first four years of her life there, cared for mainly by her grandmother, Ammamma, until she was sent to live with her parents in New York. At 15, with her parents' marriage undergoing a rough patch, she is sent back to India to stay with her Aunt Reema and Uncle Sanjay, their 10-year-old daughter, Brindha, and Ammamma at their house in the tea hills above Coimbatore. It's been years since Maya came to visit, and this time she is keenly aware of cultural differences: the different spheres of men and women and the persistence of the caste system. She feels stifled by the attentions of Ammamma and resentful of the time she must spend with the old woman. When Maya suffers an accident while most of the family is away, she and Ammamma grow closer, and Maya learns a hidden family fact. But only when Ammamma falls ill and the entire family gathers, including Maya's parents from New York, does Maya begin to comprehend more deeply the complexities of relationships.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this quiet but engaging debut novel, an American teenager spends the summer with her relatives in southern India and gains new insight into her past, her family and her heritage. Born in Kerala, Maya spent the first four years of her life there, cared for mainly by her grandmother, Ammamma, until she was sent to live with her parents in New York. At 15, with her parents' marriage undergoing a rough patch, she is sent back to India to stay with her Aunt Reema and Uncle Sanjay, their 10-year-old daughter, Brindha, and Ammamma at their house in the tea hills above Coimbatore. It's been years since Maya came to visit, and this time she is keenly aware of cultural differences: the different spheres of men and women and the persistence of the caste system. She feels stifled by the attentions of Ammamma and resentful of the time she must spend with the old woman. When Maya suffers an accident while most of the family is away, she and Ammamma grow closer, and Maya learns a hidden family fact. But only when Ammamma falls illDand the entire family gathers, including Maya's parents from New YorkDdoes Maya begin to comprehend more deeply the complexities of relationships. This coming-of-age tale is dense with cultural explanations, including a wedged-in minor story line about the guerrilla Tamil Tigers. The writing style is more prosaic than lyrical, and the detail robs the prose of liveliness in places, but Maya's voice is consistent and convincing. Less ambitious and not as sophisticated as other recent works by writers with roots in India, the book can piggyback on the current boom in all things Indian. Agent, Emma Sweeney at Harold Ober Assoc. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Fifteen-year-old Maya was born in Southern India, and spent her first four years there with her grandmother; maternal uncle, Sanjay; and his wife, Reema. She often visits them in the summer, but this year she hopes to hang out at home with her friends in New York. However, she gets into a little trouble, and her parents send her back to India for summer vacation. Her first-person narration gives readers a richly descriptive and intimate look at the domestic life of an affluent Indian family. She grows much closer to her grandmother, who helps her to understand why she feels alienated from her mother. Readers will readily identify with Maya's American cultural instincts and impulses while gaining an appreciation and respect for her Indian heritage and values. They will observe how the teen's family members interact with one another, their friends, and their servants. Maya ponders the advantages and disadvantages of dating versus the arranged-marriage process, and several well-educated adults challenge her Americanized ideas about women in the workplace. At the end of the summer, Maya returns home a much more mature and empathetic young woman.
Joyce Fay Fletcher, Rippon Middle School, Prince William County, VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 231 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press; 1St Edition edition (January 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569472173
• ISBN-13: 978-1569472170
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,080,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple but moving, May 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Motherland (Paperback)

An American never feels more American than when he or she is in a foreign country. In my experience, this is even more true when one "is from" that foreign country. After years of living in the US as a minority, one expects to return to the motherland with a sense of homecoming, a sense of immediate belonging. However, while family and ethnic ties do give you that, there is also, inevitably, a prickly feeling of distinction. Sometimes it's felt in small things, such as in an increased sensitivity to mosquitos or lower dietary tolerances. Other times, it's experienced in a clash of worldviews--over issues such as class, gender roles, or international politics. "Motherland" captures this tension beautifully, in a simple, but moving story about an American teenager who spends a summer in southern India.

I was surprised by how much I loved this novel. This is not a book of unexpected plot twists or particularly perilous situations. The characters are intriguing, but not unusual. The setting is exotic, but rather limited. However, the author's honest depiction of relationships, conversations and observations seduce you into the story and refuse to let you go. I find myself still thinking about this novel in random moments throughout my day.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't Wait for the Movie!!!, March 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Motherland (Hardcover)

I found "Motherland" to be a simply delightful book. Maya, the novel's 15-year-old narrator, offers a mix of wry commentary and youthful bewilderment as she leads the reader along her colorful journey towards adulthood. The author has surrounded young Maya with a host of well-drawn secondary characters who round out the novel and give the reader a sense of the broader cultural context against which Maya's story is woven. The tale of Maya's sojourn in India begins as a deceptively straightforward travelogue but does not lack for drama or emotional intensity as matters of family and homeland are brought to the fore. Like a well-crafted Shaker table, "Motherland" possesses a simple beauty that is nonetheless breathtaking. An unpretentious tour-de-force.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simple story of a teen's growing up--, May 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Motherland (Paperback)

I picked this book up, enjoyed it and gave it to my teenage daughter to read. It was a good discussion book for moms/daughters. Neither of us could figure out the hostility in some of the earlier reviews--what's going on in Boston? This book captured the conflicting emotions that fifteen year-olds experience. It may not be a monumental work but it is an unprentious little book--an enjoyable, easy read. It made us interested to know more about India and provoked some interesting discussions about relationships and loss.