Customer Reviews

Serving Crazy with Curry

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3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I learned out about this WONDERFUL book by Amulya Malladi, entirely by accident. I just happened to be checking out books along the themes of Jhumpa Lahiri, and other Indian, or Indian-American authors when I came across "The Mango Season".

After reading "The Mango Season" which I liked, I looked to see what other books she had written, and then I checked out her other 2 books.

Out of ALL the books by Amulya Malladi, "Serving Crazy with Curry" is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!

"Serving Crazy with Curry" is about an Indian-American woman, Devi Veturi, who after losing her job in a Silicon Valley company, and suffering a miscarriage, which even her own family did not know about, ponders her life, and then decides to kill herself.

Before taking the final steps to end her life, having been up all night worrying about her decision, Devi calls her father, Avi, which ostensibly is an obvious cry for help, as she calls him pretty early for a weekend morning.

In an effort to put off her decision to commit suicide, Devi calls her father, hoping that in talking to him, he will make things better, but knowing deep down that he can't. She realizes that everything that has happened to her is her own fault, and she can only deal with it as only she knows how.

So with tears brimming in her eyes, and hearing her family in the background, Devi talks to her father, never letting on about all the problems in her life, just telling him that everything is fine before hanging up, and going ahead with her decision.

However, Devi's plans to end her life are quashed when she is saved by the last person in the world she wants to see......her mother.

Saroj, who has been a constant source of pain, and aggravation for Devi, keeps a spare set of keys to her daughter's home, and she has a habit of often dropping by unannounced, and uninvited. Saroj just happens to come over, probably because of mother's intuition or a sixth sense, and finds her daughter lying in her bathtub in a pool of blood. Unconscious Devi is rushed to the hospital by ambulance, where she is joined by her mother, father, sister, Shobha, her husband, Girish, and her grandmother, Vasu.

Once Devi finally wakes up, she refuses to speak, and when she is discharged from the hospital, her parents bring her home to recuperate, and force her to move in with them until she is fully well. Devi remains mute, instead expressing herself through cooking.

Commandeering the kitchen from her mother, who never before had allowed any of her family members to cook anything in "her kitchen", Devi starts cooking with gusto, and not content making regular food, she starts coming up with wacky variations on Indian classics like Blueberry Chicken Curry, and Cajun Prawn Biryani. Soon, the rest of the Veturi family realize that Devi has a talent for cooking, unrecognized before, and now family meals are no longer obligations. Devi's parents, sister and brother-in-law, can't get enough.

Also as part of her therapy, Devi starts writing in a journal, communicating her thoughts and emotions through her recipes, and as she slowly begins to recover and heal, a dark secret starts to emerge, and as one marriage finally collapses, the love is rekindled in another marriage once believed to be on its last legs.

As the reader comes to realize, through Devi's writing and the dishes she cooks, how the many long-buried traumas have affected the whole Veturi family and ultimately, Devi, they are able to get inside her head and truly understand what she is going through.

The core of her depression, however, is not fully revealed until much later in the book when the reason why Devi wanted to kill herself finally comes out. Through exposing some shattering truths, the secret also brings the whole family back together in ways that they never dreamed possible.

I LOVE this book! Being the daughter of Indian immigrants, like Devi, I can totally relate to the characters in this book. "Serving Crazy with Curry" is a truly wonderful and worthy book.

I highly recommend this book for everyone to read - especially ABCD's (American Born Confused Desi's) and women.

"Serving Crazy with Curry" is one of the best (if not the best) Indian American books I have ever read.

If I could give this book 100, or 1000, or a MILLION, BILLION stars, I would. I LOVE IT!!!!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amulya Malladi's third novel is SERVING CRAZY WITH CURRY, a dark comedy in which suicide is the center of the story. The reader is allowed inside the thoughts of Devi Veturi as she ponders killing herself, plans it, attempts it, and then tries to recover from it while living with her crazy family in the middle of California's famous Silicon Valley. It almost resembles a Bollywood-style movie and is just as entertaining.

The book opens with Devi contemplating reasons to die. She writes a list of pros and cons of whether to die or not, as if she were deciding on something as mundane as buying a house. It's important, but she treats the idea as a business plan, which can be of equal importance. And she has just been laid off (again), which doesn't help with her depression. Despite how she feels, her list tells her that she must save herself and abandon her previous plans, but she has already made up her mind and is now devising ways to do it. She has finally made her decision --- or thinks she has --- but she's up all night worrying about this business of suicide.

She then decides to call her father, as it is now morning and because talking to him would help stall her decision to kill herself. She hears her family in the background as her father answers the phone. There are tears in her eyes, but she tells him that she is fine and doesn't let on about her latest job, or how she is really feeling. She wants her father to make things better but knows that everything that has happened to her is her own fault and that she is responsible for her own actions. She will deal with her life as only she knows how.

What saves her is a "mistake" she made the previous year, by giving her mother a set of keys to her apartment. From then on, her mother, Saroj, would make appearances at the apartment, with one excuse or another. On the morning when Devi attempts to kill herself, her mother has the sixth sense to come over to see her eldest daughter. Devi's other mistake was refusing to talk to her mother when she had called earlier that morning. When Saroj finds out from Girish, her son-in-law, that Devi had just lost her job, she rushes to the apartment to see how Devi is doing. Saroj finds her daughter in the bathtub, blood everywhere.

The family, already living in a dysfunctional state, goes into cardiac arrest when they find out about Devi. Her parents bring her home to recuperate, and although they are not quite sure if she's making any progress with her emotional state, they do know one thing: she refuses to speak. Instead, she voices her emotions through cooking, which is more than her family can take. Yes, they have discovered that Devi has a gift for cooking, which was never apparent before. But on the other hand, she WAS communicating through her food to express feelings, whether it was of happiness or anger. On one occasion, she creates such a hot and spicy meal that it was almost impossible for anyone to eat it. Everyone, however, knew how she felt. The food said it all.

Devi starts a journal while she is recuperating and expresses her feelings through her recipes. Each recipe reflects what she is feeling at the moment, explained through the ingredients and how she prepares the dish. It is a very clever way of getting inside her head, and the reader begins to understand what Devi truly is going through. The center of her depression, however, is not fully realized until much later in the book when it is finally revealed exactly why Devi wanted to end her life.

A wonderful book and probably Malladi's best so far, SERVING CRAZY WITH CURRY is a very inventive way of using recipes to help tell a story. Malladi creates a family of characters that one can imagine on the big screen: the jealous younger sister, the doting father, the nagging mother, the grandmother, and the good son-in-law. While some books are noted for either a great story line or a great set of characters, this book can boast both. This reviewer would love to see a sequel, to see where Devi and her family go from here.

--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton (Ratmammy@lofton.org)

I like books with inventive titles and this one has a really cheeky one. I picked up the book just yesterday because of the title and the book cover and I am so glad that I did. I read it in one day! This writer certainly knows her stuff and she should as this is apparently her third book. "Serving Crazy with Curry" is the story of Devi, a second-generation Indian living in Silicon Valley and how her life and her family's live and perception about life changes after she survives a suicide attempt. That is the story in a nutshell. A worthy read!!

I enjoyed the story and the characters but found myself increasingly distracted by the badly written dialogue. Too many adverbs telling me how the lines were being said and too many substitutes for the verb said like "she quipped" or "she countered" or "she complained." I would rather discern these things from the lines that are being said and how the character acts while saying them. It also seemed that all of the characters talked the same way (except for the obsenities added to Shoba's lines). The father used expressions like "go for it" which did not fit his character and Devi used out of date expressions that seemed more what her parents would say. Maybe I'm being too picky - from looking at the other reviews it seems like others were not bothered by this.

Amulya Malladi is a master storyteller. This book, the third novel focusing on the lives and times of Indian women in crisis, is a fabulous study of family dynamics. Relationships are at the center of a Malladi novel -- between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, sisters and sisters -- and this one is a powerful discussion of a family reacting to a member's attempted suicide.
Devi is a mess. She has managed to screw up her life and feels that her only way out is through suicide. She chooses the time and the method, plans it all out, and puts her plan into motion -- only to be thwarted at this as well: nosy mom happens to come by and lets herself in with her key to find Devi in the nick of time. Devi does not consider this "saving" to be a favor. She stops talking completely and, after discharge from the hospital, takes over her mother's kitchen -- cooking new dishes that are nothing like those ever produced in her home. Her emotions come out through her cooking -- extra spicy when she is angry, milder when she is mellow. Her family -- mother, father, sister Shobha and brother-in-law Girish don't know what to make of this. Truths long held inside are revealed as the family recovers from Devi's suicide attempt. A dead marriage is revived but another one is abandoned. A mother's love is finally accepted, and the sisters learn how to accept each other. In short, this is a wonderful story and one you will remember long after you put the book down. A reader's circle guide with discussion questions is included as well as a whimsical conversation between the author and her characters. ENJOY!!!

When I first picked up the book I wasn't sure about finishing it because it started with an attempted suicide. But I found that I couldn't stop. Amulya Malladi seems to have a knack for showing how wonderfully crazy, yet intimate families can be. Reading this book also gave me a clear insight into the immigrant psyche--the tug and pull between wanting to stay in a foreign country and going back home. I loved this book!

What an enjoyable novel! For once an Indian writer who isn't convuluting everything for the sake of convoluting everything. This was a wonderful novel and gave me a better insight into the immigrant experience than so many other books I have read.

WOW this book knocked my socks off! At first I was thinking, what did I get myself into? Why would I want to read about someone commiting suicide? But then, I started reading and it grabbed ahold of me and didn't let go. My eyes were drooping last night, but I couldn't put it down. Her family is annoying. She feels distraught. But she ends up on the living side, and comes to terms with why she wanted to commit suicide. Her mom, dad and sister grow in their lives too.

This author is one to be watched and I couldn't say enough about this book. I have recommended it to everyone!

Devoured this book in 2 days flat-- because once you start reading it you are hooked! You WILL relate to all the women some way or the other, or you may know people just like them! Disturbing twist at the end, but I had kind of guessed it by the time I got there...read it for the recipes, the tug of war between the generations or just because the title made you curious - but READ it for sure!

I have read everything Amulya Malladi has written and I must say this is her best book. (And it was cheaper to buy because it is in trade paperback format!) This book is definitely more mature. It is also a pure delight to read. I read it in two days and now have to wait god only knows how long for her next book...