Customer Reviews

Secret Daughter: A Novel

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This beautifully written book, Secret Daughter: A Novel, is one that will linger in my thoughts for a long time. It's a poignant story about family -- just who is "family" and what it means to be a part of one. It's also a brilliantly written testimony to mothers everywhere, for "if the mother falls, the whole family falls."

Asha (Hope) was secretly named Usha (Dawn) by her birth mother, Kavita, and is adopted from an Indian orphanage by a married American couple when she is just a year old. Kavita, already grieving the infanticide of a previous daughter in a society that prefers male infants, had made the long journey to Shanti to deliver her 3-day-old child there for safety so that her husband and his family would not also destroy this second unwanted female child. She left her daughter with only a thin silver bracelet and a wish that Asha be allowed to live, grow up, and perhaps have a better life.

Somer and Krishnan Thakkar, both doctors -- she's a pediatrician and he's a neurosurgeon -- have been unable to have a child. He is Indian and came to America to attend medical school and stayed for a better life. She married him without fully appreciating the Indian heritage and his connection to the land of his birth and to the family and traditions he left behind there. When they adopt Asha and bring her back to America to raise, little do they realize that their new beloved daughter will one day defy her parents and seek to restore their connection to their Indian relatives despite the fact that she may hurt them when she begins to trace her birth parents to find out who she is and why they gave her up for adoption.

The story moves forward in time from 1984 to 2009, and is told from the viewpoints of the three main females of the story - Somer, Kavita, and Asha. All are women who have a very strong feeling about motherhood -- and about their own mothers. In addition, each woman sees a different India and comes to appreciate the country in different ways even as they realize that "Mother India does not love all her children equally."

The story of each woman's journey to epiphany and self-realization is very moving and satisfying. I highly recommend this book.

I agree with the reviewer who wrote "Good Plot, Weak Characters." The idea of following two families who do not know they are connected, one who places a child for adoption because she is a girl, and one who lives halfway around the world who adopts the girl, is wonderful. Ann Hood did this to some extent in "The Red Thread," but she did not follow the Chinese mothers for the rest of their lives, as Shilpa Gowda follows Kavita. Kavita is married to Jasu, who had their first-born daughter killed. They can only afford one child, and he will do anything for a son. When Kavita produces yet another girl child, she runs away from her small village to an orphanage in Mumbai, to leave the wrong-gendered infant and spare her the fate of her older sister. Meanwhile, we meet Somer (American, Caucasian, Protestant) and Krishnan (Indian, Hindu), a young married couple living in California whose efforts to give birth have produced nothing but grief. They travel to India to adopt the little girl that Kavita placed in the orphanage, whom they call Asha (Hope).

It is not clear what attracts Somer and Krishnan to each other in the first place; perhaps Somer is drawn in by the exotic, foreign Krishnan, so different than anything else in her otherwise plain vanilla life. Somer has little if any interest in Krishnan's culture, so unless Krishnan is trying to escape all memories of India (and there is nothing that indicates this), it is hard to see what attracts him to Somer (yes she is bright and attractive, but can someone really love another person who has no interest in his native land/culture?). The adoption and raising of Asha hold this couple together, but when Asha leaves the nest for college and a fellowship in India, the cracks in the marriage show all too clearly.

Meanwhile, Kavita gives birth to the long-dreamed of son, Vijoy (Victory). The family's move from village to city (Mumbai, naturally) proves economically sound, but plays havoc with the traditional family bonds, as Vijoy is influenced more by friends than family, and grows up to be a drug dealer. Why his parents take his ill-gotten money when they know what he is doing is not clear to me, as Kavita is portrayed as a long-suffering saint and Jasu slowly reveals that, despite having his first child killed, he has (almost) a heart of gold.

Growing up, Asha has shown some curiousity about her birth family and birth culture This section of the book needs considerably more substance if we are to believe that Asha travels to India to stay with her father's relatives whom she does not know and winds up wholeheartedly embracing the family (and vica versa) and the culture, and of course, finding love (while writing prize-winning articles to boot). She also searches for her birth family, which is totally believable, but the resolution is wishy-washy.

One gaping omission is the role of the caste system in the life of Indian society. Does caste really play NO role in this story? How can that possibly be? Why is it never mentioned when it is so important in Hindu India? Would all of Krishnan's family truly embrace this adopted child, most likely from a lower caste than they? Would Asha really be given such an honored role at her grandfather's funeral? Is the author saying that caste is meaningless in India, or does she just wish that were true?

This could have been a very compelling story about cross-cultural and transracial adoption if it had examined more thoroughly and realistically each member of the adoption triad and the cultures that they came from.

I had breakfast with a friend the other morning and she brought this book to me. We swap books and book recommendations, but are fairly careful to only pass along things we really like. If a book is just average, it never gets mentioned. It had been a while since she had brought me anything so I bumped this up at the top of my huge, massive TBR pile and started it last week. On the first day, I read a huge chunk of it since I didn't want to put it down. I am a fan of Jhumpa Lahiri and will pretty much devour anything she writes. After reading this particular novel, Shilpi Samoya Gowda is jumped into that same category (and it's just her debut).

In the opening of the novel we meet Kavita as she is about to give birth in a small village not too far from Bombay and the year is 1984. This is the second child she has born recently and the first was "disposed" of since the child was not a boy. Once the child is born and it's a second girl, Kavita takes matters in her own hands and does what she can to save the child by getting her to an orphanage in Bombay without the father's knowledge. About the same time, another couple in the United States is discovering that the miscarriages and failing fertility treatments may mean no biological child for them but what about adoption. Since the husband of the couple is originally from India, would it be possible to adopt a child from there? These two stories are interwoven and these two families are the basis of this incredible novel. One that grabs you early and just never lets go. By the end of the novel, twenty years have passed and the fate of all concerned is known.

As I said at the beginning, this was an absolute joy to read and a second novel by this same author will be snatched up quickly by me. Another reading friend of mine asked me within the past couple of days what have been my favorite reads in the last several months. I gave her a list of five books that stood out above everything else and this one was on that very short list. Absolutely great!

Shilpi Somaya Gowda's first book is excellent. I'm already looking forward to her second.

Her writing is rich and descriptive and beautiful -- yet not overly flowery at all.

SECRET DAUGHTER is a lovely story that takes us to two countries -- U.S. (San Francisco) and India -- and spans 25 years. We meet Kavita and Jasu who are living in a small Indian village. Girl babies are expensive (their dowries later) and can't help with the farming, so they are highly undesirable. When Kavita has her 2nd daughter, she is determined to save her by taking her to the orphanage.

Somer and Krishna are two doctors -- he an emigrant from India from a fairly well-to-do family, and her a white blonde only child who has been surrounded with love and support. When they have trouble conceiving, Krishna's mom sends them information about adoption from India.

I loved this book. The characters were mostly likable and definitely real. The story is told from the POV of the women in the story. Along with them, we explore the changes that a marriage goes through with age and stress, and the difficulties and joys of raising children. Because the whole book follows two families over such a long period of time, the surface is barely scratched, and yet, the reader completely understands.

The story moved me, and the characters will be with me for a long long time.

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda was such a great read for me! It'll be making my favorites list for this year. I'm already quite fond of novels that take me away to another place and culture and Secret Daughter does just that. This is a powerful novel that delves deeply into culture, motherhood, and a person's identity; it is both heartbreaking and uplifting.

The novel shifts between two compelling story lines, one taking place in India and one in America. The year is 1984 and a baby girl is born to Kavita in a small village in India. Her first daughter had been taken away by her husband's family and killed. She was not going to have that happen to this one. Instead she takes her daughter to an orphanage in the hopes that she will have a better life or at the very least, a chance at one. She names her Usha which means dawn and leaves with her one silver bangle that she slips on Usha's ankle.

A world away doctors, Somer and Krishnan, have been trying to have a child. Unfortunately it turns out that Somer is unable to have children having gone into early menopause in her thirties. She is devastated and feels betrayed by her body. Krishnan tells her that they have other options. His mother has been telling him about an orphanage in Bombay and all the children that need adopting there. As Krishnan is from India, he feels that this would be a good match for them. At first Somer is hesitant but eventually she agrees to adopt from India. They travel to India and eventually bring home their baby who is named Asha, but was born Usha.

As the story evolves we see life from both sides. We see the agony that Kavita goes through having had to give up her daughter even though she knows it was for the best - she just wishes she knew for sure what would become of her daughter. Jasu, her husband moves them to Mumbai in the hopes of giving a better life for their son Vijay who they had the year after Usha. Life doesn't go well for them in the beginning; there are many hardships to endure, but eventually things turn around for them and life gets better. Surprisingly for how much I disliked Jasu for not wanting daughters I thought that ultimately he ended up being a good husband and really did love Kavita. No matter what was going on in their lives, whether good or bad, Kavita could not ever forget the baby girl she had to give up.

Somer and Krishnan are having their own struggles. Well Somer is anyhow. Much of the time she really feels out of place in her own family. Asha and Krishnan have their heritage in common but she has never really been that interested in learning much about Krishnan's culture. As well she really tries to steer Asha towards life in America, clearly forgetting that the girl needs to learn about her own culture. Asha really wants to learn about her culture and meet her relatives in India - so much so that she ends up getting a grant to go to India and write a story about the underprivileged there.

So begins Asha's search for her birth parents and her delight in meeting this family that aren't even her blood relatives but take her in and love her like one of their own. Back in America Somer and Krishnan have separated and this is just what Somer needs to get her life back. She realizes that along the way she gave up her identity and herself for her family and all she really succeeded in doing was taking away that piece of herself that made her so special. As she begins to like herself again she learns that sometimes love means compromising yourself even when it's not really what you wanted to do.

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda is a fantastic novel! It is emotional and powerful. The author writes beautifully and her descriptions of India, the food, and the culture are amazing. I felt I was right there within the pages of this story tasting the spicy food or picking out a sari to wear. I can't even pick out a favorite character because this is one of those books in which you feel drawn to all of them. I did however feel more drawn to the story line in India but only because I loved to read about a culture that is so different from my own. There are some parts of the book that I found upsetting like what happens to baby girls and just how women are treated in general but that is part of India and the story. If you enjoy novels that enable you to learn about another culture while reading a story that will tug on your heart then Secret Daughter is one you should pick up!

Shilpi Somaya Gowda writes a novel with two separate, parallel stories tied together by an adopted child. She beautifully developed the story about the Indian mother who gave her daughter up for adoption. Gowda did a phenomenal job developing the Indian characters and skillfully described their struggles in rural India and Mumbai. She brought to life the struggles of underprivileged Indian families, families that immigrate from rural to urban Indian cities, the preference for male babies, and the hardships of Indian women.

Gowda fell short in the development of the American story, which included the stories of the adopted daughter and her parents. She began the novel by describing the adopting mother's struggle with infertility; however, she drops this storyline after adoption of the child. At one point in the novel, the adopting mother and father separate. The couple reunites after the mother finds a lump in her breast. I found this storyline to be contrived. Furthermore, the adopted daughter spends one year during college in India so that she can write a story about poverty, but Gowda only mentions two days of interviews conducted by the daughter with people who lived in the Indian slums. Gowda does a beautiful job describing Indian society, so I was disappointed that she did not examine this storyline further.

Despite the shortcomings of the American storylines, I enjoyed the Indian part of the novel so much that I finished the novel in less than two days. I recommend this book.

Secret Daughter is a beautifully written novel which took me two sittings to read. I love the character of Asha (Usha) since she seems to have more insight and open-mindedness than either of her parents have. Asha was adopted by Somer and Krishnan Thakkar, two physicians from America, from an Indian orphanage after she was placed there at three-days-old by her Indian parents, Jasu and Kavita Merchant. This was their second baby girl, and rather than kill this one because she wasn't a boy, as Jasu's relative had killed the first daughter, they gave up Usha for a better life for her. Unable to have children, Somer and Krishnan go to India and adopt the baby, changing her name to Asha. Krishnan is Indian and his family is still there.

Kavita will hold guilt for giving up this child for the rest of her life, even though she and Jasu have a son, Vijay. Asha will eventually want to know who her biological parents are and Somer doesn't take kindly to the idea, feeling somewhat of a failure at motherhood herself. Krishnan feels the opposite, that it is only natural that Asha should want to find her biological family. Asha wins a grant to travel to India to work with the newspaper in Mumbai, since she is a student doing extremely well in journalism in college.

I thought that Asha's time in India was the best part of the book. I loved how she slowly assimilated herself into her father's family and became the apple of her grandparents' eye.
There were cultural differences to overcome on both sides, but each lovingly did so. There is also a lot to learn about Indian culture throughout the book.

More than anything else, this book is about family, and what people will do for each other.
I gave this one five stars because I really loved reading it and I enjoyed it so much that I think it deserves nothing less.

I absolutely adored this book. It was a wonderful story with terrific character development and had just the right balance between the parallel story lines. I did have one disappointment, however: I would have liked to see Kavita and Asha meet before the end of the book. There was something unfinished, in my opinion, about the author not taking that step with the story. Could there possiby be a sequel?? In any event, I do hope that the author will publish again - I will definitely buy her books!

"Everything's more complicated than it seems," 20-year-old Asha confesses to her adoptive American mother at the end of a search for her biological parents and a yearlong stay in India, her country of birth.
Asha is both the bond and the source of turmoil for two women, unknown to each other, living in two different continents, leading distinctive lives. One is Kavita, a farmer's wife and Asha's birth mother. The other woman, is Somer, a Stanford graduate and pediatrician who is unable to have babies. The decisions each of them made seemed to be straightforward. For Kavita, leaving Asha at an orphanage meant her little baby would not become another infanticide statistic. For Somer, adopting Asha meant fulfilling her longing to become a mother. But what they didn't foresee was that their actions would have far more complicated emotional repercussions within themselves and in others.

"Secret Daughter" follows the lives of Kavita, Somer and Asha over a period of twenty years or so. The multiple narrators in the novel give the readers an insight into the minds and souls of each member (included are Kavita's and Somer's husbands) in both families, as they have to deal with personal conflicts and their own countries' social and cultural expectations. But Gowda's book is also about motherhood and the sacrifices women will make for the welfare of their families, no matter whether that family is the result of blood ties or of love given unconditionally.

I enjoyed reading this book. I couldn't help but feel for all the major characters, even Jasu, Kavita's husband and the reason that she had to give up her baby. None of them is flat. On the contrary, these characters are complex human beings beset by doubts, fears, regrets and sorrows but also capable of love, courage and forgiveness. I haven't read many books about India so Gowda's novel provided me with a glimpse into the two faces of this country and its rich cultural traditions. "Secret Daughter," however, is at its best in the details that bring out their characters' real or perceived differences in their search for identity and belonging.

Excellent plot about both sides of the story of the adoption of a baby girl from India by a couple in America. Character development was sketchy, though - I didn't get much sense of each character as an individual and they weren't well-rounded; each filled their role in the story but didn't come alive much beyond that. The story moves quickly through a lot of time in little vignettes, which may have made it harder for the author to develop her characters fully - still, a moving novel about international adoption, worth reading.